Here are the player ratings for Fulham against Manchester United. Let’s just work under the assumption that everyone loses a point for the first ten minutes.
David de Gea: 5/10
Not much he could do to the goal. Was not called in many other times. Held his sweeper the one time needed.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka: 6/10
Hard to blame him for playing Lookman on the spot just because he was leaning the wrong way. Has come forward really well. His final ball is not everything, but it’s not news to anyone.
Eric Bailly: 4/10
Not his best match. Never bothered to even try to pick up Fulham’s forward when he ran between the center-backs and did not raise the flag. Had a bunch of nervous moments.
Harry Maguire: 5/10
I do not know why there was such a gap between him and Bailly. Did not muffle the head in the box so much because he had no idea where he was going and deliberately pointed in that direction.
Luke Shaw: 6/10
Once again well up and down the field. Has recovered well to force a much harder shot from Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Fred: 8/10
He kept his position in front of the back four very well, giving Pogba the freedom to go do things from Paul Pogba, while also still finding time to do his general nuisance Fred stuff.
Paul Pogba: 8/10
There were two Pogbas in this match. Sometimes he wanted to be fancy and he got into trouble. When he kept everything simple, he was sensational. And then he won the game for United.
Bruno Fernandes: 6/10
I do not know what Bruno did the first 19 minutes of the match, but he did not participate in this football match. Then a switch appeared in his head and he was sensational for the next ten minutes, creating a goal and forcing a good save in that time. But apart from the burst, he struggled to influence the game.
Anthony Martial: 6/10
Without trust at the moment. He keeps doing a lot of things well, he just does not score goals – which is just a problem because there is quite a bit of judging on strikers. He looked strange as if he had never played with Luke Shaw before.
Edinson Cavani: 7/10
Never stopped moving all night. The predatory instincts made him a great equalizer and he forced an amazing save that could increase United 3-1, just after Pogba’s goal.
Mason Greenwood: 6/10
Contributed more in the build-up than he usually does, which was nice to see. His width has held up very well in the attacking phase, which is good for his teammates, but not so much where he is going to be 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 we would love to see. Good to give Rashford a rest. There will always be a reason to start Bruno Fernandes, but at some point you need to get him to rest. United were not at their best – that the top three from Martial, Cavani and Greenwood still feel in many ways – but they managed to cut it out. It was an ugly game, but it’s January and most games this time of year are ugly; finally United took it out and got three points. This is what you have to do in these games.