Player ratings: Manchester United 2-0 Crystal Palace

David de Gea: 6

Did he touch the ball in the entire match? Ah well, let's just give him a six.

Antonio Valencia: 6

It was a solid performance from Valencia, but little more than that. He's still unspectacular going forward, often spurning the opportunity to take on his opposite number in favour of a simple pass infield. However, the Ecuadorian is a more than capable defender, and had no problems coping with the threat that Wilfried Zaha posed when he moseyed over to the left at the start of the second half.

Chris Smalling: 7

Good performance, though it's easy when you're going up against Emmanuel Adebayor in that form. Smalling also showed a confidence to carry the ball forward out of defence, which United could do with a little more often. 'Verticality', I believe Brendan Rodgers calls it.

Daley Blind: 7

Ditto, plus a few smart passes out from the back.

Matteo Darmian: 6.5

Scored a stonking first goal for United, but don't forget his struggles against Zaha throughout the first half. The Palace winger caused Darmian so many problems that Alan Pardew's decision to move the former Manchester United man onto Valencia's side in the second half was little short of inexplicable.

Juan Mata: 6

It was a day ending in a 'y', so Mata ran around a lot, played a few tidy passes, and once again refused to answer the question of whether he's actually of any value or not. We lean towards Mata sympathy, but a little more end product against teams like Palace wouldn't go amiss.

Morgan Schneiderlin: 6

Little more could be expected from Schneiderlin against a team that point-blank refused to attack. He had no problems anchoring the midfield on his own, with Mata and Rooney flanking him in slightly freer roles. Perhaps this is a shape van Gaal will play around with more over the coming weeks.

Wayne Rooney: 7

For the second game in a row Rooney looked pleasingly good in midfield, pulling the strings and quickly stretching a compact opponent with long passes out to the flanks. Not coincidentally, it was also the second game in a row against a rubbish team. Our Glorious Captain's finally found his level.

Jesse Lingard: 6

Stirring, incessant, unceasing, spry, energetic, forceful, thrustful, pushing, go-getting, up-and-coming, and other such words plucked from page 678 of the 1983 edition of Roget's Thesaurus. We just wish he was a bit better at actually kicking a football.

Marcus Rashford: 6

Ran the channels well but his end product was a bit lacking. Not that that's a surprise: he's played an awful lot of football recently, and he's still only 18.

Anthony Martial: 6

See above, plus two years.

Memphis: 6 (on for Rashford, 64')

He showed flashes of skill, but entered the game a little late to see much of the ball.

Ander Herrera: 6 (on for Lingard, 73')

As sharp as ever.

Marouane Fellaini: N/A (on for Mata, 78')

He probably did a few things on the pitch, but we must confess, we can't remember any of them.