Man United's 4-0 EPL drubbing caught on candid camera

A referee wore a camera for the first time in an English Premier League match as Crystal Palace beat up Manchester United 4-0.

Footage from the device worn by Australian referee Jarred Gillett on Monday (Tuesday AEST), 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 close-up 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 defence 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 Munoz, who cut the ball back for Olise to score his second.

It was a particularly rough game for Casemiro, with United’s captain for the day also having two goals chalked off.

United could claim they were missing captain Bruno Fernandes, as well as regulars Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford, but they were still dominated by a side that started the day six places behind them in the table.

The defeat was United’s 13th in the league. They 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.”

The result prompted an even more blunt assessment by former Liverpool captain Jamie Carragher, now an expert commentator.

Carragher labelled United “one of the most poorly coached teams in the Premier League”.

“Erik ten Hag needs performances. You’ve got to make us believe there’s something there or working to something,’‘ he told Sky Sports.

“If he was to lose his job, I don’t think he could have any complaints.

“I struggled to see how United would win, but I thought Palace might win 1-0 or 2-1 in a tight game. No Manchester United team should be getting beaten 4-0 by Crystal Palace.

“I’ve never been a coach or manager, but I’ve been a player and I’ve been coached by top coaches, and some of the things I see are just wrong.”

United have three more league games before facing Manchester City in the FA Cup final on May 25, with the winners qualifying for the Europa League.

Palace remained in 14th place in the Premier League.

- with PA