STOP MARTIAL AND YOU STOP MANCHESTER UNITED, SAYS PARDEW

The Eagles boss says his side identified the

teenager as the dangerman after stopping the

Red Devils from scoring for a third consecutive

match

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew said stopping

Anthony Martial was crucial as the Eagles held

Manchester United to a 0-0 draw on Saturday.

The Red Devils failed to score for a third

successive match at Selhurst Park with Louis van

Gaal admitting after the match his side "created

nothing".

Martial began the game out wide before switching

to a more central role, to no avail, and Pardew

says his side had targeted the teenager as

United's main threat.

"We didn't give Martial an inch," he told reporters

after the game. "Not an inch.

"It was a big target for us to stop him and we felt

that if we could stop him we could stop their

creative angle.

"And when you take into account his age, that's

some recommendation.

"I have to say that he's an impressive young

player. I think he handled himself very well today,

because he would have felt our presence around

him, and still he had moments in the game.

"With such a young player, he'll have to be very,

very careful, the Manchester United manager, to

keep his exuberance there. Because we're all

looking to stop him."

Captain Wayne Rooney came in for criticism after

another quiet display but Pardew defended the

England international who he feels lacked service.

"In defence of Wayne I didn't really think he got a

lot of good possession, I didn't think he had a lot

of chances to create anything," he added.

"I thought we bossed the second half, and in the

first half he didn't get a lot of crosses, so it's very

difficult for him to have an influence on the game.



Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN