In a historic moment for the English Premier League, a referee wore a camera for the first time as Crystal Palace secured a convincing 4-0 victory over Manchester United on Monday.
While the footage from the device, known as the RefCam and worn by Jarred Gillett, wasn’t broadcast live, it will be incorporated into a program by the league to showcase the challenges and successes of refereeing at the highest level.
The footage will also highlight Manchester United’s poor defending during the match.
The goals began with Michael Olise scoring the opener after 13 minutes, as United’s defenders failed to challenge him. Jean-Philippe Mateta extended Palace’s lead to 2-0 just before halftime by outmaneuvering Jonny Evans.
Tyrick Mitchell added a third goal for Palace nearly an hour into the game after United’s defense struggled to deal with a ball into the box. Shortly after, Daniel Muñoz dispossessed Casemiro, setting up Olise for his second goal and Palace’s fourth.
Despite missing key players like Bruno Fernandes, Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire, and Marcus Rashford, Manchester United couldn’t match the performance of a team six places below them in the table.
This defeat marked Manchester United’s 13th in the league, leaving them in eighth place, outside of the automatic European qualification spots.
“It’s clear that we are underperforming,” said United coach Erik ten Hag. “We didn’t play as we wanted to, and it’s not acceptable. We are very disappointed. We have significant problems, especially in our defense. We need to address these issues and perform better.”
With three more league games remaining before the FA Cup final against Manchester City on May 25, United has the chance to secure Europa League qualification by winning the cup.
