United boosted by lucky victory but remain flawed

“They were lucky to win tonight,” Marco Silva said after Fulham’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester United.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

As spiky as this might sound – although it was nothing compared to Ruben Amorim’s comments around Marcus Rashford – the United manager wasn’t disagreeing. The difference was that Amorim said his team were due “that bit of luck” after so many matches where it was “the opposite”. He might finally think things are going United’s way. A deflection, a decision, a result. Maybe even a run. This victory, courtesy of Lisandro Martinez’s wildly diverted strike, even feels like it breaks the January boom-bust cycle where any positive was immediately followed by a negative. Amorim has now won two games in a row for the first time in 10. That still hasn’t happened for United in the league but that also touches on the wider point of this win: it gives hope, steadily increasing confidence that bit more. “Let’s get this feeling to the next game,” Amorim said.

It wouldn’t be United right now, however, without some other headlines. Although Amorim seemed content and relaxed after the game, even joking about his 40th birthday on Monday feels like his 50th, he shocked everyone in Fulham’s media room with his strongest comments on Rashford yet. After a game where United had again been lacking in attack, the Portuguese was naturally asked about whether his England international would ever return to the side. Rashford has been missing for 11 games.

Amorim left no one in any doubt about his feelings, though. He said he would rather put his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach, Jorge Vital, on the bench than a player that doesn’t “give the maximum”.