Manchester United had to rely on a late winner from Joshua Zirkzee to claim all three points in their Premier League opener against Fulham.
It was a fairly balanced game throughout, as United enjoyed more possession and the better chances to score, while Fulham looked dangerous on the counterattack.
Marco Silva’s side set themselves up happy to settle for a point in the last 10 minutes but were left disappointed as Zirkzee stuck out a leg to direct a cross home into the bottom corner, having played a part in the build-up.
Player of the Match
This week, Kobbie Mainoo was compared to one Zinedine Zidane by Man Utd legend Paul Scholes and although the youngster didn’t hit Zizou’s heights tonight, he was the best player on the pitch.
While United struggled to keep things composed at times, he did his job superbly in the middle of the pitch, contributing both in attack and defence.
He sent 15 passes into the final third going forward and completed three dribbled, while he marshaled the central area with 13 duels won, six ball recoveries and five interceptions.
Worst Player
To be fair to Mason Mount, he was played out of position as a False 9 but that wasn’t really an excuse for his inept outing.
He completed zero crosses and zero dribbles up top. One ball recovery isn’t a good look either and he probably should have scored with a close-range strike that was saved by Bernd Leno.
Mount looked out of place in the final third and although he will see this campaign as a fresh start, the Old Trafford faithful will start to lose patience if he doesn’t start delivering with these starting XI berths.
Worst Player
Bruno Fernandes received a 7.1 rating tonight but that doesn’t tell the full story as he should have scored at least two goals in the first half. Twice he was denied by Leno with strikes from inside the box.
Leno was a busy boy for Fulham and made four key saves to earn a 6.8 rating.
Though Mount was the worst player, the next seven worst players on the pitch were statistically…
Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/news/manchester-united-vs-fulham-player-ratings-zirkzee-wins-it-late/5562
Author : editors@footballcritic.com (Martin Macdonald)
Publish date : 2024-08-16 20:11:16
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