Premier League review: Man Utd transformation begins; David Moyes shows tactical chops

Johnny Nicholson examines the weekend's Premier League talking points

West Ham United manager David Moyes. Picture: Adam Davy/PA

Fred does what Fred doesn’t usually do

What better way to mark a new regime’s arrival than to win a game by a single goal scored by the man who was both emblematically and literally one of the previous regime’s biggest problems? Fred scored. The much-maligned Fred. The usually useless Fred. And he did it with his wrong foot too. What voodoo was this that Ralph Rangnick had cast for Manchester United? In the first half United were transformed. Playing two strikers and two 10s to help control midfield while putting pressure on the defence was how United were set up and for 45 minutes, although they didn’t score, they completely dominated Crystal Palace. But for half of the second 45, the curse of Ole returned and they began to drift. Marcus Rashford, who, to be fair, had been doing all of Cristiano’s running in the first half, tired and was replaced. Their crowd seemed to realise they needed a kick up the backside and they got behind them. Palace didn’t offer much and went down to a disappointing third straight loss. By the time 2021 turns into 2022, Manchester United will almost certainly look like a very different team, playing a very different sort of football under their new coach.