Fulham boss Marco Silva issues “cruel” statement after Manchester United defeat, Ruben Amorim has responded

Fulham manager Marco Silva was far from pleased after his side fell to a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Craven Cottage on Sunday evening.

The match between Manchester United and Fulham offered little excitement, standing out as one of the most uneventful games of the Premier League season so far.

Nonetheless, Ruben Amorim and his team will take solace in securing all three points despite the underwhelming performance.

The breakthrough came courtesy of a deflected effort from Lisandro Martínez, which arced over the Fulham goalkeeper and into the net.

Toby Collyer once again proved his value, stepping off the bench to make a crucial goal-line clearance that denied Fulham an equaliser from a set piece.

While the result is a positive, there is plenty of work ahead for Amorim’s side, with several players falling short of expectations at Craven Cottage.

Silva describes Fulham vs United result as cruel

After full-time, Fulham’s manager Marco Silva made his feelings clear on what he believed to be a “cruel” result for his team.

“I think it was cruel for us tonight. The result, their first shot on [target] on 78 minutes. Clearly we were the team that had more control,” Silva told Sky Sports.

“I don’t remember one dangerous moment from them during the first half. Our second half was not as good and, unfortunately for us, a really lucky goal, deflection, they scored.

“I think the result is really unfair. It is not what we deserve, but football is like that. They are very lucky to win tonight.”

While the Reds were far from impressive, it would be good for the Fulham boss to recognise that his team were particularly poor too. They didn’t exactly create many clear cut chances.

In fact, the only real moment of quality came from the visiting side when Amad and Kobbie Mainoo linked up to score in the final moments of the game but it ended up being ruled out for offside.

Amorim’s assessment of lucky United win

Despite poor performances in recent weeks, United have also been unfortunate in certain moments in games.

So when you get an away victory through a deflected strike from your centre-back, you take it every day of the week.

Amorim echoed that opinion in his assessment after being asked about United’s lucky win, although he also stressed the importance for United to improve their performances as well.

“You need sometimes a little bit of luck, and we had some games that we lost [where we didn’t get luck], and in the end nobody cares because the result [is what] counts,” the United boss explained.

“I remember some chances that we miss, for example against Nottingham [Forest], Bournemouth, some goals in the first minute of the game that change the game.

“So, today I can see it that we have a lot to improve. We didn’t play so well with the ball but we gave time to the team and when you do have time with talented players, they can show in one play and they can change the game and today it was that situation.”

Read More: Manchester United’s five things noticed vs Fulham, Rúben Amorim finally given what he’s been missing

Ultimately, we are not going to see United immediately turn things around and become a well-oiled machine. Things are going to take longer than that.

What the team needs is to show grit and get over the line in games by any means neccesary to build some confidence and get points on the board. And then, hopefully, we will see more assured and improved performances from these players.

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