Here are the player ratings for Fulham vs. Manchester United. Let’s just operate under the assumption that everyone loses a point for those first 10 minutes.
David de Gea: 5/10
Not much he could do about the goal. Wasn’t called upon many other times. Did his sweeper keeping the one time it was needed.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka: 6/10
Hard to fault him for playing Lookman onside simply because he was leaning the wrong way. Got forward really well. His final ball isn’t all that but that’s not news to anyone.
Eric Bailly: 4/10
Not his best match. Never bothered to even try and pick up Fulham’s center forward when he ran between the center backs and the flag didn’t go up. Had a bunch of nervy moments.
Harry Maguire: 5/10
Not sure why there was such a gap between him and Bailly on the first one. Didn’t muff that header in the box so much as he had no idea where he was and was deliberately heading it in that direction.
Luke Shaw: 6/10
Got up and down the pitch well once again. Did a good job recovering to force a much tougher shot from Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Fred: 8/10
Held his position in front of the back four really well which allowed Pogba the freedom to go do Paul Pogba things, while also still finding time to do his general nuisance Fred things.
Paul Pogba: 8/10
There were two Pogbas in this match. At times he wanted to be fancy and he ran into trouble. When he kept everything simple he was sensational. And then he went and won the game for United.
Bruno Fernandes: 6/10
I don’t know what Bruno was doing for the first 19 minutes of the match but it wasn’t participating in this football match. Then a switch seemed to flip in his head and he was sensational for the next 10 minutes, creating a goal and forcing a good save in that time. But other than that burst he struggled to affect the game.
Anthony Martial: 6/10
Devoid of confidence right now. He continues to do a lot of things well, he’s just not scoring goals — which is only a problem because that’s kinda what strikers are judged on. He did oddly look like he’s never played with Luke Shaw before.
Edinson Cavani: 7/10
Never stopped moving all night. Predatory instincts got him a huge equalizer and he forced a great save that could have put United 3-1 up right after Pogba’s goal.
Mason Greenwood: 6/10
Contributed more in the buildup play than he usually does which was nice to see. Kept his width really well in the attacking phase, which is good for his teammates, but not so much where he’s going to be the most effective.
Marcus Rashford: N/A
Scott McTominay: N/A
Nemanja Matić: N/A
Manager
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: 6/10
Gave us the Pogba Fred midfield pair that we’ve been dying to see. Good to give Rashford rest. There’s always going to be a reason to start Bruno Fernandes but at some point you’ve got to get him a rest. United weren’t at their best — that Martial, Cavani, Greenwood front three still feels off in a lot of ways — but they managed to grind it out. It was an ugly game but it’s January and most games this time of the year are ugly; ultimately United pulled it out and got three points. That’s what you have to do in these games.
