Amorim must drop Man Utd star who lost the ball 18 times

Manchester United failed to get their first win of the Premier League season on the board as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday.

Leny Yoro’s header, which was later decided to be an own goal from Rodrigo Muniz, gave the Red Devils the lead in the second half, and they appeared to be on course for all three points.

Unfortunately, a lapse in concentration at the back for United allowed Emile Smith Rowe to ghost in and knock the ball past Altay Bayindir to seal a point for the home side.

There was also a missed penalty amongst it all, as Bruno Fernandes skied his effort over the bar in the first-half before the own goal from Muniz put United ahead anyway.

Bruno Fernandes’ performance against Fulham

The Portugal international had the perfect chance to open the scoring when a penalty was awarded for Calvin Bassey’s foul on Mason Mount in the box, but blazed his effort well over the bar.

Fernandes was unhappy with the fact that the referee interrupted his run-up, which he did start again, but that was not enough to excuse how poor the strike was.

The United skipper did, however, enjoy a very solid game aside from that penalty miss. Per Sofascore, the central midfielder won eight of his ten duels, completed both of his attempted dribbles, and created one chance.

Fernandes tried to get on the ball to make things happen, whilst being combative and strong out of possession, but let himself down in unusual fashion from the penalty spot.

Meanwhile, Patrick Dorgu’s overall performance was worse than the captain’s on the left and Ruben Amorim should consider ruthlessly dropping him from the side.

Why Patrick Dorgu should be dropped

The Danish full-back is in the side to provide dynamism and an attacking outlet down the left as a wing-back, but did not show anywhere near enough quality against the Cottagers.

Dorgu’s performance left far too much to be desired. Whilst Fernandes was, at least, strong defensively, the wing-back lost six of his eight ground duels and was dribbled past twice without making a single tackle, per Sofascore.

This shows that it was far too easy for Fulham attackers to get the better of him in one-on-one battles, and that he did not provide Luke Shaw with enough protection down the left flank.

Unfortunately, the 20-year-old flop’s use of the ball did not make up for his lack of defensive quality, as the former Serie A starlet failed to deliver quality in possession.

As you can see in the table above, Dorgu lost possession a whopping 18 times without creating a single chance or having a shot on goal to test Bernd Leno.

The one time that the Danish whiz did make a perfect run to break the last line of Fulham’s defence, his stretched attempt to cross the ball hit the side netting without troubling anyone in Fulham white.

This is why Amorim must ruthlessly ditch the young defender from the starting XI for the clash with Burnley in the Premier League next weekend, after the League Cup game against Burnley.

In an ideal world, that would include a change of shape to a back four with Luke Shaw in his more natural position, but it could see Shaw or Diogo Dalot play as the left wing-back instead.