Man United 3 Fulham 2
We never do it the easy way. A lot of the talk before the game was that we’ll really see what United are made of up against a team that they are expected to beat and it was far from plain sailing for United today. Casemiro opened the scoring heading home from a Bruno Fernandes free-kick and United were quite dominant in the first half without creating too many chances to worry Leno in the Fulham goal. You’d think that with Matheus Cunha finishing brilliantly past Leno to make it 2 nil that the game was over but Fulham had other ideas, Cuenca had a goal ruled out for an offside that took the officials nearly 5 minutes to sort out but that didn’t stop Fulham who then got a penalty in the 85th minute after Maguire wiped out Raul Jimenez in the box who then converted the penalty to give Fulham some hope. Then out of nowhere Kevin does a quick one-two with Sessegnon and curls a beauty past Lammens to bring Fulham level in the 91st minute with still 8 minutes of added time to play. Two minutes later Bruno Fernandes rolls Calvin Bassey and crosses into Benjamin Sesko who takes a touch and fires the ball straight into the top corner to give United all 3 points, what a match.
Class is permanent when it comes to Casemiro. I’ve got to say I thought Casemiro’s United career was finished after that disaster in his second season but he’s been quietly having a very good season for United and was the best player on the pitch today. He’s always been a threat from set-pieces even though he’s not the tallest and his no-look pass for Cunha’s goal was a thing of beauty. Carrick took him off at 2 nil and it didn’t take Fulham long to exploit the weaknesses of Manuel Ugarte at the base of United’s midfield, it seems to be a reoccurring thing for United that when Casemiro comes off the team seems to collapse and concede silly goals. It’s going to be tough for United to replace him in the summer with how much he brings in terms of leadership on the pitch and his sheer quality in that position, they’ll have to spend big in the summer to get a player of similar quality, I wonder who it’ll be?
A dagger at the end for Fulham. Although they didn’t create a plethora of big chances, Fulham were still very competitive against a United side on the crest of a wave at the minute and in the end were unlucky not to take a point. The equaliser from Kevin was unbelievable and he’s a player I quite like and would like to see start more often for Fulham on that left-hand-side, Harry Wilson failed to make an impact today which was quite surprising but he didn’t get enough of the ball and when he did Luke Shaw sniffed it out before he got a chance to shoot or cross. I’m always impressed with Sander Berge when I watch him, he brings a sense of calm in Fulham’s midfield with Iwobi and Fulham did have 58% of possession in this game which Sander Berge did contribute a lot too. They should still be aiming for Europe this season with so many teams faltering around mid-table which would a huge success for Fulham, why not aim high?
It’s time for Benjamin Sesko to start. You might think I’m being reactionary but to be honest I don’t think Mbeumo is a long-term option up front for United at least under Michael Carrick. When the ball got played up to Mbeumo he couldn’t hold it up or keep possession for United which allowed Fulham to build into the game especially in the second half. As soon as Sesko came on you could see the difference almost scoring with his first touch of the ball hitting the post with a header. The United players can play it up to him knowing there’s a good chance he makes the ball stick relieving pressure from the backline, he took his goal superbly under pressure and I hope to see him start against Spurs next week, who he replaces I’m not so sure but he has to start in my opinion.
The Champions League charge continues. It wasn’t pretty but that’s now 9 points from 9 against City, Arsenal and Fulham keeping United in 4th for another week, the next few fixtures are favourable for United with Spurs, West Ham, Everton and Crystal Palace in the next 4 games. They are winnable fixtures and with Chelsea and Liverpool on good form at the minute United will have to keep up the momentum if they want to stay in that 4th spot, do keep an eye on Villa though who lost at home again today to Brentford and are now only 5 points away from United 4th, I wouldn’t be surprised if Villa do start dropping more points especially with the injury crisis they’re having at the moment, United could benefit from only playing 1 game a week when it comes to keeping players fit, we’ll wait and see I suppose.