Control Still Eludes Amorim’s United
Any optimism supporters could have drawn from the opening day loss against Arsenal didn’t last long. At Craven Cottage, visiting the unspectacular Fulham, Manchester United once again began with intensity, spreading the ball quickly and pressing high, but by the time the 90 was up, they were desperately hanging on. Two matches in, Ruben Amorim’s team has picked up a singular point. Plus, while the football has been substantially more coherent than last season’s mess, the same old cracks are already showing.
The first 20 minutes were excellent. Matheus Cunha rattled the post and forced Bernd Leno into a sharp save, while Mason Mount’s movement between the lines pulled Fulham’s back line apart. United looked uncharacteristically fluid, generating three shots on target before Fulham could establish any rhythm. However, Bruno Fernandes was also uncharacteristic with his penalty miss—blasted over after colliding with referee Chris Kavanagh seconds before his run-up—seemed to suck the energy out of United. Fernandes admitted afterward it “triggered” him, though he refused to use it as an excuse. Either way, United eventually lost control of the game.
However, first, they did take the lead, controversially. Leny Yoro climbed all over Calvin Bassey at a corner, his header bouncing in off Rodrigo Muniz for an own goal. VAR let it stand, but all too surprisingly, the goal did the opposite of calming United down. “We scored and we forgot how to play,” Amorim admitted. Fulham sensed it immediately, forcing Altay Bayındır into awkward saves and putting pressure on a back line that looked shaky on every cross. The equalizer came just 93 seconds after Emile Smith Rowe entered, drifting past a flat-footed Matthijs de Ligt to tap home a cross from Alex Iwobi. The defending was woeful from start to finish: Diogo Dalot failed to control a routine ball, overcomplicating his touch and losing possession in a dangerous area. Then, no one closed Iwobi, de Ligt switched off, and Smith Rowe strolled into the box unmarked. It was the kind of self-inflicted goal that United conceded far too often.
From there, United had little control. The attack sputtered in the second half: no “big chances” created. Bryan Mbeumo, sharp against Arsenal, was shackled by Bassey. The statistics from Benjamin Šeško’s cameo were unfortunate: 38 minutes, nine passes, no shots, no dribbles, no duels won. For a $95m striker, it was alarmingly passive. As the game tilted, Amorim’s substitutions made the spectacle look eerily familiar. Manuel Ugarte came on for Casemiro to restore balance, Diogo Dalot was added at right-back, and then, chasing a winner, Amorim turned to Harry Maguire and Ayden Heaven. Maguire was thrown up top, lumping forward in search of a late header. It actually nearly worked again: he rose highest in stoppage time but nodded the ball inches wide. However, for supporters, it looked like déjà vu under Erik ten Hag, desperate long balls and square pegs in round holes.
What really grated for fans was who stayed on the bench in lieu of the two center halves: Kobbie Mainoo. The teenager has already delivered in various clutch moments for club and country, with Paul Scholes even claiming Kobbie was “better than me at 19.” After the game, Amorim explained his thinking: “He’s fighting for the position with Bruno. When I changed, I changed it with Mason Mount there, and when I changed it, I felt the team needed to return to one holding midfielder near Bruno.” That midfielder was Ugarte. For many supporters, leaving Mainoo unused while Maguire was sent forward felt stupefying. Yet tactically, it’s more nuanced. With Bruno already playing deep, pairing him with Mainoo would have been high-risk in a 1-1 away game. Ugarte’s introduction gave United more defensive cover, even if it blunted their ability to push for a winner.
While the online outrage is as intense and fickle as ever, the broader critique is still valid: Amorim’s marriage to his shape doesn’t always get the best out of this squad. Fernandes is often too deep, United’s best winger is often stuck at wing-back, and Mainoo is often displaced altogether. However, the obsession with “3-4-3” as a formation, or it being the sole reason Mainoo sits on the bench, misses the point. Modern football requires teams to be constantly adapting their shape throughout games. Amorim’s side at times looks like a back three and at times a 4-2-3-1, depending on whether wing-backs push high or tuck in. The center-back sometimes steps up to form a midfield pivot, wingers sometimes stay wide, sometimes narrow. It’s fluid. The issue against Fulham wasn’t the numbers on the whiteboard, or simply “being outnumbered three to two in midfield” as Marco Silva references after the game, but the execution after a bright start faded.
That’s the real takeaway. Yes, this performance was poor after the first 20 minutes. Yes, the substitutions were frustrating and brought back an uncomfortable nostalgia chasing the game with Harry Maguire up top. However, it’s been two games. United pressed Arsenal very effectively last week, created chances here, and looked far more cohesive than the side that finished 15th last season. Mainoo will get minutes. Šeško will need time. The squad is more together. For now, the frustration is valid, but panic is not.
