Ruben Amorim’s initial response to Manchester United executives’ attempts last autumn to woo him was asking to wait until the summer. He wanted time and space to gain full knowledge of the club and their players.
The season-opening games this month were supposed to be the start, a time to be properly judged. Instead, a hangover from nine months of muddle casts shadows over attempts this season at rebooting.
After Rodrigo Muniz’s own goal, first claimed by Leny Yoro for United, Craven Cottage was those nine previous months in microcosm, Amorim’s team unable to put their opponent away, and shy in front of goal. Bruno Fernandes’s uncharacteristic first-half penalty miss was redolent of a team full of psychological as well as tactical and personnel problems. United began well, only for confidence to drain as a capable, muscular opponent met their measure. Emile Smith Rowe stole in to equalise after 94 seconds on the pitch; Fulham fully deserving their share of spoils.
Amorim afterwards blamed his team’s goal for contributing to Fulham’s equaliser. “I think we scored the goal and then we forgot about how we play,” he said.
How long is a developmental phase allowed to take at a club of such short patience? Amorim awaits the shifting of his “bomb squad” to free transfer money to fit his specifications. Altay Bayindir continued in goal, André Onana on the bench with Antwerp’s Senne Lammens reportedly incoming. Mason Mount at false nine suggested Benjamin Sesko remains short of readiness.
As a club doing minimal transfer business so far, Fulham looked far more settled. Muniz, Fulham’s saviour last week at Brighton, was starting, the expectation now the Brazilian stays, Atalanta’s interest cooled. As at Brighton, Josh King was trusted by Silva for the ball-carrying, darting runs that impressed once more.
Matheus Cunha, who scored two superb goals for Wolves last November at the Cottage, might have scored twice in his new team’s rousing start, first driving over the bar, next striking a post from Mount’s stabbed pass. Such momentum continued for the opening 20 minutes. When would United’s first goal of the season come? Bernd Leno was adding to a growing sense of frustration.
By then, Fulham were showing signs of danger, King sent away and Bayindir’s sliding save a fillip to fragile confidence. From Fulham’s first corner, another test of nerve, but the Turk nervously smothered Alex Iwobi’s shot. From a second corner came a flap, Bayindir nowhere near the ball. It is hardly a positive sign when any ball near a goalkeeper draws gasps.
Bryan Mbeumo’s battle with Calvin Bassey left Fulham’s man with the upper hand. Mbeumo, a considerable physical specimen himself, struggled with Bassey’s wardrobe-like bulk and deceptive pace. Bassey versus Mount was far less of a fair fight and United were awarded a video-assisted penalty for a challenge that, on second inspection, resembled the clearing out of a rugby union ruck. Perhaps that inspired Fernandes to lash the spot-kick over the bar when his usual technique is to stroke the ball home. That Amorim did not dare to watch the kick hardly suggested much confidence.
Leno was at least asked to make a save from Amad Diallo’s shot in United’s first attack of the second half in which Sesko was soon introduced.
Joachim Andersen’s robust challenge of the first 50-50 soon let Sesko know he was facing a physical battle. Attacking the back post from a corner, perhaps the giant Slovene’s run proved a distraction for United’s scrambled goal. It also appeared Yoro had given Bassey a push, to further reduce the popularity ratings of Chris Kavanagh, the referee. “Everybody in the world saw what happened,” said Marco Silva, who smirked afterwards at the very idea of the decision being debatable.
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Silva’s own changes proved decisive. From Iwobi’s cross, Raúl Jiménez’s fresh-air shot served as a decoy for Smith Rowe to speed beyond a flat-footed Matthijs de Ligt, Bayindir left helplessly unprotected but still diving the wrong way. “I know when Alex [Iwobi] gets the ball, I know his trademark cross and I have to be there to finish,” said Smith Rowe, looking much improved from his peripheral impact last season.
Sesko, meanwhile, was struggling to get a touch. Amorim said: “It’s not easy to get. Sometimes you are on the bench and you go to the game and the game is really fast. I think he understands that the game is even faster than in the Bundesliga, but he’s fighting.”
Further shades of United last season came as Harry Maguire was thrown on as a late substitute, as a series of corners were forced. It almost worked, too, when the central defender climbed highest above a melee to nod wide. “I forget about last season,” Amorim said, despite so many echoes.
Fulham mounted their own set‑piece campaign, the early evening sun in their eyes creating problems for United’s defenders. A corner in added time left Bayindir in no-man’s land, only for Andersen to miss. A match low on sophistication had been reduced to a physical wrestle, the result and its manner doing little to point to the progressive future for Amorim’s United he and those executives envisaged last autumn.
