Smith Rowe the hero in second straight comeback for Fulham

Man United share the points with us in a decent outing for Marco Silva's men.

Two games, two comebacks, two draws for Fulham at the start of the new campaign, as Emile Smith Rowe came off the bench to earn a point at the Cottage. Manchester United have a particularly decent record against us in the Premier League and a frustrating knack of winning games they haven’t necessarily shone in, so to have turned our early deficit around against them is no small feat. You’d be forgiven for not being completely satisfied - refereeing inconsistencies made this a frustrating match - but our performance was a good one, and there’s plenty of evidence to say Fulham will be a splendid outfit across this campaign.

First half

United needed a response from their mediocre defeat to Arsenal last weekend and their early actions signalled one was coming. A lively tempo was injected into the game by Mount, Cunha and Mbuemo, pressing Fulham’s defence early, preventing them from settling and forcing us into cheap giveaways. It should have yielded more - Cunha received crafty passes from Mount twice in the opening minutes but wasted them, smacking one effort over the bar and another through Bassey’s legs and onto the post. Later, a goal kick from Bayindir flew over the outfield, bouncing beside Andersen - the Brazilian outmuscled the centre-back to the ball but rushed his shot, allowing Leno to make a nifty save.

Evidently our opponents had seized the early momentum. Robinson’s continued absence made Silva tweak our team - perhaps in an attempt to match Amorim’s preferred formation, we’d switched to a back five, Sessegnon and Castagne as wingbacks with Tete tucked in to complete a centre-back trio. It meant our centre-of-gravity was pulled backwards, letting Fernandes exert more influence in our midfield, giving Dorgu and Diallo the chance to make runs from wingback beyond the defence. A stronger opponent might have killed the game here, building on a strong start to kill Fulham’s ailing tactics early. Yet Amorim’s team were also hamstrung by their formation, anchored to three deep centre-backs and a less-than-mobile Casemiro in midfield, subsequently reticent to operate the ball in our half for fear of losing shape. Their advantage devolved into increasingly hopeless long passes, overhit by De Ligt and Bruno for anyone remotely forward to chase.

With United unable to sustain their early energy, the game drifted into the doldrums, tepid passing characterising the middle phase. Perhaps reading United’s passivity, Silva tweaked the formation, moving Castagne to RM and returning us to a back four. It had a good impact, adding more bodies to the midfield to overwhelm Bruno and Casemiro, letting Lukic and Berge assert themselves and take the ball from them more frequently. It wasn’t as though Fulham had been dormant before - Sessegnon enjoyed any license to attack and had already played a through ball for King that Bayindir had to save - but this gave Fulham focus, driving at United, whipping and using possession to win territory and corners. Bayindir’s struggles from the set-pieces were a clear target for Fulham, and you felt a goal could easily have come from one of the balls Lukic swung in, but a mix of tight defending in the box and profligacy from Muniz kept us from opening the scoring.

Frustratingly it was one of United’s corners that created the clearest chance to score. Bassey threw Mount to the ground in an off-the-ball tussle with each other - such physicality at set-pieces is an area of scrutiny in the Premier League this season (cough) and a VAR intervention saw United awarded a penalty. Matching his team’s earlier wastefulness, Bruno duly blasted the ball over the goal, meaning both sides entered the break goalless.

Second half

Even scores, then, but ignoring the penalty Fulham were the more creative of the sides heading into the break; United were flagging somewhat and hadn’t done much of anything besides the penalty, essentially gifted to them by Bassey’s lapse of concentration. Fulham started brightly, too - Sessegnon and Castagne were quick to charge down the wings, firing crosses into the box early into the second phase. It’s a testament to the side’s footballing acumen that our players can consistently play with comfort, and watching us pass our way around United’s sterile outfield to attack their defence was pleasing.

The positive mood didn’t last long. Amorim, to his credit, identified the obvious and withdrew an ailing Casemiro. This put the tenacious Mount into midfield alongside Bruno, and introduced Sesko to our defence. Not a massive change to the shape of the game - Fulham were still on the ball and pumping in the crosses - but the extra energy in midfield let United get the ball to their own attackers quicker, waking our defence out of the comfort they’d had sitting in midfield and winning their own set-pieces. Mbuemo’s corner was met by a leaping Yoro, whose header deflected off a chaotic Muniz to float past Leno into the goal. A fortunate equaliser, not least because Yoro blatantly shoved Bassey to get the space and the referee - and VAR - saw no issue. Truly consistent officiating…

Alas, the goal stood. Silva, ever the pragmatist, made his own changes shortly after - Castagne and Sessegnon had been decent, but the return of Robinson and supersub Wilson would bring their own energy to the team. Again United failed to seize the initiative, settling back into their own half at a time a better side might have gone for the kill. These changes cemented us back into a familiar shape - Robinson and Tete as the full-backs, six players dedicated to positions beyond the backline at any one time, Wilson allowed the license to make the right wing his own. It put us firmly in possession, and subdued United to prevent us from sinking under any pressure.

Amorim, sensing the danger, made another change - Ugarte arriving for Mount. On paper, this made sense - Ugarte is a solid midfielder and looked one of the more decent players last season, certainly more than Mount - but the Englishman had taken the game to Fulham in advanced positions, and Ugarte signalled to Fulham that United weren’t willing to maintain any attack. Silva promptly made his own change, with Jimenez and Smith-Rowe swapping for Muniz and King. It proved a masterstroke - a game with lots of possession needed the diamond-touch of footballers like the pair, the extra quality in time-critical moments around the box, and United’s snoozy approach let Fulham create the opportunities for them. Fittingly, it was Smith-Rowe that equalised for us. Having stomached a long passing move a wayward clearance from Bayindir was miscontrolled by Dalot, allowing the attentive Iwobi to surge forward. A one-two with Robinson let Iwobi loop the ball into the box, bouncing past a lackadaisical De Ligt for Smith-Rowe to poke a shot in beyond Shaw.

He was at the centre of many of the game’s best moments from then on, deftly working the ball to keep Fulham in control of the game. United struggled to muster the energy to bat us away, relying on critical defensive interventions in the box to prevent Fulham from putting themselves ahead in the game. In fairness, they did this well, particularly when Amorim refreshed his centre-backs with Maguire and Heaven swapping in. Fulham’s lovely build up play, involving the entire breadth of our team, kept stuttering in the box, where every body part found itself impeding our route to goal. Perhaps they contributed to the closest chances as well - a free kick defended well led to a quick Bayindir clearance, which saw Robinson forced to sprint back and prevent Mbuemo bursting through on goal, and a corner won late on was headed just wide by Maguire in another set-piece scare for the hosts.

Fulham - the better side?

But 1-1 it finished - a second successive draw for Fulham, both featuring a comeback from Silva’s side, both replete with triumphs as well as frustrations. Let’s start with the good - once again, we played decent football, and when faced with a setback turned the tempo up to stave off defeat. Silva’s pragmatic nature can be attributed to much of this, introducing the right players at the right time to change the game. For all the talk of his mercurial status, it’s two games running Smith-Rowe has been critical to our two comebacks - he fizzed around the pitch with the spark we expected when he first signed from Arsenal, and was key to turning the tempo up to pin United into their box towards the end. I liked seeing Robinson back, as he clearly works best for Iwobi on the left - though his crossing radar needs time to return - and Jimenez and Wilson looked hungry for action too.

It’s clear the team are better suited to 4-2-3-1. King looked productive again, had nice passes and moved nicely off the ball, but Smith-Rowe was able to offer more because he had greater numbers around him, not a three-CB trio pinning the team further back. This is true for Berge and Lukic too - more work is required to maintain control of the centre for the midfield duo with a back-three, actually putting the defence under more pressure despite having greater numbers, and the pair were industrious and inventive when we switched in the second half and they could advance up the field.

Sess was great - his pace along the left was easily the best thing about the first hour of the game for us - and I do hope he gets the opportunity he deserves in a proper attacking position at some point. It will be hard to dislodge Iwobi though, whose versatility makes him a key fixture in this team - be it drifting along the left, cruising through the middle, tucking in around Robinson or Sess or taking on the goalkeeper, Iwobi is always involved in our attacks and earnt a lovely assist today. The one sour note is Muniz, who needed a touch of control with his shooting today and didn’t challenge United’s backline enough.

Defensively, there were a few scares. Though both centre-backs grew into the game I think Bassey and Andersen were uncomfortable under the pressure and needed to sharpen up a little to keep United from snatching the ball in critical zones. The corners, though officiated inconsistently, were still examples of seriously flimsy defending, and one that could easily have seen United score a few more than what they managed today. The fullbacks had curious matches, pulled into different positions across the game, but settled once we moved out of the back five - Tete is one of the stronger defensive right-backs in the division, and Castagne seems sharper than he did last season (perhaps the consequence of not covering for Kenny for months!) Leno, as always, did the job asked of him when needed - despite the frustration, there’s still a very good team for Silva to work with here, and we can rely on them to take results in games like this.

Amorim’s tactical quandary

United might wish they had as settled a squad as this. Whilst they are not in crisis - there’s plenty to suggest Amorim has at least imparted some tactical fine-tuning to this team - it’s quite clear there’s a long way to go before this formation works properly, or even has the players that fit the expectations he sets. Bayindir made some good saves, particularly from efforts from King and Iwobi in the first half, but was at sea for a dozen corners today and was extremely inconsistent with his clearances, finding Fulham players as frequently as he did United ones. Such instability doesn’t make for an easy time for backline, not least because the players in front of them weren’t able to relieve pressure with their own football. Whilst Fulham were content and comfortable operating the ball in opposition territory. United were allergic to the same patience and composure, spurning the chance to move up the pitch with aimless long balls and rushed attacks.

This links directly to their formation - with three centre-backs, and the wingbacks required to bolt up and down to even attempt to add to the attack, United’s creativity was left to Bruno Fernandes, alongside a struggling Casemiro. Once Fulham sorted their own football out, Bruno was targeted, shielded from possession, nullifying United’s ability to work the ball. After a promising start United’s forwards were subsequently isolated and removed from the game. Cunha and Mbuemo chased shadows throughout the second-half and I don’t recall Sesko even having a touch after he came on? Amad was more dangerous but he was stuck at wing-back and required to track back repeatedly, as too was Dorgu, who was exhausted by the game’s end and costing United needless fouls on the left. Mount enjoyed the best game of the attacking players but was withdrawn for “stability”, a move that rendered United tame for the remainder of the game.

At least the centre-backs recruited are proficient? Other than dosiness at the goal, De Ligt was alert to the aerial threats that poured into the box and kept Bayindir out of action at numerous moments. Yoro seems really promising too, and once United can get a full 90 minutes from him will certainly improve things at the back. I do wonder whether Shaw misses the back four - he and Dorgu are in a bit of limbo at times on the left - but he’s got the physical mass to fill the part convincingly and battled well against Castagne and Wilson through the match. There’s a reason United aren’t conceding many, and it’s because they have the strength at the back to mask tactical shortcomings - something which, even in the hyper-scrutinous world of the Premier League, will win points in a sport like football. Sort out the rest of the team, and United might even start to resemble a decent side again.

But Fulham are the team that looked the dominant one, and the story should centre on us. We’re back to a familiar routine; outplaying opponents, but not quite doing enough to win the match, with the twist that we are at least coming from behind to end the game on a high. Ignoring the rumblings about the lack of signings, the unease about Muniz (and Silva’s) future, the ongoing discontent with the management of the club and even the lack of a win thus far in the season, there’s still a positive note in this all - from two tough opening fixtures we have not lost, not even come close to disgracing ourselves (as some previous campaigns have opened with) and still look capable of playing the football that made us whisper of Europe in the first place. There’s plenty of positivity to be had - it’s all just a matter of perspective.