Alvaro Arbeloa claims refs ‘don’t like Man Utd to lose’, United boss Michael Carrick maintains belief, and Gary Neville fumes.
Fulham had gone ahead following Lisandro Martinez’s own goal on 63 minutes, Matheus Cunha’s deflected free kick levelled the scoreline.
United struck the woodwork in both halves, and in the 86th minute, saw their penalty appeal turned down.
The result sees Man Utd go into the international break sitting 12th in the Premier League with 5 points from 5 games, while Fulham are 19th with 2 points.
Fulham’s Alvaro Arbeloa was unhappy with how lenient the officials were towards United, venting anger over a decision to give a free-kick for a foul on Harry Maguire before the equaliser.
He said, as per Sky Sports’ live blog: “We were so close. So, so close. We were a little bit unlucky again. We knew it would be difficult against this big team.
“Also, we knew what happened last week. We have seen what the referee have been doing in all the matches, so it was a difficult game. And we were unlucky.
“All fouls for them. You can see before they scored, the foul against Maguire; it’s a guy who is 100 kilos. Every decision was for them and I knew after the game against Man City that they [would not] let Manchester United lose here. We deserved a little bit more.”
“We have a month in October that will be so important”
Alvaro Arbeloa on Fulham searching for their first Premier League win of the season ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/TA1jGVba24
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 20, 2026
Carrick said to Sky Sports:
“I thought we should’ve won the game, we created enough to win the game.
“We had a lot of good play and the goal we did concede, it is one of those goals.
“I really liked the reaction and how we finished the game. It would be easy for it to go in another direction.
“We nearly won it at the end. We came to get the win; of course we did, but the way we finished the game is the positive we take from it.
“Their goalkeeper, the saves he has made, he was Player of the Match and we hit the post twice. A lot of it [our play] was good.
“There are things to take from it, for sure.”
On if United were too passive? “I didn’t think we did [look passive]. Did you think we were passive? Football is a difficult game.
“We controlled a lot of the first half and we played a lot of good football today. There is going to be spells when you don’t have it go your own way.
“The goal they scored, and arguably there is a foul at one point on Matheus [Cunha, and it is two deflections. It goes their way.
“To expect total dominance for the whole game, I don’t think anyone gets that in this league.”
On if he’s happy with the effort levels of the team? “Yeah.”
“We don’t need to get carried away. It is not a big judgement call all of a sudden.
“We know we can be better and we need to be better at certain things. We will be. There were good signs and it will take us through the season.
On plans for the international break: “There is only so much you can do. The players we have, we will train and work with them.
“There will be a little bit of time off and then we get ready for the restart when we get back.”
Matheus Cunha speaking to Sky Sports:
“It is so frustrating for us. In the beginning, we put the plan in and created some chances.
“We didn’t score and then they scored in one action. It is hard to explain.
“It is frustrating for us. After the goal, we played much better snd had a lot of character.
“It needs to be from the start. It is only one point but we should never play for one point.
“It is hard. They put in more energy than us, we cannot accept this.
“We need to do our best. We need to improve in every single position.
“It is only the beginning. Last season was the same, with noise around, but we finished third.”
Sky Sports’ Gary Neville said:
“These sides need the international break.
“The defensive work from both was awful and lacking in effort at times.”
On his ‘worst Man Utd 15 minutes’ he’s seen comments:
“I’ve never seen a Man Utd team walk out of possession as much as that. Michael has just said there was nothing wrong with the team’s energy.
“Michael has got to stop defending them. 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.
“Both teams were the same. I called them mannequins. They were absolutely 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.
“Always shifting up two or three yards. They were just walking when Fulham were in possession. Fulham had 46 passes in the first couple of minutes to get their first shot.
“46 chances – Fulham against Man Utd. I don’t know how many over-10-pass sequences Fulham had in that game, but the international break has come at a great time. There needs to be a rebalance.
“I wish he could play all of those attacking players. But they are going to kill him defensively. It’s not just the defence and the back four that are causing him a problem. Mbeumo and Rashford are too high and wide. They don’t narrow back in. You’ve got Tielmans and Mainoo in midfield who are a little bit one-paced.
“Baleba will probably come in there. Bruno floats around a little bit, and then Cunha floats around a little bit.
“You’ve got these five or six players who are better with the ball than without the ball.
“It would be great to see them score loads of goals and maybe concede one or two and go and win games, but there is going to have to be a reset from the point of view of defensive structure because there are far too many of them walking on the pitch.
“Very rarely do I say a team doesn’t work hard or is lacking in effort. That’s the ultimate criticism you can give a group of players.
“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.
“For 15 or 20 minutes into that second half, Man Utd were walking in front of Lammens. Every single one of them. That is not acceptable. They responded well. From a positive perspective, they’ve come away with a point; otherwise it would have been all doom and gloom.
“I hope Michael is behind the scenes giving them a real grilling in respect of that performance, because that will land Michael in a lot of trouble – that type of work ethic out of possession. The lack of running, shuffling across, the lack of alertness. I didn’t see any of that. If they carry on like that, they will concede so many goals, week after week.
“Of course Carrick comes under pressure but let’s be clear: Fulham were as bad defensively as Manchester United were. Both were the worst I’ve seen defensively in the Premier League this season by a long way. That game was a nothing at times.
“Of course they will ask questions about Carrick; he knew that when he took the job, but there’s no panic in that sense. But if those performances continue, he will find himself in a lot of trouble.
“They’ve got to work harder than that for him. I’m not changing my mind on that. They’ve got to work harder, or it will cause him a massive issue. They didn’t work hard enough today.”
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