Premier League news: Matheus Cunha grabs late equaliser for struggling Man Utd at Fulham

Manchester United had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday as Matheus Cunha struck a late equaliser for Michael Carrick’s side.

The Brazilian’s goal spared United from a third defeat in the space of a week after Lisandro Martínez had earlier conceded an unfortunate own goal.

Despite the positive end to the match for the Red Devils, the result leaves Carrick with plenty to ponder going into the international break.

Here, Sports News Blitz writer Robert Bore reviews the game at Craven Cottage.

Must-win clash vs Cottagers

I don’t know why but every time I think of Fulham, I think of Hugh Grant.

And not the more current Grant – the anti-Tory activist who played a blinder in The Gentleman, etc.

I mean the foppish, romantic-comedy crap Grant; the floppy fringe, Four Weddings and Notting Hill, pronounce-your-words-properly Grant; the ‘never had egg and chips for his tea’ Grant.

I’m not even mentioning Liz Hurley.

So, leafy south-west London would provide the setting for what, stupidly, felt like a must-win game for the Red Devils ahead of a ridiculously long international break.

Just short of four months after the marriage between manager and club was consummated, all is not well in the bedroom.

With barely a month of the season banked, it appears that romance has died a death and there’s already talk of separation.

It had looked like Love Actually after 11 wins from 16 secured Champions League football. All hearts and candle-lit baths, fancy football, and lovey-dovey platitudes.

United had a glint in her eye again.

But that glint is now a squint sat atop a grimace after an evil week that saw VAR defeat them in the Manchester derby and Brighton come back from two-down to dump the hosts out of the League Cup.

All this following an opening-day defeat at Hull City and a last-gasp equaliser conceded at Everton sandwiching the win over Ipswich Town.

There was also the Champions League defeat of nine-year-old Sabah, but that was only comparable to not leaving the toilet seat up in terms of easing the relationship strain.

So, who would Carrick turn to in order to quell the noise and placate her indoors?

Luke Shaw was back, which was good news for Marcus Rashford, impressive in midweek despite defeat but desperate for a goal. 

There was no Benjamin Šeško, not in the squad at all, but new signing Carlos Baleba – probably thinking he should have stayed on the south coast after watching his old side in midweek – was on the bench.

As I am sure regular readers were waiting for, Diogo Dalot started. Again. The mind still boggles.

A frenetic opening period

It was an inauspicious start as Fulham passed the ball around pretty freely before working the first chance of the game that was fired wide by Gonzalo García.

At the other end, Bruno Fernandes had a header come off his defender from United’s first attempt and from the resulting corner, Lisandro Martínez pinged one left-footed from 25 yards that keeper Bernd Leno palmed clear. Bryan Mbeumo then headed off target.

It was one of those ‘good couple of minutes’ spells, but that made it sound more exciting than it was. It was a bit ponderous and stand-offish, truth be told.

I’d used almost a full tube of super glue fixing the Calamity Button after the Brighton debacle, fully expecting it to go off at some stage.

García almost got onto the end of a cross and Josh King fired wide from a tight angle as the hosts were popping the ball around well inside the first 20.

I had yawned a couple of times, though, to be fair.

Dalot curled one wide with his left foot, which I thought was usually only useful to him for standing on, but United should have gone ahead moments later.

Mbeumo played in Cunha down the right and the Brazilian out-muscled his defender and cut the ball back from the by-line for Fernandes, whose effort came back off the far post. 

Senne Lammens saved from King after Alex Iwobi had got behind Dalot for the cross and Sander Berge was also denied after the United defence looked in sixes and sevens.

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Goalless at the break

Oscar Bobb then turned really well on the edge of the box but fired wide through Martínez’s legs.

United went up the other end when Cunha’s ranger clipped off a defender before looping wildly onto the post, but next it was Fulham’s turn as King stepped away from Shaw and it needed another Lammens save to keep his strike out.

Iwobi was enjoying having Dalot up against him down the Fulham left although the Portuguese did well to break from the flank and feed his skipper, who in turn steered the ball on for Rashford to strike but his effort was weak.

Kobbie Mainoo did brilliantly to force another United attack, holding off two challenges before a give-and-go, but it came to nothing as half-time loomed, and Iwobi ran in behind the flat United backline where Lammens again needed to be on his toes to thwart the danger.

I wasn’t sure how it was still goalless to be honest, especially when Bruno fed another Cunha dart to the by-line and the Brazilian cut the ball back across. The ball did clip off Mbeumo’s toes, which appeared to have slightly wrong-footed Rashford who couldn’t readjust, and he spooned over.

As per previous games, everything but the end product since his return. Although it does feel like once he gets one, the floodgates might open.

The last action of the opening period saw King booked for a dive on the edge of the United box.

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United concede own goal

The game resumed and Timothy Castagne went into the book after almost clothes-lining Rashford on halfway as United broke.

Carrick’s side needed to move up a gear – Youri Tielemans tried, releasing Rashford who sprinted clear, but his cross-field pass to Mbeumo was short and the chance was gone.

We approached the hour and it was all a bit lacklustre and crying out for an injection of pace. United had been abject at best since the resumption.

Iwobi wasted a half-chance after sloppy defending from the visitors, but then I caught a familiar red flash out of the corner of my eye and knew what was coming.

And it was bad. So, so bad. Probably football’s equivalent of a Mrs. Brown’s Boys Christmas special.

Calvin Bassey was too strong for Cunha on halfway and the Fulham man surged towards goal with one thing on his mind, hitting a decent strike that Lammens pushed out, but the ball outfoxed Martínez, who could only side-foot it into the net from six or so yards out.

I’m not sure what he was trying to do. I’m not sure he was, either. The Calamity Button was still blinking, buzzing away with what sounded like a gentle “ha ha”.

Mbeumo almost levelled after a corner was pushed out to Rashford, who played a square ball across the box to the frontman and his first-time effort looked in all the way until Leno pushed it clear.

I sighed. The dog shuffled about a bit and also sighed next to me, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

He’d been awake for longer than the majority of the United team since the restart.

Cunha finds late equaliser

Leno was then the hero again, diving full-length as Cunha tried to squeeze one into the far post and we had 15 minutes of normal time remaining.

With Big Ben Šeško missing, Joshua Zirkzee was readied. This time the dog sighed first. So did Rashford as he was hooked.

Fulham made a raft of changes, I didn’t have the energy to check who, with Mainoo also departing for the Lesser Spotted Mason Mount.

The clock was ticking.

It hadn’t been Bruno’s best game, with wasteful final balls and too many intricate flicks, and United just kept tossing the ball into the box and Fulham kept clearing, Bassey getting away with a handball due to “proximity”.

It wasn’t going to happen, there was no suggestion it was going to happen, and United were devoid of ideas.

And just as I finished typing “devoid of ideas”, Carrick got a break. A really lucky break.

Sub Patrick Dorgu cut the ball inside to Cunha on the left edge of the box and he chanced his arm from range, but a wicked deflection off David Affengruber sent the ball in the opposite direction to the otherwise faultless Leno.

We entered the final minute with a United corner, Martínez seeing his effort blocked for another, but Dorgu could only nod tamely wide under pressure.

And that was that.

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Carrick remains under pressure

It was such a strange match.

The visitors had 29 shots in total, but it felt like they laboured. And at times, particularly at the start of the second half, they looked bored and disinterested. 

The honeymoon really is over and it will take more than flowers and chocolates to fix. 

Carrick has just shy of three weeks worth of marriage guidance to find the magic formula again, with the visit of basement-dwelling Spurs next up on October 10th before trips to Atletico Madrid, Leeds United, and Como in the space of eight days.

Relationship status has definitely reached the “it’s complicated” stage.

I hope we are not talking divorce.

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