[Sanchez7]

Not happy with the manner of the performance at all, we always revert to ping pong football and lose all composure on the ball. It is more of the same nonsense we played last season and a better team would have punished us.

I thought Licha was poor and made few suicidal plays which left the defense exposed and could have led to couple of goals but Maguire did well. Mazraoui also with a very good debut - he looks strong and technically good. Need to see more of ZZ but a winner on debut is a great start for him.

Ultimately, I think we are still missing two quality midfielders who can dictate play and keep the ball under pressure. Also, Rashford needs to to be on the bench until he shows some form.

 

[pratyush_utd]

Our xG is 2.5 vs 0.5. Goals will come

 

[Michael T]

Well, EtH said he was worried the team were under-cooked before the match, and it showed. Still, a win, top of the league for now and some great debuts from the new lads. I'll take that. Ugarte can't get here soon enough - midfield still an issue.
Three points, happy days.

 

[AltiUn]

Pretty much the same as last season but with a better defence.

We were the better team, but by God are we shit going forward.

We actually created some really decent chances, just finishing was poor, which is better than last season where we weren’t even creating chances.

 

[Ludens the Red]

Half the forum will pretend that was a good performance. But it really wasn’t.
It was erratic, frantic, Fulham bypassed the press quite easily in the second half too.
The sloppy passing from trying to make passes too quickly. Decision making and finishing in the final third was pathetic.
The insane amount of turnovers Fulham had in the second half. Our defenders massively got us out of jail today with their quite frankly ridiculous at times last ditch defending.

I expected this though and genuinely don’t know what planet people are on who think this team is coming top four. As with last season reality will quickly hit in the coming weeks despite a performance masking opening day win.

 

[Bobski]

The funny thing about XG is that Fulham chance when Andy P inexplicably messed up a training ground counter was their biggest moment of the game and it doesn't exist for XG.

 

[Maureen-yo]

That was a really poor pass to Garnacho.

Give over, he squared him the ball and he missed. If that was the other way around you’d be slating him for the miss and praising Garnacho for setting it up.

 

[Adz_99]

I'd hoped we might start winning home games at home to sides like Fulham comfortably but we managed to make hard work of it.

Relieved to have won, it was probably deserved but a straight forward 2-0 for once would be welcome. My heart can't take another 37 of those.

 

[bobglory]

made the mistake of sticking my nose in the match day thread jeez there are some whoppers on here .

first few games of the season are always all over the place but we played well and a massive improvement from last season .

our new full back looks really good , zirkzee looked really nice on the ball and nice finish .

once things click up front it could be a good season for us .

 

[abailey123]

Leaving one at the back for set pieces is going to give some palpitations but we played how we should at old Trafford there - front foot pushing for the goal.
Could have been out of sight by half term had Bruno took his chances.
This stage of the season as the team evolves results are all that matters.
We’ve got such a better foundation than last season also.

 

[Glorio]

Zirkzee is so chill

The post match interview, he's like he's relaxing on holidays

 

[kiristao]

If not for a brad friedel-esque performance from Leno, we win that comfortably.
Mazraoui, Maguire, Martinez and Casimero were great
Mainoo, Dalot, Amad, De ligt, Evans and Zirkzee were good.
Rashford did much better in the 2nd half.
Bruno made some great runs but really poor finishing and was pretty wasteful with his passing.
Mount pressed well but didn't do much other than that.

 

[One Night Only]

Our xG is 2.5 vs 0.5. Goals will come

Yeah but Jesus we missed some easy chances, Garnachos alone must have account for 0.95 of that xG.

 

[ShinjiNinja26]

Decent start. The result was obviously the most important thing but there were glimpses of some nice attacking moves but looked a bit toothless upfront at times as well. Still struggle to really control the game though which just highlights the importance of signing a midfielder. Good debuts for all as well. On to the next one!

 

[Aresma7]

First game of the season. Should have won 2 or 3-0. Defense good. Bruno’s finishing was off. Zirkzee with the swagger. Mazraoui MoM.

How did Rash and Nacho feck that up!?

 

[ElectroManiac]

I think we play well. Similar thing in our game again City. We need to finish better. If we can finish better this game is 4-0.

 

[Dudu]

Lots of good moments and play. Terrible finishing.

Except Zirks. 3 points. Lets go

 

[despairingfool]

Zirkzee looks like a rugby player. Very good passer. He's really handsome too. Looks class with the socks down. He did that at bologna too. He reminds me of Nick Bosa in the way he talks. So laid back and monotone. I look forward to him this season. Good vibes.

 

[Leão]

A win is a win! Top of the League!

 

[suheilsworld]

Solid 8 days before our next game. Hoping we can sort Ugarte and get the players connecting through training

 

[2 man midfield]

Top of the league

 

[Dudu]

 

[The Red Thinker]

Fulham had a lot of their players go a full pre season. Most of our first teamer’s barely had a pre-season. So yes undercooked. Hopefully, we’ll be in better shape against Brighton.

 

[Gloccamora]

3 points! Could have scored more.

 

[Crimson King]

I said before kick off that the result was more important than the performance, and I'll stand by that. However, a lot of last season's bad habits crept back into that performance in the second half, despite some promising new signs in the first.

Still desperately need a fit left footed LB and more options in CM. Can't be relying on McT to come on and grab a goal all season again.

 

[OldSchoolManc]

Kinell, the amount of Debbie Downers on here! That was actually quite a solid performance for first game of the season!

 

[RedRocket08]

A lot of positives for sure - We controlled the midfield and the game for most stretches, played some beautiful moves in attack, defended solidly, performance didn't drop even after 5 subs so we might finally have some confidence in our squad options, and of course Zirkzee got his debut goal.

Of course we need to polish up our finishing and our final passes, there definitely was a bit of pre-season rust but hopefully we'll work on this and be more clinical next game. I thought Rashy, Garna, Amad (a little quiet today) had a decent game, Garna should really have put it to bed there at the end but the game was pretty much done. Bruno just had an off-day in the final third today, otherwise he played well - 6/10 game from him, but he made some quality passes, I'm sure he'll pull off a worldie next week, not worried about him at all.

Shout out to Nous as well, had a cracker of a debut and defied a lot of expectations today.

A fit and high-performing DM is crucial for our success this season, getting Ugarte and giving Casemiro some much needed rest in between games will be important. We are seeing a better version of Case, and I think he's keen to be here at United, but his minutes definitely need to be managed.

 

[Catt]

I almost didn’t drink tonight, almost

Second half, I bet

 

[V.O.]

The start was slow and the end was hectic, but the period between maybe 15 mins and the subs at 60 was very promising. Organised, intense pressing, front foot defending, creating chances for fun.

In the Liverpool friendly, the Charity Shield and in this game, we could have scored 3+ in each easily. Things need to tighten up and we need to maintain performance levels for the full 90, but I'll take finishing being our worst issue for now.

 

[SER19]

Happy with that. None of the chaos and carnage of last season and should have had 3

 

[Alemar]

We were so wasteful today. Should have scored at least 3. Top of the league nonetheless

 

[sirAlexsglasses]

Deserved win and first time in a long time I’ve felt as though the defence was solid and didn’t scare the shit out of me. So many mis-placed passes and unenforced errors though resulting in Fulham turning the ball over and putting us under unnecessary pressure. Hopefully this will disappear as the players get used to working with each other under this system.

 

[flameinthesun]

I agree. We actually have a strong ability to dominate and if we had kept the discipline of the first half, we would have controlled the game fully. What we were missing in the first half was a striker, Zirkzee showed the difference.

In the second half, Casemiro and Mainoo got exposed. Both players were too offensive and overtime started leaving gaps, which made the game stretched. Signing Ugarte makes a lot of sense given that, as this is what allowed Fulham to get into the game.

ETH also made a mistake in subbing off Amad. His ability to come deep, helped us to have more control in the first half.

Mazraoui was fantastic. I think we have enough moving forward to do really well. A strong midfielder with good stamina will really do wonders for us. Both Casemiro and Mainoo have positional weaknesses and stamina issues which can get exposed, but are good enough to have in rotation. I can imagine us having a midfield with different partnerships that is stronger as a unit

I agree on Amad, both Garnacho and Rashford have the propensity to lose the ball whereas Amad helps in maintaining possesion. But Garnacho also isn't fully up to speed tbf. I'm not really going to judge the players until a couple games into the season.

 

[.Phil1968]

Wow
Footballs back. Good win but lots to work on. Beauty.

 

[JinnerJamie]

Best ever start under EtH... We're winning the league

 

[SER19]

Kinell, the amount of Debbie Downers on here! That was actually quite a solid performance for first game of the season!

Absolutely. Didn't look under threat after Fulhams strong start. Should have scored 3 or 4. Got away with 1 counter but never looked fragile which we did all season last year

 

[gerdm07]

Give over, he squared him the ball and he missed. If that was the other way around you’d be slating him for the miss and praising Garnacho for setting it up.

Nope. It was slightly behind Garnacho and so he had to use his weak foot. It was an easy pass to put just right and he didn't.

Also, I don't think that was a pass to Mount from Rashford. I think that was a miss dribble. Sorry, I just think Rashford will never read the game well.

 

[stevoc]

Not a great performance, still dogshit going forward and in front of goal. Look better defensively which is a plus.

Glad we got the 3 points but a performance to forget.

 

[always_hoping]

How many shots did we concede?

10 and two on target.

 

[pratyush_utd]

Not a great performance, still dogshit going forward and in front of goal. Look better defensively which is a plus.

Glad we got the 3 points but a performance to forget.

We missed 3 sitters, Bruno, Mount and Garnacho