PL L FA Premier League

Manchester United 1:2 Fulham

Post-match discussion


Sat, 24 February 2024

Fulham two goals from two shots on target in that 2nd half and both thanks to woeful defending by United makes the defeat all the more frustrating and annoying.
 
So bad. To be completely outplayed by Fulham, at Old Trafford, is both shocking and, sadly, not the least bit surprising.

They even decided to give us a route back into the game by sitting in for the last 10 minutes. To equalise and then see nine minutes go up on the board, you would absolutely expect the home side to go on and win it. But nope, no urgency, no rallying cry, and all Fulham had to do was come out of their half again.

Piss poor.
I mean there was absolutely 100% urgency and a ‘rallying cry’ at 1-1, we actually started having shots and dominated the territory. If anything that ‘rallying cry’ is why we ended up losing in the end.
 
People who are happy just to win games and don't care about the performance forget that these things eventually catch up with you.

In order to be top-4 or top-5 we have to PLAY like a top-4 or top-5 team. We haven't really done it despite our little run of results.

This is the situation exactly. We've won games due to having some good players doing things well individually at times, but we haven't played like a team I'm forever and are letting teams absolutely boss us. As you say, playing poorly and conceding lots of chances every game, eventually it was going to go against us again.
 
Sad really but I fully expected us to lose that game once Hojlund was ruled out.

His freak form was literally the only reason we’ve been getting the wins we’ve been getting. The balance of the games were not in our favour and you knew today would be the same and that nobody would be able to bail us out.

Agreed. We hadn’t been playing good team football or anything in the last few matches during our purple patch, it was largely just Hojlund grinding super hard to make (and convert) his own luck.

The truth is we just don’t have the personnel to play good, consistent, dominant football. I don’t know if EtH is the guy if he had a roster of players who could play controlling football, but he certainly hasn’t helped his case with his choice of transfers.
 
Correct. People acting like this was far different from other performances haven’t been paying attention.
More or less a carbon copy of the way we've been playing all season. So the usual excuses like "you can't blame ETH for [insert specific player mistake here]" don't fly at all.
 
I don't understand our refusal to cross the ball. We had 10 crosses all game.

Bruno 4
Garnacho 3
Casemiro 1
Maguire 1
Erikson 1

How is it that our #10 has the most crosses? Bruno is trying to do too much. Be in the middle and support the midfield and the striker. And why is it that our FB's have a combined ZERO crosses?
Without Hojlund, we have nobody willing to get in the box. Maybe Rashford is, but it’s so hard to jog into the box in time for the cross. Be more understanding please.
 
I mean there was absolutely 100% urgency and a ‘rallying cry’ at 1-1, we actually started having shots and dominated the territory. If anything that ‘rallying cry’ is why we ended up losing in the end.
Maybe I saw it wrong, but while the crowd was up and we had possession, we struggled to create any clear cut chances. Lots of floated balls into the box but I didn’t get the impression a goal or two was imminent. It’s hard to suddenly switch on when the performance has been so poor, we were still struggling for urgency and quick, precise movement. Gave the ball away horrendously all game, and that continued to the end.
 
Good mid/lower table battle between 2 teams. Next time we might nick it
 
Rashford starting up front meant we were fecked before we began, he pulled out of a 50-50 in the first half and that directly led to a Fulham chance, he has to go in the summer.

Now Bruno didn't have a great game but at least he was trying, he won aerial duels that Rashford won't even attempt
 
Erik has to take the blame for that abysmul performance, why leave Rashford on when he clearly had no interest in playing and why make such bizarre subs?
 
Agreed. We hadn’t been playing good team football or anything in the last few matches during our purple patch, it was largely just Hojlund grinding super hard to make (and convert) his own luck.

The truth is we just don’t have the personnel to play good, consistent, dominant football. I don’t know if EtH is the guy if he had a roster of players who could play controlling football, but he certainly hasn’t helped his case with his choice of transfers.
Oh he is absolutely not the guy for anything. Pound for pound one of the worse managers in the league. And I say that with full confidence. What he produces with the finance and personnel he has is an abomination.
 
Oh he is absolutely not the guy for anything. Pound for pound one of the worse managers in the league. And I say that with full confidence. What he produces with the finance and personnel he has is an abomination.

Yea, I tend to agree this season. Wonder if he basically just flattered to deceive at Ajax in the CL cause he had FdJ and a few others.
 
If Sir Jim’s desire is to knock City and Liverpool off their perch, then he’d better start by knocking Ten Hag off his . . .
 
I listened to the game and it sounded as if we didn't really turn up. We have been on a v decent run, and we have to always be realistic with this squad. Rasmus being out, Shaw.. but every club has injuries throughout a season.

Also, credit to Fulham who seemed to have done a very good job on us.

V v big game against Forest in the Cup. Very.
 
That result is down to poor recruitment. Yes, we’ve looked much better in recent weeks with the “first choice X1” pretty much available. But at this level, you can’t afford to lose a couple of key players and the team simply folds to dross again. We had a settled front 3 and one injury to it and it falls to pieces. Thats where City and Liverpool are still miles ahead of us really.
 
Yes we have injuries to key players like Hojlund, Martinez, Shaw and AWB.

But Ten Hag should have done better today. He's seen how Lindelof played over the past couple of weeks at LB and persisted with it instead of being in Kambwala at RB and moving Dalot to LB.

He also saw our attack be better 5 games in a row with Rashford on the left and Garnacho on the right, yet changes the positions of both. He had the option of bringing in Amad or Antony. The only way I personally would've started Forson would be if he was going to play through the middle to keep the continuity with Rashford and Garnacho in their recent positions.

He also could've changed the shape with Hojlund out and played 442 diamond with two mobile forwards in Garnacho and Rashford with 4 in midfield. He's done it before and with more midfielders available than attackers it was a move to make.

Evans was very good last week when he came on next to Varane but he also didn't give Evans the start he probably deserved today.

These mistakes cost us today. Maguire was poor in open play and with another aggressionless performance from Lindelof we were never going to keep a clean sheet.

Players played shit but this one's on Ten Hag. He should've done better with what he has. No excuses.
 
Fulham didn't even play well. That is the sad reality of where we are at as a football club, a team in awful form with players missing can turn up at OT and not even have to be at their best to get a win.

Do the right thing Jim. Set fire to the whole lot and start again.
 
I just watched the post match interview, EtH said we deserved the equaliser?
 
This is the situation exactly. We've won games due to having some good players doing things well individually at times, but we haven't played like a team I'm forever and are letting teams absolutely boss us. As you say, playing poorly and conceding lots of chances every game, eventually it was going to go against us again.

We probably lost because we didn't have Shaw, Martinez and Hojlund, which sums it up. It's OK not to be as good when you lose major players, but the drop off is way too big and that's due to coaching issues.
 
We are shockingly bad.

We were second best in a lot our recent wins, and even the wins back at the start of the season.

Let ETH ride the season out but hopefully we are already in the process of picking someone for the new era.
 
Shame that good run had to end like this. Missing Shaw and Rasmus was a blow but I would have expected a bit more fight from the players. The second goal was preventable. The amount of space and time Iwobi was allowed was criminal. Can't blame Onana for that.

Definitely but if we're honest even with missing a few players we should still be beating Fulham at home. Or at least look like a half decent football team if we do somehow lose.
 
Definitely but if we're honest even with missing a few players we should still be beating Fulham at home. Or at least look like a half decent football team if we do somehow lose.
They went from almost their own corner to score in 3 passes. Our defense on the transition is like Swiss cheese sometimes.
 
Only in and just watched the goals.

The joke shop defending for the first and the absolute fecking state of Maguire's attempts to deal with the second.

Don't think I have the patience to watch this back, I probably will though.
 
Only in and just watched the goals.

The joke shop defending for the first and the absolute fecking state of Maguire's attempts to deal with the second.

Don't think I have the patience to watch this back, I probably will though.
He was on a yellow. Maguire.
 
Very poor. Thought we were going to get one of our usual smash and grabs at the end but it went the other way today, and Fulham deserved it.

Trouble we've got with these injuries is we don't just lose one player but we have to completely change the makeup of the team. If we had a proper back up striker we would've been able to keep Garnacho on the right and Rashford on the left.
 
Only in and just watched the goals.

The joke shop defending for the first and the absolute fecking state of Maguire's attempts to deal with the second.

Don't think I have the patience to watch this back, I probably will though.
Play it on 2 or 4x speed, we barely did anything all game
 
Very poor. Thought we were going to get one of our usual smash and grabs at the end but it went the other way today, and Fulham deserved it.

Trouble we've got with these injuries is we don't just lose one player but we have to completely change the makeup of the team. If we had a proper back up striker we would've been able to keep Garnacho on the right and Rashford on the left.

Having Hojlund in there today wouldnt have made a shred of difference as its clear Rashford had no interest in playing so would have offered nothing wherever he played.
 
Feel a little guilty putting a tenner on Bassey scoring and expecting to have wasted proper money :nervous:
 
What would you do?

Not sure what the right solution is, but it is definitely not this. What I can think of:
1) Give clarity on Malacia. Fans are not fecking idiots. We have a right to know.
2) Find an LB or RB from the academy. Move Dalot to LB if an RB is available.
3) If there are none, ask Lindelof to at least attempt something. He is one of the most cowardly players I have ever seen on the ball.
4) Play a winger (Antony) at LB. It’s fecking Fulham at home.
5) If that is beyond expectations, change the fecking system. Play 3 at the back and play a winger as LWB.

I don’t want to see that coward Lindelof anywhere near the team. As a professional footballer, if you’re so scared of playing a forward pass, just fecking retire.
 

Player Ratings

4.3 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 217 ratings.

Score Predictions

143,11,10
  • Man Utd win
  • Fulham win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 30% Man Utd 2:1 Fulham
  • 20% Man Utd 2:0 Fulham
  • 14% Man Utd 3:1 Fulham
  • 12% Man Utd 3:0 Fulham
  • 7% Man Utd 1:0 Fulham
  • 4% Man Utd 1:1 Fulham
  • 4% Man Utd 1:2 Fulham
  • 2% Man Utd 0:0 Fulham
  • 2% Man Utd 4:0 Fulham
  • 1% Man Utd 0:1 Fulham
  • 1% Man Utd 0:2 Fulham
  • 1% Man Utd 4:1 Fulham
  • 1% Man Utd 4:5 Fulham
  • 1% Man Utd 2:2 Fulham
  • 1% Man Utd 5:1 Fulham
  • 1% Man Utd 3:2 Fulham
Compiled from 164 predictions.
Show more results Score Predictions League Table

Match Stats

  1. Man Utd
  2. Fulham
Possession
57% 43%
Shots
21 17
Shots on Target
9 5
Corners
10 9
Fouls
6 11

Referee

Michael Oliver