Patrice Evra has highlighted the lack of pace of Manchester United's central defenders as the key problem which led to Crystal Palace's opener.
The Eagles took the lead at Old Trafford as Andros Townsend scored from Jeffrey Schlupp's cross in what was the Red Devils' first game of the season.
In the build-up to the goal, Schlupp latched on to a through-ball and beat Victor Lindelof for pace before getting his cross away.
Meanwhile, Lindelof's defensive partner Harry Maguire was unable to track back in time to snuff out the cross before it found the onrushing Townsend at the back post.
And former United defender Evra admits he "feared" Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side would be liable to conceding such a goal.
“If they [ Manchester United ] don’t have the most quick centre-backs in the world, they [ Crystal Palace ] will always cause problems," the French pundit told Sky Sports .
“So, it’s a massive danger but I feared that before the game and I’m not surprised about the result right now.”
Do United need to improve their defence in order to challenge for the title? Have your say here.
Shortly after Townsend's seventh-minute opener, United's defence was called into question as a miscommunication between Maguire and goalkeeper David de Gea almost presented a golden opportunity to Jordan Ayew.
Then in the second half of the match, Palace saw a goal ruled out for an offside infringement by Wilfried Zaha to sound more alarm bells over United's defensive ability.
And the Red Devils' misery was compounded as Lindelof conceded a penalty after VAR judged he had handled the ball.
Though Ayew's effort was saved by De Gea, the Spanish shot-stopper was found to have stepped off his line as the ball was being struck and the referee called for the spot kick to be taken again.
And replacement penalty-taker Zaha made no mistake from 12 yards to double his side's lead.
Sign up to the Mirror Football email here for the latest news and transfer gossip.
