Manchester United Salvages Draw at Fulham Amidst Criticism

United clung to a point at Craven Cottage, but the result did little to calm the storm.

A late, heavily deflected strike from Matheus Cunha salvaged a 1-1 draw against Fulham, sparing Michael Carrick from a third straight league defeat. It merely papered over a performance that Gary Neville branded one of the most lifeless he has seen from a Manchester United side.

Lisandro Martinez’s early own goal had set the tone for a disjointed, anxious display in west London. United were slow, flat and repeatedly second best without the ball, relying on a late slice of fortune to escape with anything at all.

The pressure finally told on the commentary gantry. Neville, on Sky Sports co-commentary, cut through the relief of Cunha’s equaliser and went straight for the team’s attitude.

He accused the players of a “severe lack of effort” and turned his fire on Carrick’s public stance, urging the manager to stop shielding a squad that, in his view, simply did not run.

“Michael has got to stop defending them,” Neville said. “I get why he’s defending them; he’s loyal, he wants his players to work for him, and obviously there’s a long way to go in the season.

“Michael is of course saying something different to us than he is saying privately. That would've really worried me. People will ask questions about him, but he knew that when he took the job. But there's no panic in that sense – no one is putting pressure on Carrick – but if those types of performances continue, he will find himself in a lot of trouble. They've got to work harder than that for him.”

This was not an isolated off-day. The limp outing at Fulham followed a league defeat to Manchester City and a Carabao Cup collapse against Brighton, a run that has exposed United’s fragility without the ball.

Neville, who built his career in a side defined by intensity, looked genuinely stunned by what he was watching.

“I've never seen a Man Utd team walk out of possession as much as that,” he said. Carrick had insisted post-match that there was “nothing wrong” with the team’s energy. Neville flatly rejected that.

“Both teams were the same. I called them mannequins. I've never seen a United team walk around as much as that. No alertness, no aliveness. No ‘on your toes’. You should always be on your toes.

“I'm always very careful to say that, but in those first 15 minutes of that second half, Man Utd and generally for the first 60 minutes, were a genuine disgrace. Nowhere near good enough without the ball.”

The draw may slow the slide in the table. It does nothing to silence the questions Neville has thrown directly at the heart of Carrick’s project: how long can a manager defend a team that won’t run for him?