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Electronic Telegraph


Tuesday 28 April 1998
Issue 1068


Palace resigned to fate in lower ranks as United turn the screw
By Henry Winter


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   Crystal Palace (0) 0 Man Utd (2) 3
   
   THE Premiership picture was clarified at the bottom but mildly
   muddied at the top last night. Crystal Palace's home defeat, a
   recurring nightmare for them, saw them slide into the Nationwide
   League while United moved within a point of Arsenal, the championship
   leaders and overwhelming favourites.
   
   Goals from Paul Scholes, excellent throughout, Nicky Butt and Andy
   Cole gave United a deserved, routine victory on their first away
   meeting with Palace since Eric Cantona's leap into infamy. For all
   their hard work and, at times, delightfully flowing football, United
   are unlikely to catch Arsenal, who can secure their first title since
   1991 if they beat Derby County tomorrow and Everton on Sunday.
   
   Palace leave the Premiership with memories of some neat football,
   primarily away from home, but their inability to defend, or retain
   possession in midfield, cost them their place among the elite.
   
   United needed only six minutes to expose Palace's defensive
   vulnerability at Selhurst Park. The visitors' control, and
   particularly the timing of their runs from midfield, proved
   devastatingly effective. Scarcely had a rare full house settled into
   their seats than United were ahead. Teddy Sheringham and Cole combined
   on the edge of the area, knowing that support would be arriving.
   Scholes appeared at speed, racing past Palace's defenders to strike a
   low, hard shot underneath Kevin Miller.
   
   Palace's defenders were so exposed because their midfield failed to
   provide any real protection, allowing United players to dash forward
   from the deep. Tomas Brolin, in particular, resembled a pedestrian
   attempting to cross the South Circular road with some heavy shopping.
   
   The game flashed past him again as another United midfielder, this
   time Butt, rushed through to score in the 21st minute. Cole,
   beautifully found by Ryan Giggs, clipped the ball across the box where
   Marc Edworthy's attempted clearance fell to Butt. One touch took the
   England midfielder through and the second sent the ball disappearing
   past Miller.
   
   Trailing by two goals in a game they had to win, Palace sought to find
   an unlikely escape route. Neil Shipperley worked enthusiastically
   upfront, occasionally bettering David May and Gary Pallister, but the
   support for him was not consistent enough. Attilio Lombardo attempted
   to inspire his team but his ambition was too often smothered by
   Scholes, again outstanding, and Butt in central midfield.
   
   Just before the half concluded, Palace's best two players, Shipperley
   and Lombardo, engineered an opening down the inside-right channel.
   Lombardo advanced threateningly but shot over.
   
   United, as they often do, dominated the minutes immediately after the
   interval. Cole went close, then Butt shot over, following a fine
   left-wing break by Giggs and Sheringham.
   
   Palace, to their credit, began to show signs of life. Edworthy, a good
   captain wasted in an unfamiliar stopper role, started waving
   team-mates forward. Michele Padovano dribbled from midfield but aimed
   his shot straight at Peter Schmeichel.
   
   Marcus Bent, otherwise engaged worrying about Giggs, delivered a
   superb pass which the eager Shipperley fractionally failed to reach.
   Moments later, the pair combined to more obvious effect, the move's
   developing promise lost when Shipperley's shot was blocked.
   
   But still Palace came on, desperate to cling to their Premiership
   status. Shipperley should have scored, when Schmeichel failed to hold
   Bent's drive, but he fired wildly over from yards out, a terrible act
   of profligacy that seemed to encapsulate much of Palace's season.
   
   United added a third five minutes from time. Scholes twice had efforts
   repelled, although Miller had no chance with Cole's follow-up, a
   straightforward tap-in.
   
   And so Palace bowed out of the Premiership, their home form
   handicapping them to the end. The club face a busy summer, sorting out
   their managerial and playing staff, not to mention the boardroom.
   _________________________________________________________________

   Crystal Palace (0) 0 Man Utd (2) 3
   Scholes 5, Butt 21, Cole 84.

   Crystal Palace: Miller, Edworthy, Gordon, Curcic, Lombardo
   (Hreidarsson 87), Shipperley, Padovano (Dyer 75), Brolin (Fullarton
   68), Bent, Smith, Ismael. Subs Not Used: Warhurst, Nash. Booked:
   Ismael.

   Man Utd: Schmeichel, Irwin (Clegg 76), May, Pallister, Beckham, Butt,
   Cole, Sheringham, Giggs, Neville, Scholes. Subs Not Used: Van Der
   Gouw, Solskjaer, Berg, Thornley.

   Att: 26,180
   Ref: P Jones (Loughborough).
   _________________________________________________________________

Soccer-United maintain pressure as Eagles plunge

   (Adds details, quotes)
   By Alan Baldwin
   
   LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Crystal Palace, the low-flying Eagles of
   the premier league, were relegated on Monday after being swept aside
   3-0 at home by a Manchester United side determined to keep their title
   hopes alive.
   
   The result at Selhurst Park left United a point behind leaders and
   F.A. Cup finalists Arsenal, who have two games in hand and could wrap
   up the title at home against Everton next weekend if they also beat
   Derby County in midweek.
   
   "Arsenal are getting close, we just have to hope that there is a
   complete collapse," said United manager Alex Ferguson, refusing to
   pretend that his men have much chance.
   
   Palace, who have 29 points and three games remaining, cannot now catch
   Everton who are fourth from bottom on 39.
   
   The south Londoners were the first of the three teams promoted last
   season to make the trip straight back to the first division, with
   Barnsley and Bolton favourites to follow, and nothing on Monday
   suggested they deserved to stay up.
   
   The match programme harked back to a Palace glory night of 1972, when
   the home side beat United 5-0.
   
   But that sort of a scoreline would have been a miracle for a club with
   just one home league win this season and uncertainty over the future
   ownership and management.
   
   United were rampant in the first half with England's Paul Scholes
   racing into the area to get the first in the sixth minute with a
   right-footed shot.
   
   That silenced the taunts of "Arsenal, Arsenal."
   
   Nicky Butt made it 2-0 in the 22nd after Andy Cole and Teddy
   Sheringham combined while Scholes persistence and final diving header
   after his shot was parried set up Andy Cole's close-range tap-in for
   the third in the 84th.
   
   Palace were the only premiership club Cole had not previously scored
   against while the home side notched a first by becoming the first to
   be relegated three times since the premier league was established.
   
   Palace tried to make a bright start with player-manager Attilio
   Lombardo, who has said he will stand down as manager at the end of the
   season, forcing a save from Peter Schmeichel in the opening minute but
   the attack was short-lived.
   
   They were left wide open in defence with Swedish midfielder Tomas
   Brolin playing the complete misfit as he chugged sluggishly and
   aimlessly around for 68 minutes before being put out of his misery by
   a substitution.
   
   David Beckham had by then had a shot from 20 metres out palmed over
   the bar in the 30th and seen several other attempts skim just wide of
   the uprights as United shrugged off the malaise that has allowed
   Arsenal to set the pace.
   
   "The first 15 to 20 minutes was when United won it," said Palace coach
   Brian Sparrow. "That was probably some of the best football I've seen
   played against us all season."
   
   Palace, with their fans keeping up the volume, might have had a
   penalty in the second half when Michele Padovano went down and Neil
   Shipperly squandered his side's chance of the night off a Dean Gordon
   indirect free kick.
   
   Schmeichel parried but failed to hold the ball, Shipperly got the
   rebound but, with the goal gaping, smashed it over the bar. It neatly
   summed up much of Palace's season.
   
                        © 1998 SportsLine USA, Inc.
   _________________________________________________________________

   April 28 1998 FOOTBALL 
   
   United's reign prolonged as Palace topple
   BY OLIVER HOLT, FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT
   
   Crystal Palace ...0 Manchester United ...3
   
   How they stand 
   
   MANCHESTER United halted the prolonged capitulation they have staged
   in the race for the championship last night when they condemned
   Crystal Palace to relegation from the FA Carling Premiership and
   instilled a little hope into their fading attempts to retain the title
   that appears to have slipped from their grasp.
   
   Alex Ferguson, the United manager, said that it would take "an Arsenal
   collapse" for United to have any chance and the championship is still
   very much Arsenal's to lose. If they beat Derby County at Highbury
   tomorrow night, they need only repeat the feat against Everton in
   North London on Sunday to clinch what they hope will be the first half
   of the double.
   
   Last night, though, against a Palace team that has won only once at
   home all season and looked hopelessly ill-equipped for the task of
   clinging on to their lofty status, goals from Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt
   and Andy Cole brought United back to within a point of the leaders. It
   ensured, at least, that Arsène Wenger and his Arsenal team will be
   feeling the pressure for the next two games rather than waltzing
   towards their coronation.
   
   "Unless there is a complete Arsenal collapse the title is still
   theirs," Ferguson said. "We should try and set out our stall to win
   our remaining matches and that may keep a little bit of pressure on
   them. The way they have been performing, I think they will probably
   win it in their next two home games. We just have to hope for that
   collapse. I do not see it, but football is such a funny game that you
   never know what might happen."
   
   Even if the championship does prove to be beyond them, their winning
   return to Selhurst Park restored some of the pride that they have lost
   and exorcised some of the bad memories they have of the stadium from
   their last match there against Palace, in January 1995, when Eric
   Cantona launched his infamous kung-fu attack on a supporter.
   
   This time it was Palace who suffered instead. Fielding the flimsiest
   of midfields, with an overweight Brolin and a dilettantish Curcic at
   its centre, they were overrun in the first half before steadying
   themselves a little in the second. To add to their misery, Ron Noades,
   the chairman, wrote in the match programme that if the takeover bid by
   Mark Goldberg failed, he would not bring Terry Venables to the club as
   coach next season.
   
   The match was finished as a contest midway through the first half.
   Lombardo, hapless as a player-manager but still a class above most of
   his team-mates, gave Palace false hope in the first minute when he
   waltzed through the United middle, nutmegging Scholes and skipping
   past May and then forcing Schmeichel into a diving save with a low,
   left-foot shot. That, though, was the last that was seen of the Palace
   attack for a while.
   
   The rest was all United. They created an avalanche of chances but
   managed to convert just two in the opening period. Only six minutes
   had gone when they grabbed the first. Sheringham slipped a short pass
   to Cole on the edge of the box and he threaded it into the path of
   Scholes, who hammered a shot past Miller from eight yards.
   
   Giggs should have added a second goal, when Beckham's crossfield pass
   split the defence, but he slipped as he shot and allowed Miller to
   save. Midway through the half, though, United achieved the inevitable
   when Butt picked up a loose ball that should have been cleared by
   Edworthy and lashed it seemingly through Miller, who had misjudged the
   trajectory.
   
   Sheringham, so out of sorts recently, missed a gilt-edged chance when
   he allowed Cole's clever cross to elude him three yards out. Then he
   compounded his error by glancing Giggs's cross wide from the edge of
   the six-yard box.
   
   Cole spurned the best chance of all five minutes after the interval.
   Butt found space on the right and swung in a cross that was begging to
   be dispatched. Cole met it, unmarked, five yards out, but somehow
   contrived to glance it wide.
   
   If that miss was glaring, Palace surpassed it 20 minutes from the end
   after Schmeichel dropped a free kick from Bent at the feet of
   Shipperley. He was four yards out and needed only to tap the ball over
   the line, but he scooped it over the bar instead. Even Schmeichel gave
   him a consoling pat on the back.
   
   After the season that Palace have endured, perhaps that was a fitting
   epitaph, but Cole finished them off in the 84th minute when he prodded
   a rebound from Scholes's header over the line from close range.
   
   CRYSTAL PALACE (4-4-2): K Miller - M Edworthy, V Ismael, J Smith, D
   Gordon - A Lombardo (sub: H Hreidarsson, 87min), T Brolin (sub: J
   Fullarton, 70), S Curcic, M Bent - N Shipperley, M Padovano (sub: B
   Dyer, 76).
   
   MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-2): P Schmeichel - P Neville, D May, G
   Pallister, D Irwin (sub: M Clegg, 80) - D Beckham, P Scholes, N Butt,
   R Giggs - E Sheringham, A Cole.
   
   Referee: P Jones.

   Copyright 1998 Times Newspapers Ltd. 
   _________________________________________________________________

   United keep up the chase 
   By David Lacey
   Tuesday April 28, 1998
   
   At least the Premiership title will not fall into Arsenal's lap, not
   before Sunday anyway. Manchester United's comfortable victory over
   Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park last night reduced the gap at the top
   to one point, which means that Arsenal will be champions if they win
   their home games against Derby County tomorrow and Everton four days
   later.

   "We just have to hope there's a complete collapse by Arsenal," said
   Alex Ferguson, the United manager, "but I don't see it." United now
   have only two matches left, at home to Leeds next Monday and away to
   Barnsley the following Sunday. Arsenal have two games in hand.

   All that was settled last night was Palace's third relegation from the
   Premiership in six years. In the end they sank with all guns blazing
   bravely, even if their aim was generally awry.

   Taking on United with a thinly-staffed defence and non-tackling
   midfield was always going to be the equivalent of going to sea in a
   sieve and goals from Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt virtually settled the
   contest in the opening 21 minutes. Andy Cole added a third towards the
   end but they should have doubled their score long before then.

   While the speed and accuracy of United's passing and movement took
   Selhurst's breath away, especially in the first half, both teams
   seemed to know their respective causes were lost. Even United's
   football had a festive, carefree air about it. No fat ladies were
   singing, yet the evening carried echoes of stable doors closing.

   United appeared to have recovered much of the form which deserted them
   in the New Year. Scholes and Butt were masterful, admittedly given the
   freedom of the park, while David Beckham and Ryan Giggs were back to
   their pre-Christmas form.

   Having at last won a Premiership match at home nine days earlier,
   Palace approached last night's game with a modicum of confidence. In
   the opening minute, as David May lost his footing, Attilio Lombardo
   surged through and Peter Schmeichel had to move quickly to deal with
   the Palace player-manager's low shot.

   Any home optimism, however, was short-lived. No sooner had United
   found their rhythm than they took the lead in the sixth minute.

   Following Schmeichel's long clearance Teddy Sheringham and Cole split
   the defence with a couple of brisk, intuitive passes, leaving Scholes
   to beat Kevin Miller.

   After 21 minutes Cole's pass was inadvertently touched on to Butt by
   Marc Edworthy and the United midfielder drove a low shot beyond
   Miller's reach. All that stopped United increasing their lead before
   half-time was their own profligacy combined with Miller's agility in
   the Palace goal.

   Not that Crystal Palace were out of the picture; far from it. Neil
   Shipperley, Michele Padovano and LomL bardo each shot high or wide
   when they might have scored.

   The problem for Palace was that, whenever a movement broke down, they
   were at the mercy of United's speed on the counter-attack. Lombardo
   and Sasa Curcic gave them momentum going forward but Butt and Scholes
   went back and forth past Tomas Brolin as if the portly Swede was a
   traffic bollard.

   Nevertheless Palace did achieve a period of attacking pressure after
   half-time which cheered up a Selhurst crowd long since resigned to
   another spell in the First Division. And they should have scored in
   the 68th minute when Schmeichel fumbled the shot from Dean Gordon
   which followed Lombardo's indirect free-kick. But Shipperley wafted
   the loose ball over.

   United completed their night's work in the 83rd minute when Scholes,
   having had his shot blocked by Miller, headed the rebound to Cole, who
   tapped the third goal over the line. All United can do now is wait and
   they may not have to wait long.

   Crystal Palace (4-4-2): Miller; Smith, Ismael, Edworthy, Gordon;
   Lombardo (Hreidarsson, 86min), Brolin (Fullarton, 68), Curcic, Bent;
   Shipperley, Padovano (Dyer, 75).

   Manchester United (4-4-2): Schmeichel; P Neville, May, Pallister,
   Irwin (Clegg, 78); Beckham, Butt, Scholes, Giggs; Sheringham, Cole.

   Referee: P Jones (Loughborough).

   Guardian
   _________________________________________________________________

                 Crystal Palace v Man United 27/04/98 8.00
                                      
Crystal Palace          (0) 0 Man United              (2) 3 FT
                              Scholes 5
                              Butt 21
                              Cole 84

   A rejuvenated Manchester United kept their title hopes flickering and
   at the same time turned out the Premiership lights for Crystal Palace.
   
   Goals from Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Andy Cole gave United a
   convincing victory against a team which has now been relegated three
   times in six years.
   
   But as United boss Alex Ferguson applauded his team off the pitch how
   he must have wished they could have produced a few more spirited and
   effervescent displays such as this over the championship run-in.
   
   And how he must have yearned to play a side with such glaring
   inadequacies as Palace every week.
   
   No matter. Even allowing for the shortcomings of a desperate and
   demoralised Palace side, who have looked doomed for months, United
   were back to their exuberant, irrepressible best.
   
   Gone was the diffidence and lethargy which has done such irreparable
   damage to their title challenge.
   
   Gone was the frailty which has seen them struggle to despatch even
   mediocre opposition.
   
   And encouragingly for England boss Glenn Hoddle it was the United
   contingent of Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, David Beckham and Teddy
   Sheringham, who have looked so out of sorts in recent weeks, who were
   at the heart of United's every enterprising move.
   
   The victory takes United to within one point of Arsenal, who
   admittedly have two games in hand and with four games left the north
   Londoners - bar a colossal collapse - should still cruise to their
   first Premiership title.
   
   But at least United gave their travelling support something to cheer.
   
   Indeed they signalled their intention to surge forward as early as the
   fourth minute when Nicky Butt crashed a powerful 20-yarder just too
   high.
   
   Palace, however, failed to heed the warning and when they wasted a
   throw-in just seconds later United pounced.
   
   Teddy Sheringham played in a shrewd ball for Cole, whose deft touch
   fell into the path of Paul Scholes.
   
   For a moment it looked as if the England midfielder had lost the
   chance with the ball stuck between his feet, but he dug it out to
   crash home a 10-yard shot past keeper Kevin Miller.
   
   It was always a mission impossible for Palace, who have won just one
   home league game all season and that against Derby nine days ago.
   
   The Londoners have stumbled from one farce to another in a season
   which started under the guidance of Steve Coppell and has finished
   with an Italian player-coach in Attilio Lombardo in charge who does
   not speak English - and an assistant-player coach in the rotund and
   vaguely bizarre shape of Tomas Brolin.
   
   Such a partnership was always a desperate throw.
   
   And their hopes of salvaging anything from this game disappeared when
   United made it 2-0 after 21 minutes, though this time Palace appeared
   to have just cause for protest.
   
   Palace player-manager Attilio Lombardo looked to have been hacked down
   from behind by David May, but referee Peter Jones waved play on.
   
   The ball was moved swiftly on to Butt who cruised forward unchallenged
   to fire a powerful 20-yarder past Miller.
   
   By now United were surging forward at will and could easily have gone
   in at half-time five goals ahead as Butt, Beckham and Giggs all
   squandered gilt-edged shooting chances.
   
   The second-half was a carbon-copy of the first with Palace throwing
   themselves forward in waves of kamikaze attacks, only to be picked off
   as United carved open their defence on the counter-attack.
   
   Cole should have scored with a completely free header from five yards,
   another flashing shot from Butt skimmed just over and Sheringham's
   crisp shot was turned away by Miller.
   
   But Palace, for whom Italian duo Lombardo and Michele Padovano battled
   bravely, should have got on the scoresheet themselves when Peter
   Schmeichel spilled Dean Gordon's free-kick only for Neil Shipperley to
   hook the ball over the bar from three yards.
   
   In truth so woeful were the Londoners in invention and accuracy,
   however, that they probably would not have hit the Millennium Dome.
   
   The only mystery was why United did not score a hatful but they did
   eventually give the scoreline more of a realistic complexion.
   
   The Palace defence cracked under intense pressure in the 84th minute
   when United's man-of-the-match Scholes slipped the ball across the
   face of goal for Cole to score his 24th and easiest goal of the
   season.
   
   For United the victory keeps their desperately frustrating season
   flickering for at least another six days when Arsenal can clinch the
   title at home to Everton if they beat Derby at Highbury on Wednesday
   night.
   
   As for Palace their season was past frustrating before the leaves had
   left the trees. They can only hope to regroup under a new manager and
   perform their party trick of bouncing back into the Premiership next
   season.
   
   It is becoming something of a speciality in this part of south London.
   
   Crystal Palace: (4-4-2) Miller, Edworthy, Gordon, Curcic, Lombardo
   (Hreidarsson, 87), Shipperley, Padovano (Dyer, 75), Brolin (Fullarton,
   68), Bent, Smith, Ismael.
   Subs not used: Warhurst, Nash.
   Booked: Ismael.
   
   Man United: (4-4-2) Schmeichel, Irwin (Clegg, 76), May, Pallister,
   Beckham, Butt, Cole, Sheringham, Giggs, Neville, Scholes.
   Subs not used: Van Der Gouw, Solskjaer, Berg, Thornley.
   
   Attendance: 26,180.
   Referee: P Jones (Loughborough).

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