Positives and Negatives: Fulham 0-1 Manchester United

Jack Stroudley assesses Fulham’s defeat at home to Manchester United.

Fulham yet again have fallen on the side of a narrow defeat against Manchester United. In a game devoid of much quality a speculative deflected Lisandro Martinez strike was the difference between the two to give us our first defeat at Craven Cottage since November. It certainly wasn’t a spectacle and one that will certainly be erased from the memories of Fulham fans, but what are the main talking points from Sunday night at the Cottage?

Positives

Midfield maestros

It was actually quite difficult to pick out our strong points from a non-event of a football match, but I’d like to highlight our midfield duo of Sander Berge and Sasa Lukic. Manchester United failed to create anything of note (bar a deflected effort from range) and I think part of that reason has to come from how much more balanced our midfield looks with the Berge/Lukic partnership. Berge’s quality has been well documented in the past week following his performance at the King Power Stadium last weekend and he continued to demonstrate his ability on Sunday with four duels won, two clearances, two interceptions and two tackles in the middle of the park.

I don’t want Lukic’s deflection to overshadow what I thought was a good performance from the Serbian. He seemed to be everywhere for Fulham (particularly in the first half) winning five of his eight duels and picking up three tackles. Only four misplaced passes all game demonstrates his desire to keep the game ticking and attempt to transition Fulham into the attacking third constantly. On a pretty drab and dull evening for Fulham, these two stood out.

Possession, possession, possession

This one feels like a bit of a double-edged sword but I’ll explain both arguments. We all saw an uncharacteristic performance from Fulham a few weeks ago at West Ham with sloppy passes and gifted opportunities for the Irons, Sunday felt like the opposite. I thought in the first half Fulham controlled the game well, transitioned and beat Ruben Amorim’s press on a consistent basis. The second half (while more drab) felt like more of the same, with good ball retention and the ability to limit Manchester United’s chances.

The counterargument to that is that we failed to create an awful lot, for all of the ball that we had Fulham failed to trouble Andre Onana during a patchy run of form. While we were good at getting into the final third, we felt passive in those key moments and were unable to unlock United’s defence. A somewhat positive and somewhat negative.

Negatives

Overpriced tickets – again

Whatever the outcome of the game this was always going to make the negative section of this article. It’s been well publicised by Fulham fans the sheer disregard the hierarchy have had once again by valuing profit over loyalty. £160 tickets in the Riverside Stand which were put on general sale was only going to lead to one thing: away fans in home sections, and it happened again. I was introduced to Fulham by my Grandad who was able to take me on a consistent basis due to affordability of tickets. While ‘kids for a quid’ isn’t financially viable anymore given the current economic climate, consideration for fans has been completely removed from the conversation.

Instead looking to profit off of the excellent work Marco Silva and co continue to do on the pitch, alienating and pricing out the future fanbase of this football club for a quick payday off tourists who want to see the glitz and glamour of the Premier League, rather than Fulham. Football is cyclical and while we don’t want to get off the Marco Silva train, there will be a final stop at one point. During that time the club will be looking to bring back those once loyal and potential new fans who were priced out during the good times, let’s just hope by that point they haven’t left it to late.

Red Devils rise

It’s always them! Manchester United were once again below average against Fulham and once again they were able to dig in and find a way with a late effort. I know their league position would suggest otherwise but that’s simply what the top sides do; play poor and still win. Marco Silva and Fulham will once again leave this game feeling slightly aggrieved we leave empty handed. I’m not saying we deserved all three points by any stretch of the imagination, but in a game where neither side truly tested the opposing keeper, a draw felt like a fair outcome. Alas, it wasn’t to be.