The two teams came out to that belting Dave Clark Five classic "Glad All Over." It's supposed to get Crystal Palace going. Well, on the final whistle all I can say is that it didn't get anyone going and I was glad it was all over. That is, United's bad run in the Premiership after those three defeats at Bolton Wanderers and at home to Fulham and Manchester United. I was also glad that one of the most uninspiring games involving United this season was also over. Graeme Souness's men flew back to Tyneside happy with the three points and their first clean sheet in the Premiership away from St James' Park this season. They also maintained their record of being the only team to have scored away from home in every game in the Premiership in the current campaign. But if the statistics make happy reading then that's it. Because Palace were so poor and much-vaunted manager Iain Dowie's tactics so puzzling that I have got to ask why it took United so long to finish them off. Palace were really terrible, and they looked a one-man team with their pacy striker Andy Johnson causing all sorts of problems despite being outnumbered by the United defence . Indeed, I hate to think what would have happened had Dowie given Johnson some support instead of banking on five men in midfield. After the game, everyone I spoke to in the United squad said they thought that it was only a matter of time before that first goal came. But, quite frankly, I felt that despite all their possession and play in the second half, United were never going to score. I saw things up front differently from Souness. He believed that United did not miss their talisman skipper and striker Alan Shearer on the day. Well, I thought they did. In fact, the manager would have been perfectly justified in bringing Patrick Kluivert off long before the Dutchman scored that wonderfully cheeky opener in the 79th minute. And if Laurent Robert is an enigma, then I cannot understand Kluivert either. At times some of his play has bordered on the world-class but at other times he does not look as though he wants to be here. Yet, having said that, he celebrated his first goal since his hamstring injury and his seventh for United in some style as though he had just grabbed the winner in a Barcelona-Real Madrid match. Mind you, it was a goal worth celebrating and out of character with this match. And what about Robert? He hit the crossbar a minute after Kluivert's opener and then set up the chance for Craig Bellamy to become United's leading Premiership scorer with six goals. Robert consequently left the field to the cheers from the United fans, kissing his shirt and obviously pleased with himself - and rightly so. I was also pleased for Bellamy, who made the first goal so brilliantly for Kluivert and then hammered in his 39th in a black-and-white shirt two minutes from time. At one time I feared that Kluivert's lethargy was beginning to get to the Welsh striker, but thankfully this did not prove to be the case in the end. When it was finally all over United were left to bring home the three points and a nice set of statistics. | 
