Man Utd managed to kill all of the positivity from the Arsenal game dead with one dreary performance against Fulham in just the second game of the season.
It really was back to old habits as a lot of what we saw in this draw was strikingly similar to what we've seen over the past year. Despite the new and exciting signings, United still played in a manner far too close to that resembling their worst season ever.
1. Wasting Good Start
This start against Fulham was brilliant by United. All that we did in those opening 10 minutes was on point.
We popped the ball off well as there was a lot of one touch play, we pressed Fulham high and won the ball back quickly, and more than anything, we created some good chances but failure to take them turned out to be costly in the end.
Having these fast starts is something we've complained about with United for so long but isn't something we can complain about for these first two matches. But not making the most of the starts is something we can moan about.
United are a side who don't create many opportunities so whenever we do, we have to put them away. Cunha had a couple of really good ones that you would've expected him to score at least one of them. Bruno missing the penalty was even harder to believe because he never misses, especially not in that manner.
While we did take the lead, not putting these chances away perhaps caused us to walk away with a draw rather than the 3 points.
2. Not Getting Ball To Cunha Enough
This guy is the dangerman. We know the quality he possesses as whenever he gets the ball, more often than not, something materializes.
In the first 2 minutes, he had a shot from range that went just over the bar. It may not have resulted in anything but indicated that he means business and when a maverick like him is serious, get the ball to him whenever you can.
That good start and opportunities was also mainly down to him. All of that impressive football involved Cunha as he and Mount in partciular appeared to have a great understanding.
Due to this quick, incisive play, the Brazilian had that shot which unfortunately hit the post. His curved run allowing for Bayindir to play the long straight ball into him showed another side of his game that we don't often see compared to his usual neat tricks, flicks and ability to run with the ball.
How he brought it down was beautiful as even under pressure, Cunha displayed composure in order to control the ball and have that chance. He should've done better from it despite Bernd Leno making a good save.
In this period though, we saw just how key this player is in a lot of our attacks. Last week against Arsenal, Cunha showed why he is now United's most threatening player. Get the ball to him and things will happen.
3. Amad as a RWB
I don't necessarily think it works, at least not defensively.
Going forward, we know the quality Amad possesses although in this specific game, that quality wasn't on display.
Defensively however, Amad isn't the best.
A lot of Fulham's joy particularly in the first half came down that right flank of United's. They made several switches of play and runs in behind resulting in opportunities for the home side. I do believe Marco Silva looked at that as an area of weakness for his team to exploit.
Amad is a player who can work in that position when United are in the ascendency or need to be more attacking. In an even game like this where you need to do the same amount of work defensively as offensively, a luxury player like him out of position can work against you.
Having the no 16 out wide also takes away his best attributes as he is too out of the game. Similarly to Cunha, getting the ball to Amad and quickly is one of the ways to get the best out of him.
4. Bruno
This guy is an entire post in himself.
He was shit. He was shit against Arsenal as well.
Something has happened to Bruno in the opening two matches that we haven't seen before. I'm not saying that we haven't seen him play shit in consecutive matches but rather in the how he's been shit.
Before, he would be awful but we'd still see the same zest, energy and passion that is typical of the captain. He may even pop up with a goal and/or assist that usually masks a bad performance. This goal can sometimes come from the penalty spot for which he will get a lot of praise for as to score a penalty despite a poor game, isn't an easy thing to do.
Yet against Fulham, he was poor before the penalty, didn't display his normal composure when taking the penalty, and was poor after the penalty.
His body language was perhaps the most concerning as he didn't show any of his energy and fire across the 90 minutes that we've seen throughout his United career.
Not only did he miss the penalty but he was the culprit in letting Emile Smith-Rowe run free to score the eqaulizer for Fulham. Their midfielder ran right past United's skipper before scoring.
Last week, Bruno caused the corner that resulted in Arsenal scoring after he played a hospital pass to Yoro.
Two bad games in a row at the start of what is probably his most important season yet given how much pressure the manager has put on this player. He hasn't started it off well at all.
But for all the stick the magnifico is rightfully receiving, it isn't entirely his fault as anyone who knows football will tell you that Bruno Fernandes has been one of if not the best no 10s in the game in the last five years.
Amorim is not using him as a no 10.
In that attacking midfield position, you can afford to be more risky in your play and take chances in trying to make something happen in the final third.
As a no 8, you have to be more disciplined in your style of play, keeping possession, maintaining your position and tracking runners. Bruno is not good at these, has NEVER been good at them which is why he works better further forward. Playing him deeper also takes away his strongest attributes which is like a double whammy.
Not being substituted is also not his fault. Where he plays and for how long is ALL on the manager.
Speaking of which 👇
5. Amorim Sacking Himself?
Here's a list of what the manager got wrong in that game:
- E V E R Y T H I N G
Yes, all that Amorim did in this draw was wrong.
That starting lineup of using a false 9 never really worked or at least it wasn't sustainable for as long as he used. It is something that I don't want to see more of. He has one of the best young strikers in the game that the club spent close to £70m on sitting on the bench. Get him on the pitch!
Sesko has had two weeks with his new team and as per the manager, he was physically ready last week. Why not throw him in from the start? That was disappointing for us fans but was maybe even more disappointing to the player who Amorim himself said has impressed him with his desire to do more than is expected in training.
Then there's the midfield.
Starting Bruno as part of the pivot is asking for trouble. The only way it could work is if he had a prime Casemrio next to him rather than the current one. The next best to a prime Casemiro that we have is Ugarte and he has his issues as well but I do believe that this will be a lot better balanced than what we saw.
We all know the problems with Bruno in midfield but to then put another attacking midfielder in Mount next to Bruno when we needed someone who is capable of holding down the fort instead, made no sense. If you take Casemiro off, you bring on Ugarte as he is our only other CDM.
He then substituted Mount for Ugarte when it was clear that the captain needed to come off before the no 7. To then keep Bruno in the midfield instead of moving him further forward if you're not going to substitute him, made things even worse.
This is what Alex Iwobi said post the draw:
“We knew that we would be able to get behind their two midfielders and that their centre-backs would want to jump - we exploited that today.”
That says it all.
Speaking of substitutions, what the fuck did Amorim do?
Out of the five changes, just ONE was an attacker although with how little involved he was, did Sesko even come on?
Mainoo is a player we are all massively concerned about regarding the fact he's had NO game time in the opening two matches. There was an image of him sitting behind Amorim on the bench. It was sad to see. In such games when things are tight and you need a spark, Mainoo can be that difference maker.
Why not give him a chance? You just never know.
In the dying minutes when the game was on a knifeedge, Amorim brings on two defenders in Maguire and Heaven. While someone like Maguire can be a game changer, two was baffling and the fact that we're still relying on Maguire up front to salvage something from a game is concerning in itself especially after spending £200m on a new attack.
Why not bring on Zirkzee who also has the ability to make things happen?
Something else that caught my eye was something someone said online and that was that when Amorim's team doesn't play well, we don't win. That may sound obvious but you can win when playing badly.
That is something we've done before but not really under Amorim. Ironically, Fulham away last season was one such instance but that was it. All of Mourinho, Ole and ten Hag had multiple matches where their teams were appalling but managed to come away with the 3 points. This simply does not happen with the Portuguese.
Winning in such games allows people to overlook a bad performance. Played badly and not win, and you have a problem.
Already questions will be asked about the manager and this team and there is nothing that we can say to defend them even though it's only game 2.
It might be too early to be talking about sackings but when you look at performances and results (Amorim has managed more PL games (29) than he's managed points (28), who we've got to play on the horizon and the fact that Amorim is being stubborn with certain players, you can't help but think that he may be heading down the road of previous managers.
Amad | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)