Manchester United crashed out of the FA Cup on penalties to Fulham, who mostly outplayed Ruben Amorim’s men on a listless Sunday at Old Trafford.
United had to come from behind once again, Bruno Fernandes levelling with a superb effort after Calvin Bassey headed Fulham ahead on the stroke of half-time.
The Red Devils then seemed more interested in holding on to the draw than going for the Londoners’ jugular, and Matthijs de Ligt put in a colossal shift to keep the Cottagers at bay.
The Dutchman played the full 120 minutes and was not dribbled past once, making six tackles including one crucial last man tackle and only made one foul.
He also made nine clearances and two interceptions, the most of anyone in a red shirt, to limit Fulham’s attackers in front of goal.
The 25-year-old was unusually positive on the ball, making two key passes and creating a big chance with one of them.
In total, he completed 42 of the 50 passes he attempted to produce a passing accuracy of 84%, and found his man with five of his attempted eight long balls.
With United generally in control most of the duels were contested higher up the pitch than De Ligt’s penalty area, but he held his own when called upon.
The centre-back won six of seven contested ground duels, but fared less well in the air where he won only one of five contested aerial duels.
Amorim drew on five different centre-backs during this evening’s clash, with De Ligt the only one to complete the full match. He was variously partnered with Leny Yoro, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and debutant Ayden Heaven.
It was an incredibly disappointing result for United, whose chances of silverware this season are now limited to the Europa League.
There’s minimal turnaround time between tonight’s punishing 120 minute disappointment and Thursday evening’s early kick off at Real Sociedad, and Amorim will be sweating on the recovery time for the players who took part in the entire match.
All stats taken from sofascore.
Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
