Manchester— Ruben Amorim has suffered yet another setback to start a busy week.
In five days, Manchester United and their head coach had two cup matches: one against Real Sociedad in the Europa League round of 16 and another against Fulham in the FA Cup fifth round. These matches gave them hope that there was still hope this season. However, Fulham had different plans, and Marco Silva’s team won 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw that lasted 120 tense minutes without any true quality. Joshua Zirkzee and Victor Lindelöf missed the spot as United, the defending champions, fell out.
The pressure on Thursday’s trip to San Sebastian has increased even more since Amorim’s cup exit closed another door. A trophy and a spot in the Champions League for the following season are offered by the Europa League. If it were won, this season would become somewhat of a success. That’s easier said than done, based on their performance against Fulham, which lacked any true cutting edge at crucial moments.
“In the end, the penalties can go both ways and today wasn’t our way,” Amorim said. “We know that we are losing games, but the goal is to win the Premier League again. I don’t know how long it will take. We have a goal, and we continue forward no matter what.
“It’s impossible to know, but you start understanding the players are better and we understand the league. We’ll see in the future.”
He must occasionally feel as though his head is hitting a brick wall. He praised his coaching staff in his pregame program notes for “improving in how we defend set-pieces in recent weeks.”
Fulham scored from a set piece at the end of one of United’s better first halves under his leadership, which was typical of his “one step forward, two steps back” start to life at Old Trafford.
Sunday’s lackluster penalty-based loss to visiting Fulham ended Man United’s FA Cup winning streak.
Rodrigo Muniz flicked it on with ease for Calvin Bassey to nod it home at the back post, but that doesn’t justify the poor decision to award a corner. A replay will not be desired by Manuel Ugarte, who lost Muniz’s run, or Noussair Mazraoui, who was marking Bassey.
For the fifth consecutive time, United gave up the opening goal. The first goal has been given up 16 times by United in Amorim’s 24 games as manager. On its own, that is a damning statistic, but it becomes even more so when the team is having trouble scoring. United has not scored from open play in 19 straight first halves, going goalless in the first forty-five minutes once more.
Amorim has a long list of issues. Among other things, he could only list seven substitutes rather than the allowed nine. Two of the goalkeepers on the bench were young.
Amorim is fortunate that Bruno Fernandes is so resilient. After receiving additional criticism from former captain Roy Keane in the past week, the Portuguese midfielder once again demonstrated why he is United’s most valuable player. He may not be among the club’s greatest midfield players ever, like Keane or Paul Scholes, but he is without a doubt the team’s best player.
Fernandes ghosted in to whip Diogo Dalot’s cross into the bottom corner, bringing United level in the second half. He made it appear easy, but the technique was exquisite.
Fernandes now leads the league in goals (11) and assists (12), and he has six game-changing goals this season, including three winners and three equalizers. He took the lead in the penalty shootout and hammered his shot into the net in front of the Stretford End, but Bernd Leno saved the efforts of Lindelof and Zirkzee because he is not able to do it alone. The Fulham goalie was excellent, keeping the score tied with crucial saves against Alejandro Garnacho and Chido Obi.
“Unbelievable,” Leno said after the win. “I think we deserved to win after 90 minutes. Of course, penalties, it is sometimes a lottery and luckily, we won. The goalie coach told me a couple of informations, but my feeling is more important.”
The quarterfinal matchup for Fulham is against Crystal Palace. Europa League or bust for Amorim.
Since taking Erik ten Hag’s place in November, the Portuguese coach has lost 10 of his last 25 games. Although United is refusing to accept that he might be under pressure so early in his career, it was acknowledged prior to the loss to Fulham that the cup competitions are crucial for generating interest in the season and opening doors to Europe. United is now out of the FA Cup and languishing in 14th place in the Premier League standings, leaving them with only the Europa League. Real Sociedad faces an important week in Amorim’s brief rule.