This year, the FA Cup can provide no fig leaf for Manchester United, no veneer to mask a collapse of standards.
A fading institution, living off former glories, with no clear plan?
The victorious Fulham manager, Marco Silva, after his 18 months at Everton, ill-starred at the time but superior to what followed under his successors at Goodison, has experience to pass on to Ruben Amorim. The Portuguese’s younger compatriot, in his touchline crouch special move, went through agonies on the sideline. Though Old Trafford was tough viewing for anyone until the suspense of sudden-death exits and then penalties added a frisson. There, Fulham became worthy passengers to the quarter-finals.
Related: Bernd Leno is Fulham’s shootout hero as Manchester United exit FA Cup
Fulham owed one to United. Two seasons ago, in the FA Cup, Silva and his team lost their heads, their manager and their striker Aleksandar Mitrovic required to apologise after a fracas with the referee Chris Kavanagh. Their collection of former nearly men polished back up into good Premier League quality were in control until Bruno Fernandes equalised.
Fulham’s plan – blocking off midfield, feeding the wings – was workable, sensible. Amorim’s stubborn adherence to a formation that worked in Portugal but has taken no hold in England meant a continued grinding of United gears. One day soon, all might flower, but until then his team are likely to remain an ugly watch and easy to pick off. Everyone knows how Manchester United play. They also know United don’t have the players or collective spirit to make the Amorim plan work.
As both teams clanked around, Silva ranted and railed, attacking perceived refereeing injustice, annoyed his team hadn’t finished the job earlier. Amorim meanwhile exasperated at the team that cannot do what he asks. Rasmus Højlund, a confidence player bereft of self‑worth, ran the channels, only to find Calvin Bassey’s bulk was blocking him. Noussair Mazraoui was not nearly so solid when Bassey, outstanding at both ends, headed in to send Old Trafford into a half-time seethe.
Away fans’ glee signalled the end of a pre-match alliance. Supporters from both clubs had formed a collective protest against ticket prices. Their “Stop exploiting loyalty” banner showed fans are sick of being wrung through by corporate greed. Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s comments that United fans should not be paying less than Fulham’s has triggered anger among both groups. Not least because Craven Cottage offers some outrageous pricing to punters. Meanwhile, that 70,000-plus turn up to Old Trafford to watch now near-guaranteed mediocrity while tourists ring the tills in the megastore shows the continuing depth of a legacy.
It may not be a bottomless pit. The blows to United’s standing are coming in thick and heavy. Another round of redundancies and slashed budgets, of letting them eat fruit, has made clear the success of Amorim’s team does not just affect his own job prospects. Other, real people have taken the hit. When a club is run in the close-fisted spirit of a budget airline, every last thing has its price, the soul drains away. For the moment, in the stadium, despite the human cost of cutbacks and the charmless fashion in which efficiencies have been dealt, the attacks on Ratcliffe or Ineos are relatively low-level. The Glazer family, sequestered across the Atlantic, living off the interest, are still held most responsible for the continued betrayal of a legend.
Where United once swaggered, full of history and insouciance, a desperation, a naffness has come to pass. In defeat, Amorim stated his mission is to win the Premier League. “I don’t know how long it will take,” he offered. United look further away than in decades from achieving that goal, the club having laughing stock status.
A growing generation will not remember the good times. Seasons didn’t used to hinge on the cups or the Europa League, where Manchester United’s season may soon be ended by Real Sociedad. None of the current playing generation are beloved universally, not even Fernandes, the second-half scorer lashed this week by Roy Keane for being an “imposter” and “not a fighter”.
Fernandes’s response was to do what he has done best for United, being the occasional saviour of a poor team, whose manager often makes it sound as if he would like to get shut of the lot of them. Amid the fanbase, many minds are made up on who should be handed their passport out. Højlund departed the field to jeers in normal time, 18 matches without a goal, never once having looked like he could end his personal famine.
Could youth, a foundation element of the Manchester United myth save them? With Amad Diallo and Kobbie Mainoo missing, would Chido Obi, 17, find a way? In a couple of hurried chances came the answer but no blame can be attached to a teenage striker playing his third game. There are many, many more ahead of him in the queue.
