Manchester United will not retain the FA Cup after being dumped out in the fifth round by Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
Erik ten Hag guided Manchester United to FA Cup glory last season, beating Manchester City in the final.
There is to be no repeat this season though with United beaten by Fulham on penalties at Old Trafford.
Calvin Bassey opened the scoring for Fulham, nodding home as United struggled to defend a first-half corner.
Bruno Fernandes hauled United level but neither side could find a winner in extra time, sending the game to penalties.
Bernd Leno saved from both Victor Lindelof and Joshua Zirkzee, sending Fulham through and dumping United out.
- READ MORE: Man Utd player ratings vs Fulham, Victor Lindelof’s nightmare but 8/10 titan didn’t deserve to lose
Bruno Fernandes on Harry Maguire
Ineos want European football at United but the route in now almost entirely rests on Europa League success.
Ruben Amorim has hit back at Wayne Rooney but this was another disappointing afternoon for the United boss.
United must recover quickly though with Thursday’s trip to Real Sociedad in the Europa League looming large.
One man who may be feeling exhausted ahead of the flight to Spain is defender Harry Maguire.
Maguire managed 90 minutes of action before being substituted for United’s January signing Ayden Heaven.
The England International has taken on a major workload in the early stages of 2025 and started every single game in February.
Now starting the first game of March too, Maguire appeared shattered as Heaven took his place.
Speaking to the official FA Cup account on X, captain Bruno Fernandes admitted that Maguire was ‘very, very tired’ upon being substituted.
Bruno pointed to the sheer workload United’s senior players are taking on right now, pointing to a ‘tough’ schedule given the injury problems around the squad.
Bruno praised Heaven and Chido Obi for strong substitute appearances but pointed to a host of tired players, including Victor Lindelof, Matthijs de Ligt and Zirkzee.
“It’s just tiredness from the game,” said Bruno.
“For the moment, obviously, we don’t have many players to play. We’ve been playing most of the games with the same players all the time and then it’s 120 minutes, it’s been tough.
“Today, you had to give an opportunity again to Chido, to Ayden. They did very well again for us, coming out from the bench.
“Obviously, you’ve seen H came off, he was very, very tired, Vic doesn’t play for a long time, Mata, he was running out of legs at the end, Josh also, because he wasn’t always starting and always playing 90 minutes, and now he’s been doing that for three, four games in a row, and obviously, you run out of legs,” he added.
Bruno Fernandes comments a concern for Thursday night
United’s injury list is pretty lengthy right now.
Mason Mount, Luke Shaw, Jonny Evans, Altay Bayindir, Lisandro Martinez, Amad, Kobbie Mainoo, Toby Collyer and Tom Heaton are all on the sidelines.
That doesn’t give Amorim much wiggle room and it’s exactly why players like Bruno and Maguire are having to play so many minutes.
Alan Shearer has praised striker Obi but the 17-year-old may not quite be ready to take on a big role in the final stages of the season.
This situation is far from ideal for Amorim and it doesn’t exactly bode well for this week’s trip to face Real Sociedad.
The likelihood is that Amorim will have to call on many of the starting XI who just took on major minutes against Fulham.
United can at least take some inspiration from Barcelona’s 4-0 demolition of Real Sociedad on Sunday.
La Real had just 23% of possession and failed to take a single shot in a torrid defeat ahead of facing United.
Thursday’s clash could be a tight one but Amorim will hope that his players have the legs to pick up a big result in San Sebastian.
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