In the early Premier League match on Saturday, Manchester United defeated Fulham 1-0 thanks to a goal in the ninetieth minute by captain Bruno Fernandes, relieving some of the pressure that the team has been under lately.
Fernandes grabbed a loose ball on the boundary and fired a low, skidding shot inside the post as the game was about to end in a dull draw.
Erik ten Hag, the manager, has been under fire following a run of consecutive 3-0 home losses in what has been United’s worst start to a season since 1962. A victory at Craven Cottage will help remove some of that strain.
Even if the win was greatly anticipated, concerns about United’s future under the Dutchman still exist following yet another lackluster performance.
United moved up to sixth place in the league with 18 points from 11 games, ahead of the remaining games this weekend, after winning three straight close away.
With just 12 points, Fulham is down in 14th place, having been stopped twice in the second half by outstanding stops from André Onana. They can consider themselves unlucky.
Former Manchester United championship winners Gary Neville and Roy Keane have both criticized Fernandes in recent weeks, saying that after certain obnoxious performances, he ought to lose the armband.
When his team most needed it, he responded with a vital goal, taking advantage of Fulham’s incapacity to clear their area by skillfully controlling and turning before firing a shot past Bernd Leno.
“Everyone knows that the situation isn’t the best, we lost the last two games and that wasn’t the performance we intended to give or the results however today it was a different game,” the player from Portugal remarked.
“We were required to offer something unique, and we succeeded. It must instill confidence, but we also need to realize that there is always room for improvement and that the goal is to perform well each and every time we play.”
Now, Fulham has dropped its last four games versus United, which included three losses from the previous campaign.
Manager Marco Silva remarked, “Really difficult for us to deal with, it’s the same old story.”
“In general, we were the superior squad. However, we were punished after losing emotional control and committing three errors in ten seconds.”
After seven minutes, Scott McTominay’s disallowed goal for United was the lone talking point of an uneventful first half.
Alejandro Garnacho deflected Christian Eriksen’s lofted free-kick across the box, and McTominay was there to smash the ball high into the net.
However, United’s joy was ultimately short-lived as a result of a protracted VAR review, during which referee John Brooks consulted the monitor to rule out the goal on the grounds that Harry Maguire—who had initially been offside—had interfered with play.
That was pretty much the whole of United’s attacking threat, with Bernd Leno easily saving a meek effort by Fernandes.
With one early shot saved and several threatening deliveries into the area, Willian was Fulham’s best player. Meanwhile, visiting goalie Onana made one save against Harry Wilson.
The second half started off much the same as the first, but things quickly picked up, forcing Onana into two incredible stops in the space of a hectic minute.
He first palmed away Wilson’s hard-swerving attempt and then made a good reaction to block João Palhinha’s attempt. Then, when United’s defense buckled, Rodrigo Muniz headed a chance over.
Fernandes’s well-timed intervention at least gave the visiting fans something to cheer about, even though a 0-0 draw would have done little to improve the United spirits.