Manchester United were able to get their first Premier League points of the season as Rúben Amorim’s men drew 1-1 with Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
Rúben Amorim opted to reintroduce Amad to the starting XI and deploy Altay Bayındır in goal as Manchester United faced Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
The tie started with Matheus Cunha hitting the post very quickly and was denied multiple times in the opening few minutes, although Fulham had their fair share of chances, too.
Bruno Fernandes was handed the perfect opportunity to open the scoring with a penalty after Mason Mount was fouled in the build-up to a corner, but he uncharitreristly skied his effort over the bar.
With the two sides level after 50 minutes, Amorim chose to bring on Benjamin Šeško and Diogo Dalot, and shortly after, a deflected Leny Yoro header from a corner saw United take the lead. However, after some changes themselves, Fulham equalised through Emile Smith-Rowe with 20 minutes to play.
Despite Fulham growing in confidence and both Harry Maguire and Bryan Mbeumo being handed chances, the tie ended with a 1-1 draw in West London.
#1 – United and corners are still an issue
Last season under Amorim, there was a significant period where Premier League sides chose to completely overload United’s goalkeepers from corners, a tactic that Arsenal used to good effect on Altay Bayındır last weekend.
Fulham continued the trend, and once again, United looked incredibly vulnerable from the corners, with the Turkish international flapping at the inswinging crosses and failing to be strong on his line on multiple occasions.
Although Bayındır had some good moments on the ball and made some decent saves, the pending signing of goalkeeper Senne Lammens will bring much-needed refreshment for Amorim.
#2 – United need to feed Cunha more
In the opening few minutes of the game, Cunha looked fantastic and very dangerous, just like against Arsenal. However, playing up front, to get the ball at his feet, he too often had to drop deep, leaving United with a lack of options in the box.
Against Arsenal, the Brazilian was fantastic despite having only 35 touches, and had 20 in the first half against Fulham, highlighting that although he can certainly play well up front, he is at his best when he drops deeper to be on the ball and create chaos, as he knows best.
Once Šeško starts more regularly up front, Cunha will have more freedom to roam the left-hand side from the off, but the game-state against Fulham saw the 26-year-old not too involved.
#3 – De Ligt continuing to impress
While many expected that Maguire would be the man starting in the middle of the back three during the opening games of this season, Amorim has chosen to favour Matthijs de Ligt.
After a brilliant display against Arsenal, marshalling Viktor Gyökeres well, De Ligt backed this up with another impressive display in West London against Rodrigo Muniz.
Muniz came off and was replaced by Raúl Jiménez, and De Ligt did admittedly have a part to play in Fulham’s equaliser, with a lapse in defending at the near post. But, his overall performance was yet another of quality.
#4 – United succumbing to the occasion
Last season, it felt as if United’s good performances, particularly in the Europa League, were driven by confidence and the occasion, with multiple comeback performances being driven by the crowds. Away from home, this obviously became an issue.
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Against Fulham, United faultered and slipped at points, such as Fernandes’ penalty miss, which handed Fulham and their fans confidence, even when they were 1-0 down. This then caused Amorim’s side to withdraw, particularly in the second half.
Before the game, Amorim spoke of his side being one that felt confident and had momentum, but after Fulham dealt a few blows, this started to wane – a trait Amorim must look to quash as soon as possible.
#5 – United felt out of sync vs Fulham
Unlike the Arsenal tie, which was a very cohesive, intense, and well-played overall performance, the display against Fulham looked disjointed.
After the pre-season game saw United play some nice and fluid football, Fulham looked to make it physically imposing for the Reds, which nullified a lot of the threat from Amorim’s team.
It has been well documented that Amorim is in desperate need of a midfielder, and with Casemiro playing no more than 65 minutes in each fixture this season so far, the club must look to reinforce before the window shuts.
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