In a pulse driven game at Old Trafford, Manchester United went behind to Fulham on the 1st minute of 5mins added time in the first half via a headed goal from Nigerian defender Calvin Bassey who redirected Rodrigo Muniz’s flicked header from the resulting corner to put Fulham ahead.
The loss to Fulham in the FA Cup is their first loss at home against the London club in the competition’s history. Prior to yesterday’s game, both teams had met forty times in the premier league with Fulham only recording wins against the mighty Manchester, two of those wins were achieved at the Old Trafford and the other two at Craven cottage. They have both managed six draws in that period.
While Manchester United has won majority of the games, there is a huge concern in their overall display this term.This season alone Manchester United has lost 12 premier league games, Seven of those being home defeats, a record which further proves that the team is not moving in the right direction if success for a big team like Manchester United is considered from the point of games won, how high the team is ranked on the table and trophies won, just as they have claimed over the years that Liverpool are a smaller team compared to Manchester United due to the number of premier league trophies won.
Despite the defeat to Fulham, one thing that caught the attention of many Manchester United fans, and even the neutrals was the introduction of “wonder kid,” Chido Obi who was a joy to watch yesterday as he displayed a high level of maturity in the game when he came on as a substitute in the second half.
He was able to work on and off the ball to ensure that the Fulham backline who were not troubled most of the game had no rest till the final whistle in a game that was looking like the away team were going to win while keeping a clean sheet before Bruno Fernandez was able to level the score in the 71st minute, from a move that started with Joshua Zirkzee and Chido Obi at the center of the pitch.
Stats proves that in less than 60mins played for Man U, the teenage Academy player had three big chances compared to Rasmus Hojlund who has only managed just three big chances in more than twenty games this season. That alones shows that some players are not giving enough and if the coach is to take half of the blame for their abysmal performance so far the players shouldn’t be pardoned because they have shown less passion than the coach.
Wayne Rooney who is a legend of the team was heard saying that at this point in time if he were a foreign player or someone playing in a top club elsewhere and Manchester United wanted to sign him, he would be saying to himself “I do not think I want to be playing for such a team.”It is starting to look like the team would never return to its former glory as things are worse under the current manager and new management compared to what the results were with Ten Hag and his predecessors.
