A 1-0 win at Fulham on Saturday of the Premier League eased the mounting pressure on Manchester United’s manager Erik ten Hag as his captain Bruno Fernandes grabbed the match-winning goal in stoppage time.
On the other hand, after another performance lacking in innovation at Craven Cottage, it looked as if the Red Devils would drop points for the sixth time in their opening eleven Premier League games.
It was Fernandes, however, who provided some relief to the manager in the 91st minute with his strike from outside the box, which was just too powerful for Bernd Leno to handle.
“The most important thing is that we are getting the three points, and that’s what matters most,” Fernandes told reporters after the game.
“We all know that the situation is bad. I’m not going to lie to you, the performance and the results of the last two games have not been what we want to show, but it was a different game last night.”
It is a highly important victory for United, as it moves them up to sixth in the table and within five points of the top four.
During the hours following his team’s 3-0 defeat against Manchester City at the weekend, Leeds United midfielder Marcus Rashford attended a birthday party at a nightclub. Ten Hag labelled Rashford’s decision “unacceptable” following the defeat.
As a result, Rashford failed to make the matchday squad, leading the Dutch coach to insist Rashford was not suspended, but was injured rather than subjected to any disciplinary action.
After a week that has left a lot to be desired, United needed to start with a bang. As well as that, they also lost the League Cup 3-0 at home to Newcastle on Wednesday, which effectively ended their hold on that trophy.
Despite the lack of time, the visitors were able to score after just seven minutes of play.
Since Ten Hag’s forwards have not been able to produce goals in recent weeks, Scott McTominay has been Ten Hag’s most reliable source of goals.
After Alejandro Garnacho’s ball was passed to him by Scotland’s midfielder, the latter turned it in.
Although Harry Maguire had tried to play the ball from an offside position before it reached Garnacho, he was unsuccessful in doing so. It took a VAR review of four minutes to rule out the goal resulting from the strike.
Following the initial phase of United’s blunt attack, Fulham’s goal was rarely seriously threatened by United’s blunt attack.
On the hour mark of the game, Antony was hooked by Ten Hag after another poor display from the winger costing £87 million ($107 million) and Rasmus Hojlund continues to wait for his first Premier League goal.
Aside from the out-of-favour Aleksandar Mitrovic, Fulham has also been unable to find the back of the net since he left for Saudi Arabia.
There have been just nine goals for Marco Silva’s team in the eleven games they have played so far and they were kicking themselves for not developing a stronger lead earlier in the second half.
Harry Wilson and Joao Palhinha both put in strong efforts that were parried by Andre Onana, while Willian dragged a good opportunity just wide of the goal.
Fulham’s goal in stoppage time sealed United’s first draw since April after United looked set to secure their first draw since April.
After Palhinha attempted to clear the ball twice, the ball broke to his Portuguese international teammate as he attempted to clear it two more times.
There has been a lot of criticism directed at Fernandes and her campaign has started off on a disastrous note.
Despite Leno getting a hand to the shot, he managed to put in a calm finish into the bottom corner with a calm cut onto his right foot and an assured finish despite Leno getting a hand to it.
There is still five points separating Fulham from the relegation zone as a result of Friday’s defeat.
+ There are no comments
Add yours