Photo: ©️ Capital Football
Photo: ©️ Capital Football
Fulham (0) 1 v Manchester United (0) 1
Premier League
Matchweek 2
Talking Points
By Kaz Mochlinski at Craven Cottage
Two games into the new Premier League season and Fulham have established something of a pattern. Two draws, both with the same 1-1 scoreline. Needing to recover from being behind in both. Twice with equalisers from two second half substitutes.
Rodrigo Muniz levelled at Brighton & Hove Albion after 96 minutes, and Emile Smith Rowe did it against Manchester United just 96 seconds after coming on from the substitutes’ bench. Where would Fulham be without their subs?
The two opening matches of the current campaign have continued the trend which developed over the past year, taking Fulham up to 19 goals scored by substitutes since the start of last season, the most of any side in the Premier League in that time.
In comparison, Brighton are the next best with 15, Bournemouth have 13, and Arsenal 12. Fulham’s latest strike from a substitute was actually made in Arsenal, as two former Gunners combined, with Alex Iwobi’s cross being put away by Smith Rowe.
The Fulham head coach, Marco Silva, humbly did not want to take the credit for his timing and choice of changes, but instead insisted that the good record of his substitutions was due predominantly to the players involved.
Silva seemed like he wanted to send a message of appreciation to his squad after the match, when he stated: “It’s not a coincidence for us. Last season was 17 goals from players from the bench. By far the best team in the Premier League in that aspect.
“And this season already it happened in two games twice. It’s not a coincidence. But it speaks more about the players that we have, the character that we have in our dressing room.”
Downplaying the tactical adjustments which he produced with the replacements that he brought on, Silva added: “It speaks much more about themselves than about me, their character, the will they have always to go on to help the team.
“They are not happy to be on the bench, for sure, because, if you are a professional, you always want to be out there. But it is unbelievable, and I’m really proud of them, the way they do it.”
And he sought to underline it further when saying: “I’m very proud of the players that we have, the group, the togetherness in our squad, again this afternoon the way they played.
“They came in and they helped the team and they made a massive impact on the game. Last week was the same. The goal came from the bench. This game was again the same story.”
Photo: ©️ Capital Football
Photo: ©️ Capital Football
More worryingly for Fulham fans, Silva still raised concerns about the club’s lack of transfer activity this summer, repeating his pre-match comments that the existing squad is too small and requires urgent strengthening.
“We need players. We haven’t signed one significant player - we signed one second goalkeeper, or goalkeeper to fight with Bernd Leno for the spot in the goal. But, after that, we lost two wingers and we lost one striker.
“And let’s see what is going to happen with one of our midfielders as well. We have to sign. We don’t have other solutions. Of course, the plan didn’t go through until now - the plan that we set and put on the table last May.
“We have now eight-nine days to correct some things and to try to do our best effort to sign. We need to sign at least three players until the end of the market. And these things cannot be related with when we perform well.
“I think the players they showed a great reaction. We all should be proud. Our fans were fantastic as well. But the Premier League is much more than that. We are going to have a lot of games. We are going to have injuries.
“We are going to have many, many things that are involved in the level at which we are playing. And in some positions we are short. Simple as that.”
Fulham’s hierarchy would do well to listen to Silva’s pleas more attentively. The club’s inaction recently runs the risk of losing him altogether, as he is in the last year of his current contract and no prospect of an imminent extension is apparent at present.
That is despite being the most highly-regarded coach among the fanbase since Roy Hodgson took Fulham to the Europa League final a decade and a half ago. Certainly, the Cottagers have been firmly re-established as a Premier League club under Silva.
And it is not hard to see why, with the impressive gameplan for Manchester United’s visit being very effective in counter-acting a team on which over £200 million had been spent in this transfer window improving the forward line alone.
Photo: ©️ Capital Football
Photo: ©️ Capital Football
Silva switched to a three-man defence to control United’s three attackers. He used wing-backs to push the Mancunians’ own wide players back. Plus he had three central midfielders outnumber and overload the opposition’s two.
It took a while for Fulham’s players to become completely comfortable with the 3-5-2 system, but, after surviving an opening spell during which Matheus Cunha three times could have scored, the formation worked very well.
Reverting to his more familiar 4-2-3-1 when chasing the result in the second half was also well-timed by Silva, even if it ultimately garnered only one point rather than all three. Again, he looks to have put in place good foundations to build on.
Indeed, this Fulham performance could almost be a tactical template for the rest of the Premier League in how to play Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United. And that was without the home team having any luck in the marginal decisions this time.
It is a recurring lament that the big clubs get the majority of the officials’ calls going their way, and this Sunday afternoon’s VAR involvement illustrated that impression yet again, for both United’s first half penalty and second half goal.
Justice may have been served by Bruno Fernandes missing his fifth penalty in the Premier League, more than any other player in the period since his debut for the club. But, when United eventually took the lead, the lack of a VAR intervention was almost embarrassing.
It would have been incredibly unfair for Fulham to be beaten twice by Amorim’s men at the Cottage in one calendar year with deflected goals after tame efforts from the visitors’ central defenders were diverted beyond Leno’s reach by his teammates.
Just as in January with Lisandro Martínez’s speculative long shot coming off Saša Lukić, so now with Leny Yoro’s header hitting Rodrigo Muniz for an own goal - a double dose of fortune after Yoro was allowed to get away with pushing over Calvin Bassey.
Happily for the Hammersmith End they were able ultimately to celebrate Smith Rowe’s subsequent equaliser. A fine finish from one of the finishers sent on by Silva - and a direct outcome of thePortuguese coach’s tactical tweaks.
Ending 15 years since Fulham last avoided defeat by Manchester United at Craven Cottage was extremely sweet. But breaking their briefer sequence of three home losses in a row at the conclusion to last season was also satisfying.
With hopefully more much still to come from Fulham this season.