Manchester United camp will be all smiles after Joshua Zirkzee’s late winner saved their blushes in a 1-0 win as they wasted chance after chance.
Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount were the prime culprits as United looked to stumble towards an opening-day draw and puncture all the momentum coming into the season.
However, a clean sheet and a coherent defensive structure, far removed from last season, ensured a single goal was enough to seal the win.
The whole of defence deserves a lot of credit for dealing with Fulham’s threat expertly, with particularly Casemiro impressing in both halves of the pitch.
However, the standout moment, apart from the goal, of course, came in the first half courtesy of another South American.
A memorable duel
In the early stages of the game, United looked like they had still not arrived as Fulham looked dangerous every time they had the ball.
The biggest threat for Marco Silva’s side was down the wings, where Tete and Adama Traore’s pace and invention was causing problems.
Noussair Mazraou’s last-ditch tackle saved United from conceding an early goal when he cut Traore’s cross.
The latter had skinned through the entire United defence to get into the box, with Lisandro Martinez, in particular, completely outpaced and outmuscled for that chance. That would be the last time he would allow that to happen.
Later in the half, the same duel was happening. Traore ran at Martinez but this time, the Argentine not only kept up with him, but assertively pushed him off the ball with what looked like barely breaking a sweat.
The reply from the centre-back left Old Trafford roaring as loud as it had seen a goal, and MUTV pundit said he did what “not many people can do”.
He said: “He missed much of last season, I see him bully Traore in the first half which not many people can do.”
Martinez also had an extremely cheeky response to the duel as he said he sent Traore “to the gym” after seeing it post-match.
Martinez changes the whole team
It feels like an exaggeration to say this about a centre-back, but Lisandro Martinez’s presence does more for the team than just his quality on the pitch.
His personality and commitment seem to rub off on the whole team, who seem to play better with the Argentinian on the pitch.
- READ MORE: Who is Lisandro Martinez? Step inside the life of Manchester United’s tenacious Argentine
Moreover, such is his connection with the crowd that he can get the whole stadium going with just one tackle or defensive action, sometimes much-needed when the attack is labouring.
That was exactly at play during his duel with Traore, as it took the winger out of the game, who didn’t have nearly as much impact on the game afterwards.
United also found another gear to their game with the crowd egging them on, momentum which they eventually leveraged to score the winner.
Of all the injuries last year, the absence of Martinez arguably hurt the team the most so Ten Hag’s first priority this year will be to keep his marquee defender free from issues.
Rest will take care of itself!
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