United View: Reds dumped out of FA Cup

Manchester United crashed out of the FA Cup on Sunday, losing on penalties to Fulham after a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes.

The FA Cup was one of two competitions that United had a realistic chance of winning and with that, their only feasible route into Europe is to win the Europa League, which is easier said than done.

Calvin Bassey headed home from a corner just before halftime and for 70 minutes United looked devoid of attacking ideas, lacking any meaningful intensity. That was until Bruno Fernandes’s delightful finish to equalise for Ruben Amorim’s side.

Fernandes has received his fair share of criticism over the years. However, in a side that has been lost of identity and consistency over the last two seasons, he has been a cut above anyone. He may not be as much of a physical presence as Roy Keane was, but his impact as United captain has been remarkable. It dreads to think where the club would be without his goals and assists.

Despite his heroics, United still bowed out after Victor Lindelof and Joshua Zirkzee’s penalties were saved by Bernd Leno - a stark contrast of emotions to the previous round after United surpassed Arsenal in the shootout.

To be fair, United wasn’t terrible overall but lacked urgency on a superficial level, most likely brought on by a hard-fought win against Ipswich in the week. Until Fernandes’ goal, it was unclear where a goal would be coming from.

Amorim mentioned this in his post-match interview, saying, “We have a problem with goals. Today, we create situations, but even in the last game, sometimes you felt that just in set-pieces, we are going to make some danger. So, I think the first step is to create situations. Today, we create, but we have to improve that to help our forwards and strikers to score.

Rasmus Hojlund continues to look lost, and while he could benefit from a spell out of the team, United lack alternatives. Chido Obi—along with Ayden Heaven — came on for his Old Trafford debut. He forged some goal-scoring opportunities and could possibly earn himself a start, but at only 17 years old, it's uncertain how he’ll cope with the demand.

It feels as though United are experiencing the growing pains of their new recruitment strategy, moving away from signing the big-name players who can paper over the cracks of the underlying issues in the team.

Unfortunately, the reality is United deserve to be where they are in the league, and they were fortunate not to experience a similar drop-off last season. Winning the FA Cup wouldn’t have masked the problems then, and it wouldn’t have done so this season either.

Unless key players start to come back or someone from the academy experiences a breakthrough into the first team, there is little to suggest that little is going to improve.

That being said, United do still have the Europa League to compete in, offering their last hurrah at glory this season. Although, they will have to face Real Sociedad in the Final 16 of the competition.

The team from the Basque Country are experiencing a mixed season in Spain, currently sitting 9th in the league, having lost 4-0 to Barcelona at the weekend. While Spanish sides have a formidable reputation in European competition, Sociedad has never won a European trophy.

United also have a good record against The Royal, winning three of the six previous meetings, including a 1-0 in their last visit to the Reale Arena thanks to a goal from Alejandro Garnacho.

Failure in this competition could mean United play out the final months of the campaign with nothing to play for except a push for the top half of the table - hopefully, it doesn’t come to that.