Sports
New season, same struggling Man United: Myriad problems across the pitch exposed at Fulham
LONDON — Optimism is a short-lived emotion at Manchester United. After 180 minutes of the new Premier League season, the tank is almost empty after a worrying 1-1 draw at Fulham that felt more like a repeat of last year’s horror show than the redemption that Ruben Amorim wants time around.
An error-prone goalkeeper, a captain who lets himself down by doing too much, midfielders who can’t create and a forward line that fails to put the ball into the net. Sound familiar? That was the tale of United’s 2024-25 season — a campaign which ended with their lowest-ever Premier League finish (15th) and worst season overall since 1974 — but this year was supposed to be different.
Yet after missing a penalty — Bruno Fernandes skied his first-half spot-kick over the bar — Man United threw away a second-half lead earned by Leny Yoro‘s deflected header and were fortunate that Fulham, who equalised through Emile Smith Rowe, did not go on to win the game.
A £200-million summer spending spree on forwards Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko has certainly given United more pedigree and goal threat than they carried last season, but no forward can score if he doesn’t receive the ball.
Cunha, at least, did have two clear chances in the first-half at Craven Cottage, but one hit the post and the other was well saved by goalkeeper Bernd Leno. After that, not so much.
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Mbeumo chased plenty of lost causes down blind alleys and Sesko offered a focal point when he was introduced into the action in the second-half, but they have been signed to score goals and turn draws into victories for United rather than merely give the team extra energy in the attacking third.
It was a similar story against Arsenal at Old Trafford last Sunday, when United were unlucky to open the season with a 1-0 defeat against Mikel Arteta’s side. Mbeumo and Cunha both looked dangerous, yet neither scored. At Craven Cottage, they once again trudged off the pitch without a goal.
The reasons for that are because of what is happening behind them, starting with the goalkeeper and culminating with a midfield unit that still looks way short of mid-table level than the Champions League-chasing quality that United need.
Let’s start with the goalkeeper. Against Arsenal, Altay Bayindir‘s failure to deal with a corner led directly to Riccardo Calafiori‘s goal, but despite his mistake and obvious weakness when dealing with set-pieces, Amorim surprisingly retained the Turkey international in goal ahead of fit-again first-choice André Onana.
Onana is not perfect, with the former Inter Milan number one making plenty of mistakes in a United shirt, but he is better than Bayindir. Yet Amorim’s decision to keep him out of the team, after failed United attempts this summer to sign Aston Villa‘s Emi Martinez and Paris Saint-Germain‘s Gianluigi Donnarumma, hints at the coach making a point that to the club’s recruitment team that he doesn’t really rate or trust either of his keepers and that whoever he selects will be an accident waiting to happen.
It was the same story for Bayindir at Fulham. Every time a corner was delivered, Bayindir flapped and flailed with Fulham using Sander Berge, Timothy Castagne or Ricardo Muniz to nudge the United keeper at a crucial moment. A top keeper would deal with that problem, but on more than occasion, Bayindir fell to the floor.
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Michallik: Man United performed like last season vs. Fulham
Janusz Michallik reacts to Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Fulham in the Premier League.
It is clear that the defenders in front of Bayindir are nervous with him behind them. The same applies with Onana — an erratic risk-taker.
United are in talks with Royal Antwerp’s Senne Lammens over a move to Old Trafford, but sources have said that the 23-year-old is not being signed as a No. 1, so Amorim may end up with another goalkeeper who not quite good enough to start every week.
An unreliable goalkeeper always a weakens a team, but so does a midfield that cannot run or create.
Fernandes can do both, but the defensive side of his game lets him down — the problem there is that he has to do the job of two players because those alongside him, namely Casemiro and substitute Manuel Ugarte, either can’t run or can’t pass. More often than not, Ugarte can do neither.
Mason Mount is a talented player, but he is neither a midfielder nor a forward, yet he is being used at the start of games in a forward position by Amorim because he needs somebody capable of alleviating Bruno’s workload.
But Mount is not quite the player that United need — they need a midfielder who can cover the defensive third and leave Bruno to create for the forwards who continue to be starved of the ball, but Amorim said after the Fulham game that his team are “more robust” with the former Chelsea player in his side.
Robust, perhaps, but still lacking in creativity and that gets back to the issue with Bruno being pulled in too many directions. Amorim still hasn’t found a way to make his best player work in the best way for the team, though.
And all the while, as the rest of the team splutters like an old car, three expensive forwards are still waiting to get the chances from which they will score the goals to help take United back to where they want to be.
If they don’t score them this week, against League Two Grimsby in the Carabao Cup and then against Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday, the alarm bells will start to ring again.
They have become an all-too familiar sound around Old Trafford.
Sports
Texans’ Azeez Al-Shaair talks fine for pro-Palestinian message on eye tape: ‘It’s bigger than me’
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Houston Texans pass rusher Azeez Al-Shaair spoke out about the fine he received for wearing a pro-Palestinian message across his eye tape during a playoff win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Al-Shaair talked to reporters outside his locker in the wake of the Texans’ loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday. He was hit with a fine of $11,593 for having “Stop the genocide” emblazoned across the tape, according to ESPN.
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Azeez Al-Shaair of the Houston Texans during the national anthem before the wild-card playoff game against the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium on Jan. 12, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
He told the media he was aware what he did would garner a fine.
“I knew that that was a fine. I understood what I was doing … I was told that if I wore that in the game, I would be pulled out the game,” he said, via ESPN. “I think that was the part that I was confused about because I understood that was a fine but I never seen Stef (Stefon Diggs) get pulled out of a game for having eye tape with writing on it.
“At the end of the day, it’s bigger than me, the things that are going on. If it makes people uncomfortable, imagine how those people feel. I think that’s the biggest thing. I have no affiliation, no connection to these people other than the fact that I’m a human being. If you have a heart and you’re a human being and you see what’s going on in the world, you check yourself real quick. Even when I’m walking off this field, that’s the type of stuff that goes on in my head. I check myself when I’m sitting here crying about football when there’s people who are dying every single day.”
The NFL rulebook states in Rule 5, Section 4, Article 8 what players are allowed and not allowed to wear on game days. The rule states, “Throughout the period on game-day that a player is visible to the stadium and television audience (including in pregame warm-ups, in the bench area, and during postgame interviews in the locker room or on the field), players are prohibited from wearing, displaying, or otherwise conveying personal messages either in writing or illustration, unless such message has been approved in advance by the League office.
Azeez Al-Shaair of the Houston Texans exits the field during the playoff game against the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium on Jan. 12, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
“The League will not grant permission for any club or player to wear, display, or otherwise convey messages, through helmet decals, arm bands, jersey patches, mouthpieces, or other items affixed to game uniforms or equipment, which relate to political activities or causes, other non-football events, causes or campaigns, or charitable causes or campaigns. Further, any such approved items must be modest in size, tasteful, non-commercial, and non-controversial; must not be worn for more than one football season.”
Al-Shaair has supported Palestinians in the past, including wearing “Free Palestine” cleats for the NFL’s “My Cause My Cleats” campaign during the 2024 season.
Al-Shaair had “Free” written on one side of his shoes in the colors of the Palestinian flag. On one shoe, “Surely to Allah we belong and to Him we will all return,” was written. On the side of his other shoe, he included the number of Palestinians reportedly killed and wounded in their war with Israel.
The shoes were for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, which he also supported in 2023.
“I feel like it’s something that’s trying to be almost silenced,” Al-Shaair told the Houston Chronicle at the time. “On either side, people losing their life is not right. In no way, shape, or form am I validating anything that happened, but to consistently say that because of [Oct. 7] innocent people [in Gaza] should now die, it’s crazy.
Azeez al-Shaair of the Houston Texans shakes hands with Aaron Rodgers of the Steelers after their playoff game at Acrisure Stadium on Jan. 12, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
“[Other people] try to make a disconnect and dehumanize people over there. And it’s like, they’re human beings. Being a Muslim, we see everybody the same; Black, White, Spanish, whatever you are; you can be orange, like, we’re all human beings.”
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Al-Shaair was also part of the Athletes for Ceasefire organization.
Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
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The 2024 class of Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye and Bo Nix have already led their teams to playoff success.
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Napoli head coach Antonio Conte has appeared to aim a dig at former Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim, suggesting arrogance from previous coaches has hindered Rasmus Højlund‘s development as a striker.
Højlund joined Conte’s Napoli on a season-long loan last summer in a move that the Serie A club are obligated to make permanent should they qualify for the Champions League.
The Dane joined United in a £64 million ($85.79m) deal from Atalanta in 2023, scoring 26 goals in 95 appearances. He was frequently overlooked by Amorim during his time in charge at Old Trafford and did not feature in any of the club’s four first four Premier League fixtures of the season.
Højlund started well at Napoli, scoring nine goals in his first 20 appearances but he has not found the back of the net since scoring a brace at Cremonese on Dec. 28.
“Some young coaches nowadays are arrogant and don’t want to adapt. They see a young striker struggling, and instead of training him, they blame him,” Conte told a news conference on Friday ahead of the weekend win over Sassuolo.
“They always complain and blame everyone but themselves, because everything is handed to them on a silver platter.”
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Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna has said he considers Højlund’s permanent transfer from Manchester United a “formality.”
“We did everything we could to sign him,” Manna told Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport.
“There were more storied clubs interested, but his will was crucial, and we are proud of it. There’s an option to buy and an obligation to buy if we qualify for the Champions League.
“The player considers himself a Napoli player, and the same goes for us. This is extremely important.”
Napoli are third in Serie A, six points behind league leaders Internazionale and face Juventus on Sunday.
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