Manchester United’s performance in their 1-1 draw with Fulham dampened optimism around the side and underlined the need for midfield reinforcements, according to Gary Neville.
Emile Smith Rowe’s equaliser in a dramatic game at Craven Cottage cancelled out a contentious own goal by Rodrigo Muniz as Manchester United’s wait for a first Premier League win of the season continued following last weekend’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal.
The opening-weekend performance at Old Trafford offered encouragement as new signings Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo impressed, but Sky Sports pundit Neville felt Sunday’s game highlighted familiar problems – particularly in midfield.
Ruben Amorim persisted with Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes as his central pairing, with the latter missing a first-half penalty as Kobbie Mainoo remained an unused substitute.
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Highlights from the Premier League match between Manchester United and Fulham
“[My optimism] has been checked slightly because it felt like there were a couple of the old scars reappearing and opening up,” Neville said on The Gary Neville Podcast.
“I think the goalkeeper is still looking very shaky on those crosses from corners, which can’t continue because that anxiety builds, and then in central midfield I think United have to do a piece of business now.
“I would have liked to have thought that Mainoo could step up and be that person, but it’s quite clear that at this moment in time Ruben Amorim is not having him.
“He starts with Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes, he then puts Mason Mount back in there and then he brings [Manuel] Ugarte on in front of him, which tells you he’s fourth-choice really.
“That means that they are going to need to get something sorted because it’s going to be a problem.
“The two in there do get exposed when that front three are just a little bit higher and that back five get pushed back a bit.
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Ashley Young felt the coming together between Bruno Fernandes and Chris Kavanagh could have led to the Manchester United player missing his penalty at Fulham.
“Those gaps, those acres of space seem to open up, and I thought United got cut through quite a few times in the second half.
“I think Bruno Fernandes is part of that in there and he [Amorim] is going to have to sort it out.”
‘Sesko nowhere near in terms of fitness’
For the second week in a row, Neville felt Manchester United’s performance worsened with Amorim’s substitutions, one of which saw Benjamin Sesko thrown on early in the second half.
The Slovenia international, a £73.7m signing from RB Leipzig who also appeared from the bench against Arsenal, was unable to make an impact as Manchester United struggled to find attacking momentum.
“I said this last week and it’s a little bit worrying: Fulham got a lot stronger when they made their substitutions, I actually thought United got worse when they made theirs,” said Neville.
Benjamin Sesko replaced Casemiro soon after half-time
“Sesko, at the moment, let’s just say it, he’s nowhere near in terms of fitness or just getting up to speed.”
Neville feels the striker will need to be given more minutes to build his fitness, starting in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup second-round tie away to Grimbsy Town.
“Ruben Amorim said before the game that there is a clamour to play him,” said Neville. “Last week, I was saying, ‘look, let’s just get him straight in’.
“He is going to have to get him in against Grimsby and give him 90 minutes.
“He’s going to have to probably play him against Burnley next Saturday, just to get him going, because you can see he needs football.
“What you can’t do is let a player of that value, that potential, just keep being on the bench.
“The problem he’ll have is that he wants to keep [building] the team, but I think what you saw when they brought Sesko on, put Mount into midfield and took Casemiro off, they did get opened up and it looked like Fulham could score.”
‘Bruno let penalty miss impact him’
Neville felt Fernandes allowed his penalty to distract him during the game.
The skipper blasted his effort over the bar after referee Chris Kavanagh had bumped into him as he prepared to take it, with Fernandes later telling Sky Sports he was “upset” not to receive an apology from the official.
“I think he let it impact him,” said Neville. “I thought he let it get to him. When he came out for the second half, he was still talking to the referee.
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Bruno Fernandes admitted he was upset by Chris Kavanagh’s penalty disruption
“I know that can happen, but I think you can see in his face sometimes with Bruno that he wears his heart on his sleeve and it was quite clear that obviously he’s desperately disappointed about missing the penalty in the way in which he did.
“Sometimes, if a goalkeeper saves it you might think, ‘OK, that happened’, but he’s smashed it over the bar, and then there was this idea that the referee disrupted his rhythm.
“It was a complete accident. Obviously the referee was trying to walk back towards the players coming in.
“He just seemed to let it impact him in the game and I think that’s just something that shouldn’t have happened really, but that wasn’t the biggest problem out there for United today.”