Man United 1-0 Fulham: Joshua Zirkzee strikes late on dream debut

A low cross from the right and a poke with the left foot from a new signing. In an instant a game was won and an evening transformed. Welcome to Manchester United Joshua Zirkee.

For 87 minutes this had been another United performance taken from the vaults of last season. Some light and some shade but nothing that had been consistently impressive or good enough. Manager Erik ten Hag had said his team were not ready for the new season and he was in danger of being proved right. A draw here and the mood music of last season would have been back.

But if United have tried to do one thing this season it has been to add depth to Erik ten Hag's squad. Zirkee is a 23-year-old Dutch forward signed from Bologna and though he started the night among the substitutes here, he emerged to deliver the kind of impact we all dream about as schoolkids.

United hadn't been terrible. Not at all. They had been denied on a few occasions by Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno. Bruno Fernandes twice in the first half. Mason Mount early in the second.

Equally, they had faded as the second half had worn on. Fulham had been threatening. There were some nerves about this famous old stadium. But when another substitute Alejandro Garnacho crossed low and hopeful with three minutes to go, Zirkee applied a subtle and rather perfect contact to the ball to guide it across Leno and in to the far corner at the Stretford End.

Momentarily, there was a pause. The ball had entered the net rather slowly. But as realisation dawned players from both teams fell to their knees, just for different reasons. A draw that would have felt just had become a victory for United that if they deserved it was for persistence only.  

There was something of the old and the new in the Old Trafford directors' box as Avram Glazer took his seat at the end of a row that otherwise accommodated key personnel from Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS set up. The Glazers are still the majority owners of United, of course.

On the field, things also looked a little different but also rather the same. At right-back one of United's recent signings - the Moroccan Noussair Mazraoui - made his debut while two more - Matthijs de Ligt and Joshua Zirkee - were on the bench. Elsewhere, there was much to recognise. 

Ten Hag's team still looked rather unbalanced, on paper at least. In the absence of a natural centre forward, Bruno Fernandes was asked to fill in while - after what looked like a summer eating lettuce - the Brazilian veteran Casemiro began another United season in midfield looking leaner than for quite some time.

For the first 20 minutes or so, United were not too much different to last season. Fulham - having lost key players in the summer - were the better side. The enjoyed the possession, had the better shape and created a couple of decent chances. United, once again, were forced to play largely on the counter.

There had been a lot of this last season. United chasing shadows on their own field.

The Fulham winger Adama Traore got away down the left a couple of times and drove a shot over. Centre forward Rodrigo Muniz then headed down and in to traffic from a corner. In the 13th minute, meanwhile, Kenny Tete made ground upfield to bring a super save from Andre Onana with a curling shot from 25 yards.

United looked vulnerable and flawed. When they tried to press Fulham in possession, they failed to do so as a unit. As a result they were far too easy to play through. Indeed when Casemiro drove a shot over from 25 yards in the 27th minute, it represented his team's first meaningful shot on goal. The two headers that had preceded that effort had both come from players in offside positions.

Over time it did change, though. With Casemiro and young Kobbie Mainoo to the fore, United found a way to play higher up the field. When they did, they looked an altogether more dangerous side. The young wide player Amad was a threat and when United passed the ball quickly in the final third then Fulham appeared vulnerable in a way they hitherto hadn't.

Fernandes should have scored twice in the space of six minutes. Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno gave the ball away in the 29th minute and redeemed himself by saving from the United captain with his legs. Then, soon after, Casemiro played a stunning first time to pass to free Fernandes again and this time Leno saved with his left leg.

Suddenly United were running hot. Casemiro headed down and wide from a corner eight minutes before half-time and then volleyed over. By half-time, he was enjoying himself and he wasn't the only one in red.

Fulham had more than played their part in an engaging half but by the interval they were very much second best. 

Marco Silva's team were prominent as an attacking force early in the second period. For a few minutes it felt a little like the opening moments first. Fulham encouraged, United uncertain.

United continued to carry that threat on the break, through. One throw from Onana allowed Fernandes to release Marcus Rashford and when he played a cute inside pass to Mount, Leno was required to save again.

This raised the temperature here once more. Almost immediately, Rashford and Mount were involved down the right to set up Mainoo 20 yards out. The England player's low shot flew wide by half a yard.

Ten Hag sensed the time was right to make changes. Amad had faded after a bright start and was replaced by Alejandro Garnacho while Mount made way for Zirkee which in turn allowed Fernandes to drop to a more familiar position at number ten.

Amid all this Fulham missed their own chance to break. A muddle in the centre of the field suddenly say the visitors with the chance to break two on one but with Alex Iwobi awaiting the pass former United player Andreas Pereira made a mess of it.

Once again United looked vulnerable. It had been that kind of game, one without a discernible pattern. 

A Muniz overhead kick had to be touched over by Onana after it struck Mainoo and then Traore led a break that eventually saw Pereira cross low from the left and United's Lisandro Martinez clear from under the shadow of his own crossbar.

That United's two substitutes on the 80 minute mark were defenders - De Ligt and Jonny Evans - perhaps told us much. The departing Mazraoui and Harry Maguire had got through their fair share of work.

In the end it was one of United's earlier substitutes who made the difference. United's televised trip to Brighton next Saturday lunchtime will no feel rather different and Ten Hag has Zirkee to thank for that.