Matheus Cunha rescued Manchester United with an 89th-minute equaliser as Michael Carrick’s side escaped Craven Cottage with a 1-1 draw against Fulham.
Lisandro Martínez’s own goal had put Fulham ahead midway through the second half and Álvaro Arbeloa’s side were within minutes of their first Premier League victory of the season.
But Cunha’s speculative effort took a heavy deflection off David Affengruber and left Bernd Leno wrong-footed, denying Fulham at the end of a match in which both teams had opportunities to take all three points.
For Manchester United, the late goal prevented a third defeat in the space of a week. It did not, however, disguise another uneven performance.
A surprisingly open first half
The opening minutes gave little indication of what was to follow.
Both teams initially played at a measured pace, with Fulham enjoying plenty of possession without seriously troubling United.
The game gradually opened up and chances began to arrive at both ends.
Martínez produced the first significant effort after 10 minutes, meeting a partially cleared corner with a powerful strike from outside the area. Leno reacted well, stretching to push the ball away from the top corner.
United then created their best opportunity of the half after 25 minutes.
Cunha showed strength to get around Affengruber on the right before pulling the ball back perfectly for Bruno Fernandes. The United captain appeared to have the goal at his mercy but guided his finish against the far post.
Fulham responded strongly.
Alex Iwobi found Josh King inside the penalty area and the youngster’s volley forced Senne Lammens into a sharp save.
A few minutes later Fulham produced a sequence of opportunities that should probably have brought the opening goal.
Gonzalo García failed to make clean contact when well placed, Sander Berge’s follow-up was pushed away by Lammens and Oscar Bobb dragged another effort wide.
United went straight up the other end and almost scored themselves when Cunha’s shot took a major deflection, looped over Leno and struck the post.
King then tested Lammens again, with the United goalkeeper sticking out a leg to prevent Fulham from capitalising on their best spell of the half.
It had become an unusually open contest. Between them the sides produced 26 attempts before the interval without finding a goal.
Fulham take control after the break
Manchester United returned for the second half without the urgency that had at least made them dangerous before the interval.
Their passing became slower, movement off the ball dropped away and Fulham were increasingly comfortable dictating the tempo.
The home side were not creating chance after chance, but they looked sharper and more purposeful.
The breakthrough came in the 63rd minute and summed up United’s afternoon.
Calvin Bassey outmuscled Cunha and drove forward before unleashing a powerful shot from the edge of the area.
Lammens could only parry it into danger.
Martínez tried to react but was unable to sort out his feet, poking the loose ball back towards his own goal. Lammens attempted to recover but could not prevent it crossing the line.
It was untidy from beginning to end and gave Fulham the lead their second-half performance deserved.
Leno keeps United at bay
Going behind finally produced a response from Manchester United.
Bryan Mbeumo curled towards the far corner after 67 minutes, forcing Leno into an excellent diving save.
Cunha then tested the Fulham goalkeeper again with another effort from distance as United began to increase the pressure.
There remained a familiar problem, however. United were getting shots away without consistently finding routes through Fulham’s defence.
With Benjamin Sesko unavailable, Cunha had again been asked to operate through the middle rather than in his more natural supporting role. He worked hard and remained United’s most persistent attacking threat, but too much of the visitors’ play developed in front of Fulham rather than behind them.
Fulham increasingly dropped deeper as the match entered its final quarter, protecting what would have been Arbeloa’s first league victory since taking charge.
United appealed for a penalty in the 86th minute when Martínez’s effort struck Bassey inside the area, but the defender’s arms were close to his body and play continued.
Fulham were almost there.
Cunha finds a way through
With the clock approaching 90 minutes, Cunha finally found the equaliser.
There appeared to be relatively little danger when he collected possession outside the penalty area on the left side.
He shifted the ball into shooting position and tried his luck from distance.
Affengruber threw himself towards the effort and the ball took a huge deflection, completely changing direction and leaving Leno stranded as it flew into the opposite corner.
It was fortunate, but United had kept pushing and Cunha had been willing to take responsibility.
Fulham’s players looked devastated.
After defending their advantage for more than 25 minutes, they had been denied their first league win with barely a minute of normal time remaining.
United’s numbers flatter an uneven display
Manchester United finished with 29 attempts, an unusually high total for an away Premier League match.
That statistic does not tell the whole story.
United hit the woodwork twice and forced several good saves from Leno, but Fulham created chances of comparable quality and frequently looked the more coherent side.
The difference was particularly obvious early in the second half, when United’s intensity dropped sharply.
Carrick’s team still look uncomfortable without the ball. Too often Fulham were able to move through midfield without being placed under enough pressure, while United’s attacking players were slow to recover their positions.
The late equaliser therefore provided relief rather than evidence that the underlying problems have disappeared.
Five points from five Premier League matches represents United’s joint-worst start to a season at this stage of the competition.
After defeats by Manchester City and Brighton earlier in the week, avoiding another loss mattered.
But the international break has arrived with Carrick still searching for a more convincing balance between the attacking talent in his side and the work required when United do not have the ball.
Fulham left with encouragement but no win
For Fulham, the frustration is different.
Arbeloa’s side have still not won in the Premier League this season, but performances are beginning to offer more encouragement than the table suggests.
They followed their goalless draw at Liverpool with another competitive display against one of the league’s biggest clubs.
Bassey was aggressive in defence, Berge gave the midfield physical presence and King repeatedly found spaces from which he could trouble United.
The problem remains turning good periods into victories.
Fulham had United in difficulty and were only moments away from taking all three points, but dropping increasingly deep after taking the lead invited the pressure that eventually produced Cunha’s equaliser.
How the media saw it
The post-match reaction concentrated heavily on Manchester United’s lack of intensity, particularly during the opening period of the second half, and on the sense that Cunha’s goal had rescued Carrick from a considerably more uncomfortable international break.
Gary Neville on Sky Sports was particularly critical of United’s approach immediately after half-time:
“The worst 15 minutes I have ever seen Manchester United play.”
Neville’s frustration centred less on individual mistakes than on United’s lack of movement and urgency when Fulham had possession.
David Hytner of The Guardian also felt United struggled badly to break Fulham down once the hosts were ahead:
“Carrick’s players were too slow. Their moves were predictable.”
United did eventually generate pressure, but much of it came from shots outside the penalty area rather than sustained penetration of Fulham’s back line.
Reuters reached a similar conclusion, highlighting periods in which United:
“Lacked urgency and focus.”
The common theme was difficult to miss. Manchester United created enough chances to avoid defeat, but the performance itself did little to suggest their difficult start to the season is over.
A point that suits neither side
Both teams can find reasons for encouragement in the result, but neither will be completely satisfied.
Fulham were minutes away from their first league victory under Arbeloa and will feel they allowed a strong position to slip away.
Manchester United can point to the chances they created, the woodwork they struck and the character required to recover after going behind.
But a club with their ambitions cannot rely on late deflections to repair performances of this kind.
Cunha’s goal prevented a damaging defeat.
What Carrick does during the international break to prevent the same problems recurring will matter considerably more.
