United cancel Fulham comeback as late Sesko goal seals 3-2 thriller

Jimenez and Kevin goals not enough to cancel out repeated defensive implosions at Old Trafford

Fulham have been beaten 3-2 by Manchester United at Old Trafford. It’s nothing new, of course - we’ve spent lifetimes losing to them there - but the nature of today’s defeat will sting slightly more, hampered by VAR interventions, going two goals down, valiantly clawing ourselves back to parity through an excellent Jimenez penalty and Kevin’s spectacular debut goal in the league before losing our minds in the ecstasy of the moment and gifting United their lead back in stoppage time. A fascinating game, with a demonstration of both our attacking prowess and defensive shortcomings, but one that ultimately leaves Fulham with nothing but our second defeat of the year.

First Half

Things were quite watchable in the opening minutes of the game. United, enjoying life in a 4-2-3-1 under new manager Michael Carrick, looked confident starting the game against us, and aimed to match our possession with their own attacking moves - a far cry from the lethargy plaguing much of Amorim’s tenure. Amad, eager to captivate, received a pass from Mainoo and moved central, creating space to guide a shot towards goal that Leno dived to push away from the goal. Of course, the Portuguese’s decision to field three centre-backs was partially influenced by defensive vulnerabilities, and many of Fulham’s early attacks tried to exploit this. Moments earlier, Chukwueze bursting forward gave Robinson the chance to move away from Dalot on the wing - his cross was headed away by Martinez and Andersen smacked the resulting volley hideously off target.

This attacking disposition characterised the first half, smooth possession easing both sides into good positions. Wilson was marginally offside for Iwobi’s ball over the top, taking Martinez into the box and assisting Chukwueze’s blocked-attempt. Amad and Dalot combined to wrong-foot Robinson and win a corner; Mbuemo’s kick went deep and reached Maguire, whose header travelled downwards into Leno’s cool grip. The keeper was needed again; a long ball for Mbuemo produced an awkward intervention from Cuenca to just about keep the ball from the Cameroonian’s feet, and Leno had to come off his line to smother the opportunity for good. Cuenca contributed shortly afterwards at the other end - a short-corner routine from Wilson and Chukwueze let the former bend a cross towards the far post, knocked down by the Spaniard’s head and flicked goalwards by Andersen. Lammens reacted sharply to push the shot away from danger.

The goal was surely coming, and the referee appeared to give United the opportunity to do so - Cunha, moving from United’s left to the fruits being offered on the other wing, burst along the flank and drove into the box. Cuenca shepherded him to the line, getting a foot on the ball to divert it out for a corner. To his horror, the referee pointed to the spot - a penalty had been given, despite Cuenca’s obvious contact. It was ludicrous, but VAR exists to remedy these situations, and sure enough the review allowed the referee to make a second assessment. But rather than the corner we might have been expecting, a free-kick was awarded for Cuenca’s “shirt-pulling”, initiated along Cunha’s run into the box. Soft, to say the least, and there are many examples across this game - let alone the rest of the division - in which similar defending does not meet a sanction (moments earlier, Mainoo’s aggressive slide-tackle that floored Jimenez went unpunished). A free-kick is more favourable than a penalty… unless you are Fulham, and watch Bruno Fernandes lift a gentle ball into the box for Casemiro to head comfortably beyond Leno. A deeply frustrating way for Fulham to fall behind, marked by an incredibly timid piece of defending from the set-piece by Cuenca (and Raul, if we’re being scrutinous of the marking), and United opened the scoring at Old Trafford.

Having shed first blood, Fulham needed to stay alert to avoid being pummelled out of the game. The early tidings were good - a smart ball from Iwobi let Smith Rowe drag United’s team towards him, freeing up the right flank for Castagne to run unopposed into the final third. He took the ball forward… and scuffed it, letting Shaw clear it easily and putting United’s pacey counter-attack into motion again. Both full-backs endured a dismal start - Robinson was the man in the home side’s crosshairs, constantly the target of Amad’s tricky dribbles, and with our attacking moves constantly failing at the final hurdle, United had our team advanced forward enough to hurt us with a quick turnaround. Andersen picked up a booking for hauling Mbuemo down, and right before the end of the half a slick set of passes between Bruno Fernandes and Dalot let Amad cleverly elude a covering run and fire a shot that Berge had to block away.

We weren’t playing terribly - the passing was decent, Iwobi pulling the threads nicely, Smith Rowe moving fluidly around the frontline and Chukwueze blasting along multiple angles of the attack. Yet the finishing eluded us - Maguire read the danger extremely well, constantly between our forwards and the goal, and it meant our chances were from distance. Chukwueze, completing a move involving passes from Castagne, Berge and Smith Rowe, pumped a shot into the centre-back, and an Iwobi cross to Smith Rowe flew harmlessly wide following the header. Fulham would need a lot more to turn the game around in the second half.

Second Half

Unsurprisingly, Carrick wasn’t content with a single-goal lead over us, and had his team attacking from the opening minutes of the restart. Our weakness around the back was evident - United had the better of our backline, particularly our fullbacks, and with a touch of speed could work the ball into threatening positions for any one of their forwards. Dalot, touching the ball past Iwobi, drilled into space, waiting for Mbuemo to peel away from the backline - he did, and upon collecting the pass powered a shot goalwards. Thankfully, Leno had anticipated the danger, and had travelled to meet the shot body-first.

Iwobi continued his creative role, lifting a smart pass into Chukwueze, free of Dalot by the goalline. He put the ball back across the box - but Martinez, a wily defender, was attuned to the situation and volleyed the ball out of danger before a Fulham man could reach it. We had a bit of momentum, and Wilson, trying to enchant the game with his magic, used a clever ball from Iwobi to win a free kick on the edge of the box after being tugged down by Shaw. He had the free kick too, a strong shot that bent awkwardly into Lammens and required a push away, followed by tight defending to stop Castagne assisting Andersen with the ball at the Dane’s feet. They were strong in the box again - Lammens has slowly stabilised what was once a tempestuous region for United, and the work of Martinez and Maguire built a strong foundation for United to maintain their lead with, shutting our attacking sequences down once they reached the danger zone.

Unfortunately Carrick’s United play with more confidence that Amorim’s. Whilst we might have bided our time on the ball under the Portuguese’s stewardship, patiently waiting for United’s cumbersome team to present us an opportunity, today’s opponents seemed ready to make the game their own, and used their territorial strategy to pin us into our own final third. A smart passing sequence, with excellent range from Mbuemo, delightful touches from Amad and clever runs from Mbuemo saw us unable to respond, desperately hoofing the ball up the field in a hopeless attempt to abate the danger. It was futile, especially with a knackered Raul as our target-man, and only compounded the pressure at the back. Sure enough, a Robinson clearance reached Shaw, ahead of Smith Rowe’s attempted interception, Mainoo moved the ball to Casemiro, and with the space away from Iwobi deceived the Fulham defence with a no-look pass through to Cunha, who’d taken up a central position to get into the shooting positions. It paid dividends - he bested Cuenca to drill into the left of the box and blast the ball over Leno to double United’s lead, putting the points firmly in their hands.

We weren’t out of it yet, and whilst our routes to goal seemed stuttered, the hard work of Smith Rowe, throwing himself around the pitch with drive and purpose, earnt another free-kick for Fulham in a dangerous position; Casemiro booked for tripping the attacker as he moved the ball into Jimenez on the edge of the box. Raul’s free-kick clattered into the wall, bouncing off several bodies in red, before falling for Chukwueze tucked ahead of the United personnel. His shot smacked into Martinez’ legs, travelling across the six-yard box to Cuenca, unmarked and free to smash the ball into the net from close range. A lifeline - but the grim announcement of a VAR check dampened the mood. Amidst all the deflections, Chukwueze’s arm had leant beyond the line - he was a few inches offside, and after an egregious, hair-splitting wait, the goal was cancelled entirely.

Unjust as it seemed, Fulham weren’t doing enough to rescue the performance. Silva needed to make a change, and after Robinson’s latest cross failed to trouble the United defence, his torrid afternoon was called short. He and Smith Rowe departed for Sessegnon and Kevin, recharging the Fulham attack with a familiar attacking pair for the left. We were still deflated from the VAR disappointment though, and United were enjoying their football. Sess took time to get a grip of his flank, letting Amad continue to work balls into the box from the wings. A combination with Dalot saw Cunha lift a shot narrowly over the bar, and after the Brazilian was swapped for Sesko a looped cross from Amad saw the Slovenian whip a header off the post, and the rebound onto the roof of the net.

However, the changes were making a difference. Chukwueze, understandably struggling given his recent personal hardship, was taken off for Cairney, giving us more composure on the ball. With United swapping a high-flying - but booked - Casemiro for Ugarte, they slowly lost their grip on the midfield, and Fulham’s possession started to generate danger for the hosts more frequently. It meant our defence could focus more on attack, letting our pieces move more openly across United territory. One such offensive was made by Andersen, taking the ball into United’s half and firing an uncontested cross into the box. Jimenez, finally free of Maguire, had the chance to strike a goal back - his touch was too clumsy though, and Maguire recovered from his mistimed jump to get a critical touch on the ball, stopping the volley from making complete connection and allowing Lammens to push the ball away. The corner was close as well - Wilson’s ball into Andersen needed a deflection from Sesko to deny the goal, and the second required a smart clearance from Fernandes to clear the danger.

It seemed the game was lost - United were readjusting to their changes and eating time out of the game. But when Fulham take initiative, there’s still a match to play in any situation. From taking the ball off United, Cairney played a progressive pass to Berge, advanced by the halfway line. He travelled ahead of Ugarte, surging at the depleted backline before curling a ball leftwards along the ground, through the centre-backs to Jimenez. Raul struck a shot on target that Lammens, surging off his line, stopped superbly with his legs - but Maguire felled the Mexican on the slide just after the ball left the striker’s feet. It meant we had a penalty, and thankfully our marksman was not too hurt to continue his superlative record from the spot, taking a prolonged run up before planting the ball far too high for Lammens to have a chance at stopping. 2-1 - game on.

Both teams made changes for the final act - Bassey arrived for Cuenca, presumably to soak up the chance of United countering us with so many bodies forward, and an exhausted Dalot swapped for Mazraoui, switching into more of a back five. But the nerves were clear to see - United were back in a more Amorim-esque formation, a goal away from losing their hard-fought lead, and what was once diligent and effective became tetchy and anxious. With so many bodies packed around their box, teetering through every second, Fulham had the hosts in a great position to exploit.

And after a long passing sequence, as the ball found its way to the leftward reaches of the pitch, Kevin, a man often lambasted for a lack of end product, started a daggering dribble towards the box. He played a one-two with Sessegnon, easily evading Amad’s tracking run, before looking up towards the goal and taking aim. The shot was outstanding, curling between the sea of defenders, soaring through the empty box and flying over Lammens’ dive to hit the back of the net. Kevin wheeled away, euphoric - he had claimed his first league goal, and rescued a point for his team at the death.

If only this was the end, though. Seemingly amidst the chaos Fulham had forgotten how much stoppage time had been awarded, so delighted they were with their exploits. United had exploited Fulham on the break all match, and despite their defensive changes still had a collection of brilliant attackers on the pitch to strike - should the chance be presented to them. A Mazraoui pass down the wing should easily have been contained by Bassey - instead he was humiliated on the turn by Bruno Fernandes, who won a stretch of space ahead of the defender. Bassey caught up, but was too late - you can’t give world class players like Bruno the time to play the ball into the box, it was guided into the path of Sesko. Andersen should have cut it out, but his reaction was poor, taking himself too far away from the ball’s flight and hopelessly sticking a leg behind him to try and stop its path. Instead, it reached Sesko, unmarked thanks to Castagne carelessly drifting away from him - and on the turn, he angled a sharp shot into the top right of the goal, avoiding Andersen’s run and rooting Leno to the ground. It was an excellent finish, but a horrible moment of defending, and despite Fulham spending all of the closing minutes pinging passes around United’s half, they failed to repeat our mistake, and soberly wardened the game to its close with themselves as victors.

VAR-cical refereeing

It’s gutting when you lose games like this, and there’s a massive temptation to focus on VAR as a result - which we’ll indulge in for a bit. The referee made a mistake in awarding a penalty for Cuenca’s (clear-as-day) fair challenge on Cunha, the VAR - which should be assessing the penalty call - retroactively sanctions earlier incidents from the build-up (which, presumably, the referee didn’t sanction, given the lack of an advantage called by referee or linesman) and it directly produces a goal. We’ll come onto the horrible defending from Fulham in a moment, but it feels decidedly inconsistent when the standard for what constitutes a foul is seldom applied across other moments of the game, and given United essentially earnt a set-piece far closer than the corner they should have received for an incredibly soft call, its hard to overlook the role of VAR here.

More egregious is the offside in the second half. We all know the meticulousness and technical accuracy of VAR’s application of the law, and at this point we are all familiar with how lengthy the delays can be in doing this. It is still hard to swallow the official taking significant time out of the game to chalk off a goal for an arm (a part of the body Chukwueze cannot use to attack with) being offside, particularly when it follows a ridiculous sequence of deflections and ricochets. Is this really what the offside law - or VAR - was introduced to stop?

Awesome Attacking, Disgraceful Defending

However, Fulham cannot genuinely claim VAR was what cost them the game. There will no doubt be some “interesting” quotes from club personnel in the aftermath of the result, and players and coaches alike have every reason to feel incensed by how the game plays out in the moment, but a colder assessment will point to the repeated failures of the Fulham defence over the course of the game. We let United’s attackers bully us across several set pieces, which gave them the opening goal. We wilted under the pressure of sustained United possession in the second half, letting our cheap giveaways compound until they added a second. We completely switched off before the game was done, arrogantly expecting United to lie down and let us try and beat them, and let them beat us right after we’d equalised. Robinson was appalling, and is really struggling to find his form in the team at the moment, but Andersen was off the pace, Cuenca found the physicality of the match tricky to meet and Castagne, despite having far fewer embarrassments than his counterpart on the left, was far below the quality of the game throughout. Bassey, meanwhile, should hang his head in shame - one task was asked of him and he was humbled by Bruno, costing us the game. If he wants to gain his place back from Cuenca, he will need more than this. The one saving grace is the keeper - Leno’s saves definitely kept United from being out of sight before our comeback could even take place, and should remind everyone of what a professional he has been since arriving at the Cottage.

It’s a shame, as there were some great moments across the game. Whilst Iwobi wasn’t as resolute a partner for Berge in soaking up the pressure, his passes really added another dimension to Fulham’s attacking, particularly in the second half when we turned the screw on our opponents. Berge had his moments too, battling against Bruno fiercely all match, and when he takes initiative he can make intelligent, dangerous passes, such as for the Jimenez run that produced the penalty. Smith Rowe worked tirelessly all match and can consider himself unfortunate such a good performance on and off the ball didn’t find a goal-earning moment - the better work of Chukwueze and Wilson came in the second half, after presumably a stern word from Marco to sharpen up. Raul, not for the first time, spent a lot of the game uninvolved in the action, but saved his energy for some critical moments at the death, and has yet another penalty to add to his 100% league record.

Perhaps the remedy lies in the substitutes - Kevin demonstrated what the hype is all about, and can hopefully sustain wondrous moments like his goal to give competition to Chukwueze and Wilson for the starting berth. We still need a CM; if we can find one with Cairney’s football brain and a fresher pair of legs, we’ll have done very well. And whilst Sess was a little open at the back, his attacking talents were on display again, adding another assist to his collection. He too deserves a shot being one of the key attackers - unfortunately this would require another LB to be signed to cover for Robinson.

Carrick to the rescue?

If there’s questions for Fulham, there’s jubilation for the hosts. United might have been fortunate in a few moments but their football was expressive and cool today, far too good for us in a number of moments, and with their formation and tactics tweaked by Carrick they are finally putting their collection of finishers in the right places to win games of football. The goals from Cunha and Sesko should alert everyone to how lethal the team can be in the box - neither were easy finishes, but both took the keeper out of game, and meant United never had to stress themselves chasing the game at any point.

This has been achieved by the formation tweak, which has breathed new life into several players. Casemiro looked excellent in the early ten Hag days at the club, but injuries and the despondent pit the team fell into for a number of years discoloured perception of him at the team. When he’s fit, he’s a fine midfielder, a serial winner at Madrid, and today he was impervious around midfield. He made a fine partner for Mainoo, who composed the United midfield really well and seemed to relish being on the ball. This was supplemented by Bruno, popping around the team in a number of positions, using his guile on the ball to turn seemingly sterile moments into lethal attacking opportunities, and his work on the right was really effective at getting Amad into advantageous positions. A word on the Ivorian, actually - he looks a gem, and whilst Cunha was better moving into the centre Robinson had a nightmare trying to handle Amad on the wings.

Defensively there’s still work to do for Carrick - they did almost blow the game, after all, and with a little more pace the trouble Dalot had against Chukwueze might have been replicated for others around the team. But confidence does wonders for anyone, and Maguire and the finally-fit Martinez formed a good partnership today. Perhaps Raul Jimenez isn’t the paciest forward, but he’s sly and cunning, and it’s no accident that United stopped him from doing anything meaningful until deep into the second half, with Casemiro taken off for a slightly rabbity Ugarte in midfield. I think Shaw had a decent game as well, and whilst Dalot was the weakest of the back four he never looked as out-of-place as Castagne or struggled as intensely as Robinson. Lammens, meanwhile, has all but killed the talk of keeper troubles at the club, and save well on a number of occasions from Fulham players.

It leaves them 4th, leading the race for the Champions League places, and seals the lips of anyone whispering about Fulham in Europe for now. Our team sit 8th at the end of the weekend, Brentford a place ahead of us through their win this afternoon, and whilst this is still a very impressive position given the trickiness of the season thus far, the league’s general congestion makes it an unstable one. Case and point, Everton are our next opponents, a place below us with the same points and goal difference! There’s an opportunity to do more this season, but it will take addressing the mental weakness we exhibit in moments seen across today’s match. Time will tell if Marco and the team can do it.