PLAYER RATINGS: New Signings Shine as Manchester United Score Late Against Fulham
The Premier League has finally returned.
Fulham made the trip up to Manchester as the Red Side of the city opened the gates to their stadium. For large portions of the game, I wouldn’t blame you if you fell asleep. The first half was far from the return we would have wanted.
The second half, however, offered us a little more. But not much more. Of course, we didn’t go goalless. Thank god. New signing Zirkzee put his name in lights and gave his team all three points. Time for the ratings.
Match Ratings
Manchester United
Andre Onana (6): Didn’t really have much to do. But when he did, he was decent.
Noussair Mazraoui (8): Excellent debut for a man with barely a training session under his belt. Defended excellently and put a couple dangerous crosses into the box. They may have worked out if Bruno Fernandes wasn’t his target.
Harry Maguire (7.5): Dominant. He looks like a man ready to fight for his place as Manchester United’s first-choice CB. He was unfortunate to be subbed off. Perhaps injured?
Lisandro Martinez (6): Little shaky. Felt any time he came up against Adama Traore, the Spaniard had his number. Made a decent goal-saving clearance, though.
Diogo Dalot (6): Solid performance. Didn’t stand out, but that can also be a good thing.
Casemiro (6): Still feels like the pace of the Premier League is still too much for him. His passing was decent, with a few stand out balls. Gaps in midfield still there.
Kobbie Mainoo (7): Excellent on the ball as always. Positioning in attacking moments often led to easy counter-attacks for Fulham. May be a tactical issue, rather than his.
Amad Diallo (5): Couple good runs throughout the game, but was never involved offensively as you would have liked.
Mason Mount (5): Not involved as much as you’d want your No.10 to be. Made least amount of passes out of the front four by the time he came off. However, his pressing was excellent.
Marcus Rashford (5): Was not involved for the majority of the game. He still made some decent chances, which shows his quality. Kenny Tete had his number, though.
Bruno Fernandes (5): Should have scored. Twice.
Joshua Zirkzee (7.5): Didn’t do too much after coming on. Then he scored. What a way to enter the Premier League.
Alejandro Garnacho (7): Electric after coming on. Good ball into Zirkzee for the goal. What was that miss though…
Scott McTominay (6): Came on. Made some passes.
Jonny Evans (6): Got minutes.
Matthijs de Ligt (6): Made his debut.
Fulham
Bernd Leno (7): Was MOTM before conceding. Made some great stops throughout the match.
Antonee Robinson (6): Made some great tackles. Could have been involved more offensively.
Calvin Bassey (4): Not great. Should have been aware of Zirkzee for the goal. Made a horrible mistake that United should have capitalised on.
Issa Diop (6.5): Did not put a foot wrong. Defended his area well.
Kenny Tete (6): Made a decent block. Did his job.
Andreas Pereira (7): Was highly involved in anything positive Fulham did. Made a mess of a clean counterattack.
Saša Lukić (6): Battled well in midfield, but was nothing more than decent.
Adama Traore (5): If you had wheels, you’d be a bike. If Adama Traore had an end product, he probably wouldn’t be at Fulham. Was electric early on, but drifted out of the game.
Emile Smith-Rowe (5): Didn’t really cause many problems for Manchester United. Not sure he is quite a midfielder or a winger.
Alex Iwobi (5): There is a reason he isn’t called Alex-Alex like his uncle Jay-Jay. I’m not sure what he offers out wide.
Rodrigo Muniz (4): He was on the pitch.
Tom Cairney (6): Came on, got a yellow, made some passes. Wasn’t bad to be fair to him.
Harry Wilson (5): Didn’t get involved too much.
Raul Jimenez (5): Was on the pitch for 12 minutes.
Harrison Reed (N/A): Subbed on.
Jay Stansfield (N/A): Subbed on.