“Same old story” – Two Manchester United players praised despite ‘better’ Fulham performance

Marco Silva believes that two Manchester United players helped Erik ten Hag win on Saturday despite Fulham being the better side.

Manchester United recorded their first win in three games across all competitions as Erik ten Hag’s men defeated Fulham away from home in the Premier League, moving the club level on points in the table – but still sitting in 8th position.

The win was thanks to Bruno Fernandes, whose moment of magic from the edge of the area combined with Facundo Pellistir’s brilliant cameo off the bench resulted in a 90th-minute winner at Craven Cottage.

Fulham boss Marco Silva spoke after the fixture, explaining that although he believes that his side were the better team on the day, two United players made the difference.

“It’s a really difficult one to take,” he told Fulham club media at full-time on Saturday afternoon.

“Overall, we have to say we were the best team on the pitch, but again it’s the same old story. That was the reality of the afternoon again. The first half was 50/50 and Man United started slightly better than us, I have to say.

“McTominay was most dominant in certain areas of the pitch. After that, we adjusted and started to come into the game but the first half was 50/50. The second half was completely different. We adjusted some things at half-time and we were the best team on the pitch second-half.”

Andrè Onana made some crucial saves during the game to keep United in it before the Fernandes winner, which Silva recognised to be a big reason why his side came away empty-handed on the day.

“We didn’t give almost anything to them. We created enough to score, very good saves from Onana. Even so, we should have created so much more because we arrived so well in dangerous areas that we should have created more with the right decision.

“Unfortunately we didn’t and we were punished by 10 seconds that is difficult to understand how that happened with us because it’s not the first time.”