Manchester United suffered a 2-1 home loss to Fulham today, with the visitors achieving the decisive scoring strike, ironically, in Fergie Time. Former Arsenal man Alex Iwobi scored the game winner at 90+7′. And there is plenty of news and notes to get to, in the wake of this result today, covering the likes of Mason Greenwood, Omari Forson and Marcus Rashford. Let’s start with Greenwood, who is thriving during his loan spell at Getafe.
A very interesting quote here from the President of the Serie A club, Angel Torres.
?? Getafe president Angel Torres on Mason Greenwood: “He’s crazy about staying another year here with us”.
“He feels very good, it’s a matter that Manchester United have to decide with new ownership”, told @partidazocope. pic.twitter.com/ywhQcFNLkB
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 24, 2024
Now with the Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS takeover of the roster, do MUFC take a different stance on Mason Greenwood and what he did? How the public look at him now? Will the backlash be less severe?
Is the backlash something the club can live with now, because they’re just so desperate to have another forward who can score goals?
Do they feel the ends would justify the means?
I can’t answer those questions. These issues are far beyond the scope of this post.
What I do know is that Omari Forson, 19, made his first start at striker today, because they had no other options.
Rasmus Hojlund has been on fire lately, but he’s now out injured for the next couple of weeks. United have no other senior team strikers on the roster, so they had to play the kid, and you saw what happened.
Obviously, it far from the fault of Forson alone, but the roster is lacking in options regarding attacking players. And Marcus Rashford could have stepped up and been a leader, but he didn’t.
Rashford’s effort level seriously needs to be questioned. There were many terrible performances but no effort will never ever be excusable. Not scapegoating, we were poor all over the pitch but effort is the bare minimum.
— Beth T (@bethTmufc) February 24, 2024
Marcus Rashford is a trending term on Twitter right now, and not for any reasons that are good. A lot of United supporters and just general football observers, are ripping into him for putting in an awful effort.
Rashford has been an absolute disgrace
— Stretford Post (@StretfordPost) February 24, 2024
Not just for playing poorly, but for looking like he wasn’t even really trying either. Twitter is filled with postings like the ones we just showed you, right now.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Twitter.