Manchester United 2 Fulham 2
Manchester United Van Persie 78', Carrick 80'
Fulham Sidwell 19', Bent 90+4'
Man of the match Dan Burn (Fulham)
Manchester // Late goals are famously part of the fabric of Manchester United.
The latest provided further indication that the Premier League champions are coming unstitched.
The year is not yet six weeks old, but for the second time, Old Trafford fans exited with the majority bemoaning a last-gasp addition to the scoring.
Darren Bent’s 94th-minute leveller was not quite as decisive as Wilfried Bony’s FA Cup winner for Swansea City a month earlier, but it added to the pattern of decline, decay and dismay.
More and more, the final act leaves the majority at the Theatre of Dreams disappointed.
Yesterday, it came when it appeared United had fashioned a happy ending, coming from 1-0 down to lead thanks to goals from Robin van Persie and Michael Carrick.
Then came the dramatic twist.
Steve Sidwell fed the former United winger Kieran Richardson, whose shot was parried limply by David de Gea.
The substitute Bent bounced, giving Fulham renewed hope in their relegation battle and manager Rene Meulensteen a reward for a left-field team selection on his return to Old Trafford.
So, in a tale of United past and present, David Moyes was left looking the more beleaguered.
His side dropped a further two points. They are nine adrift of Liverpool, the occupants of fourth place. It already seems the best they can hope for is fifth. Sights are being lowered, ambitions downgraded, even if few feel able to admit it. Languishing in seventh, Moyes accepted he never expected his debut year at Old Trafford to be this bad.
“Probably not, no,” he said. “Today was as bad as it gets.”
On paper, this was the easiest game of the campaign: at home to the side propping up the Premier League and who have a dreadful defensive record. United nevertheless made heavy weather of it.
They trailed when Lewis Holtby wandered free in midfield and chipped a pass forward.
Sidwell sprinted into the box, stretched and volleyed it past De Gea.
It was typical of the midfielder, stand-in captain and top scorer, who has flourished this season. Over the course of the campaign, too few others have. On the day, Fulham rallied.
Meulensteen left out Brede Hangeland and Scott Parker, traditionally the rocks of the defence and midfield, but the unlikely lads performed with unexpected unity, especially considering five had not started a league game for the club before this month. The most inexperienced, the 18-year-old Swedish midfielder Muamer Tankovic, led a counter-attack that should have resulted in Richardson doubling Fulham’s lead.
The giant Dan Burn headed away cross after cross – and as United, eschewing any other approach, delivered 81 of them, he was kept busy – and goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg made a series of saves.
The best, when he tipped a Wayne Rooney shot over the bar, was outstanding.
And United kept the Fulham defence occupied.
“I don’t know if we could have done an awful lot more,” Moyes said. “We completely dominated the game. We were in their box probably 150 times.”
Van Persie mounted an assault on the Fulham goal, volleying wide, having a shot saved and claiming a penalty.
Eventually, and not surprisingly, he finally struck, tapping in Juan Mata’s cross-shot.
Two minutes later, the turnaround was complete, with Carrick’s shot taking a sizeable deflection off Parker.
That, it seemed, was that.
“It was a game we should have easily seen out,” Moyes said.
Instead, Nemanja Vidic misplaced a simple header, Richardson shot and Bent scored.
“You could use maybe mental softness that we didn’t see the job out and get the job done,” Moyes said. “I would agree with that.”
They head to Arsenal on Wednesday, going from the division’s bottom side to the one who, until Saturday, were top.
“We’ve got a good team and there will be very few teams desperate to play Manchester United,” Moyes said.
Perhaps not, but, as Fulham showed, there are very few who fear them, either.
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