Manchester United reaction to Fulham draw

Gary Neville said it was "the worst 15 minutes" he had ever seen from Manchester United as they left Fulham with a point from Fulham vs Manchester United. The draw came after a late Matheus Cunha equaliser, but the mood around Michael Carrick's side was driven by criticism, not relief. United were five games into the Premier League campaign and already 10 points behind Manchester City.

Neville's verdict on United

Neville was not the only one sounding unimpressed. Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: "Both teams were the same. I called them mannequins. They were mannequins." Perry Groves added: "I just think Manchester United have got away with it." That felt about right for a side that looked passive for long spells and never seemed fully in control of the game.

The numbers fit the same story. United have taken just 5 points from their opening 5 Premier League matches and sit 16th, with their points-per-game return under Carrick at 1 this season compared with 2.3 across his 17 league games last term. Matheus Cunha was the standout on the day with an 8.2 rating, and his equaliser was enough to leave United with a point rather than a defeat.

Fulham's complaint after the equaliser

Fulham's frustration came from the ending. Lisandro Martínez turned the ball into his own net in the 63rd minute, then Cunha levelled in the 89th after a free-kick on Harry Maguire 35 seconds earlier. Alvaro Arbeloa said, "Every decision was for them and I knew after the game against Man City that they [would not] let Manchester United lose here," while also arguing, "You can see before they scored, the foul against Maguire, he's a guy who is 100 kilos. Every decision was for them."

The officiating complaint is Arbeloa's view, not something the match data settles. What is clear is that Fulham settled early, with 46 passes in the opening couple of minutes before their first shot, and United spent too much of the evening chasing the game. If Carrick needed a performance to calm things down, this was not it, and the 16th-place start is now the main fact hanging over the next league match.