LONDON (AP) — A referee wore a camera for the first time in an English Premier League match as Crystal Palace beat up Manchester United 4-0 on Monday.
Footage from the device worn by Jarred Gillett, dubbed the RefCam, was not broadcast live but will be wound into a program made by the league to show the ups and downs of refereeing at the highest level.
What it will also show is a closeup of United’s woeful defending.
Defenders backed off Michael Olise and allowed him to stride forward unchallenged and score the opener after 13 minutes.
Jean-Philippe Mateta made it 2-0 five minutes before halftime when he skinned Jonny Evans and hammered the ball into the roof of the net.
The United defense failed to deal with a ball into the box and Tyrick Mitchell slid in to poke home a third nearly an hour in.
The fourth came soon after when Casemiro was dispossessed by Daniel Muñoz, who cut the ball back for Olise to score his second.
It was a particularly rough day for Casemiro. United’s captain for the day also had two goals chalked off.
United could claim it was missing captain Bruno Fernandes, as well as regulars Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford but it was still dominated by a side that started the day six places behind it in the table.
The defeat was United’s 13th in the league. It remained in eighth spot, outside the automatic European places.
“It’s clear, it’s obvious, this is underperforming," United coach Erik ten Hag told Sky Sports. “We didn’t act how we wanted to and it’s not good enough. We are very disappointed.
“There are always reasons, everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems. At the end of the day, we have to deal with it and we should have done better.”
Ten Hag’s men have three more league games to go before facing Manchester City in the FA Cup final on 25 May. The winner of the cup qualifies for the Europa League.
Palace remained in 14th place.
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