Premier League: Fulham 0 Manchester United 1 (Martinez 78)
Lisandro Martínez has form for putting his laces through the ball to help Ruben Amorim and Manchester United on the road. Remember his roof-of-the-net banger in the 2-2 Premier League draw at Liverpool? The central defender was at it again here and if there was a slice of luck about his late winner, one to blow open a previously dismal spectacle, it did nothing to dampen the celebrations.
There is a case to be made as Amorim feels his way into the Impossible Job, encountering so many problems, that his team is shaping up OK away from home. United’s best performances under him have been at the grounds of their biggest rivals – Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City.
United also tend to do well at Craven Cottage and Martínez made it happen for them again, running on to a loose ball, trying his luck and watching it loop up off the Fulham midfielder, Sasa Lukic, and dip into the far, top corner off Bernd Leno’s outstretched hand and the underside of the crossbar. It was United’s only shot on target. They had just four attempts across the piece.
United then survived an almighty scare in the 89th minute when Toby Collyer, on as a substitute, made a goalline clearance to keep out Joachim Andersen’s header from a corner.
The replays showed that the ball was directly on the line. And if United were denied themselves at the very last, Amad Diallo finishing smartly only for the VAR to pull him back for a hairline offside, they did not care. It was not pretty. But they took this with plenty of gratitude. What was actually at stake for United? The league season feels over for them, certainly in terms of looking up the table and yet there is always something, each game there to be pored over, pulled apart.
Fulham have been a tough nut to crack this season. Prior to kick-off, they had lost only two of their previous 15 matches in all competitions. Never mind their poor recent record against United, they believed in themselves, in the patterns that Marco Silva has instilled. At least the rain had stopped when we got under way and it was Fulham who quickly looked more comfortable.
United’s out-ball was Rasmus Højlund and it was easy to feel from an early stage that it would be another one of those extended wrestling bouts for him – in which he tends not to prevail. The Dane’s first touch is increasingly under the microscope and so, more broadly, is his suitability to play with his back to goal. His international teammate, Andersen, was a strong-arm foe.
Craven Cottage is widely held to be a “good away” – the Thames-side location, the nice stadium, the decent-enough ticket availability. The United fans made themselves heard from the outset and it was a little loaded when they implored their team to “attack, attack, attack” in the 31st minute. United had not done much of that up to that point. In fact, apart from one Alejandro Garnacho burst that saw him beat Harry Wilson and play in the overlapping Noussair Mazraoui, whose cross was easily cleared, the cupboard was bare. As it would remain for the rest of the first half.
By that stage, Fulham had seemingly fallen into a Sunday evening slumber – it was evidently contagious – having had a few moments in a positive opening 20 minutes.
Alex Iwobi was lively on the left and he forced a smart low save out of André Onana after Højlund had failed to hold up the ball for the first time and Fulham had rushed forward. Raúl Jiménez thought he had wriggled through before Matthijs de Ligt stopped him; Martínez did likewise to Emile Smith Rowe. Iwobi banged another shot at Onana. And then we plodded to the interval.
Amorim had plenty to occupy his thoughts as he made the long diagonal walk across the pitch to his dugout for the second half. He had restored Garnacho to his starting XI and it was Diallo as the other No 10, Bruno Fernandes in midfield, Kobbie Mainoo starting on the bench and still no Marcus Rashford. The system is fixed and it was crying out for a few more moving parts. Fulham were simply happy to keep United in front of them. They were under no pressure to make the game. They reasoned, perhaps, that they might need only one chance.
When Amorim made his first substitutions on 58 minutes, it was only fair that he put Højlund out of his misery. It was hard to remember anything going right for the striker. On came Joshua Zirkzee.
Moments earlier, Fernandes had zipped a free-kick from a promising position on the left-hand edge of the area underneath the defensive wall and into the side-netting.
It was close, although the best bit was how Onana had come out of his goal and up the left-wing to offer advice to his captain. Maybe he just craved some involvement.
Fulham had lost Wilson to an injury, Adama Traoré coming on for him and we just waited for something to happen. Prime-time TV entertainment this was not. Was a draw acceptable for both teams? Manuel Ugarte was finally booked for a late one on Traoré, having got away with a couple in the first half and, if that merited a mention … well, at least it was something. Martínez’s goal was certainly that.
Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson, Lukic (Cairney 83), Berge, Wilson (Traore 53), Smith Rowe (Andreas Pereira 82), Iwobi, Jimenez (Rodrigo Muniz 64).
Manchester United: Onana, de Ligt (Yoro 58), Maguire, Martinez, Dalot, Ugarte (Collyer 76), Fernandes, Mazraoui (Malacia 81), Diallo, Garnacho (Mainoo 81), Hojlund (Zirkzee 58).
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).
