Premier League - Nine-man United fall apart

Eurosport - Sun, 22 Mar 07:43:00 2009

Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney were sent off as Manchester United slumped to a second straight Premier League defeat, 2-0 at Fulham.

2008-2009 Fulham-Manchester United Paul Scholes handball - 0

The previously runaway leaders were seen as certainties to retain their crown until they lost 4-1 at home to Liverpool last weekend, and suffered another humiliating setback at Craven Cottage.

The damage was limited by Chelsea's surprising defeat at Tottenham, but Liverpool can cut the gap to a single point if they beat Aston Villa at Anfield on Sunday.

Scholes saw red for a brainless first-half handball on the goal-line and Danny Murphy converted the resultant penalty.

Zoltan Gera added a superb second late on, before Rooney was given his marching orders for dissent to complete a miserable afternoon for Sir Alex Ferguson and his players.

It was widely expected that Ferguson would field his strongest side following last weekend's drubbing against Liverpool, but he sprung a selection surprise, playing Dimitar Berbatov as a lone striker and finding no place in the starting line-up for Rooney, Carlos Tevez or Michael Carrick.

In the 17th minute, Bobby Zamora met a corner from the Fulham right with a header that Edwin van der Sar palmed away.

But the striker seized on the rebound and headed goalwards from close range - only for Scholes to repel the ball with a blatant double-handed bat.

The consequences of his moment of instinctive madness were felt immediately - referee Phil Dowd had no choice but to send Scholes off and award a penalty.

Murphy, who scored three winning goals at Old Trafford in four seasons when a Liverpool player, sent Van der Sar the wrong way with a cool finish.

It is sometimes said that it is harder to play against 10 men than 11, but United had no such luck as Fulham tore into them.

Zamora gave Jonny Evans - standing in for the suspended Nemanja Vidic - a torrid time, and peppered Van der Sar's goal with shots without adding to his two Premier League goals this season.

Simon Davies also forced a sharp save from the Dutch goalkeeper and Andy Johnson was a timely Rio Ferdinand clearance away from converting a simple rebound.

Rooney replaced the dreadful Berbatov at half-time and immediately showed all of the effort, vitality and grit that the Bulgarian lacked.

He hared around the pitch in search of the ball, and supplied Ji-Sung Park with a chance that the Korean fired over from the edge of the box.

At times, Rooney looked like he was taking Fulham on single-handedly, embarking on mazy dribbles around the edge of the area while his team-mates stood around.

Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, let frustration get the better of him after he took umbrage at some sturdy Fulham challenges - notably from John Paintsil.

He flew in with a wild challenge on Murphy to which a stricter referee might have responded with a straight red card, but Dowd settled for a booking.

As the second half progressed, United turned the screw tighter, only to find goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer in prime form.

The Australian veteran produced several superb saves, including a full-length diving parry from Ronaldo and a stunning double save to repel close-range efforts from Park and Rooney.

Gera made the points safe in acrobatic fashion with three minutes to go, as Fulham came away on the counter. The Hungarian flicked up a low Johnson cross and sent an overhead kick past Van der Sar and into the far corner of the net.

The final insult came 60 seconds later as the bad side of Rooney's game reared its head yet again - he saw a second yellow card after bowling the ball away in anger.

Alex Chick / Eurosport

Comment 552 - 571 of 571

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  1. UNITED NEED TO STAY CALM....FOCUS ON THE GAMES /­ SIMPLIFY THE MENTALITY OVER THE NEXT FEW GAMES...and­ WORK REALLY HARD...THE GAME IS ABOUT GOALS...GOALS AND­ MORE GOALS...INCREASE THE CHANCES AND TAKE THOSE­ CHANCES....AND DEFEND LIKE A FORTRESS...START WINNING­ AGAIN.......KEEP THE FAITH AND HAVE MORE AND MORE­ CONTROLLED DETERMINATION.....THEN THEY CAN STILL GO ALL­ THE WAY. GO FOR IT !

    From Martin, on Mon 23 Mar 9:24PM

  2. kenny - you @#$%.

    From Dominic, on Mon 23 Mar 11:09AM

  3. I think man u got what they had comin.maka

    From Sodams007, on Sun 22 Mar 9:39PM

  4. I think man u got what they had comin.maka

    From Sodams007, on Sun 22 Mar 9:39PM

  5. TO, THE MAN , HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE GAME TODAY, BETTER­ GET TO BED EARLY, DON,T FORGET ITS BACK TO SELLING­ "THE BIG ISSUE" TOMORROW, SEE YA SCUMMY MANC

    From TEVEZ, on Sun 22 Mar 7:39PM

  6. the man , its you who is SC

    From TEVEZ, on Sun 22 Mar 7:30PM

  7. these m.u. players think that they can get away with­ whatever they like,i think this stems from the managers­ arrogance towards the media, it seems the club are­ willing to take the match fees of £460.000, but when­ they gat beaten fergie goe,s into a sulk, while all­ other managers come out and give interveiws to­ television/ media. the players strutt around the pitch­ like premadonnas, abusing the ref and other officials.­ some of them treat their supporters the same. as i said­ this comes from the manager. the sooner he is out of­ the game the better.

    From TEVEZ, on Sun 22 Mar 7:28PM

  8. a game needs a referee
    a team needs 11 players
    is that­ why red devils lost their 2 recent games?
    but­ that's not the important thing cuz the important­ one is reds have just beat villa in a comfortable and­ convincing win 3-0

    and you'll never walk­ alone......

    From bin_kuyus, on Sun 22 Mar 5:16PM

  9. From The Man, comment 581....,GOLRY GOLRY.... can win­­ torpies...Is that a new Man Utd chant...Golry Golry,­ and how many torpies have they win....loser can't­ even spell..Hahaha

    From Patricia L, on Sun 22 Mar 4:25PM

  10. I am not jumping on the bandwagon I have said for some­ weeks now that United' results had been better than­ their performances and now the results have dried up as­ well. The thing is United are not playing as well as­ last season, Ronaldo is a shadow of the player he was,­ and I believe they are suffering from the continual­ squad rotation. I don't necessary imply any­ criticism with this because with suspensions and­ injuries most of the changes have been forced on­ Fergie, but they don't have a settled side and it­ is costing them.

    From chriscunningham92, on Sun 22 Mar 2:41PM

  11. well, as a life long man utd supporter i can only shake­ my head in total disgust and despair at yesterdays­ performance. i sincerely hope that SAF gives them a­ true and proper grilling. the display of petulence was­ outragous......a case of toys out of the pram i'm­ afraid. still, i guess it puts a spark back into the­ title race now; could be in for a thrilling finish

    From Elaine, on Sun 22 Mar 1:27PM

  12. What does PAUL PARKER know about football? He is only­ fit to write about the inter-school football­ tournaments. Paul, Dont give your comments if u know­ next to nothing.

    From sllowmail, on Sun 22 Mar 1:23PM

  13. Should of been 8 man United, Ronaldo was disgusting­ even if he didnt get a straight red for that­ "tackle" throughout the game there was many­ other poor challenges that should of been given a­ second yellow and his attitude was terrible. I hope he­ does leave at the end of the season United dont need­ that kind of player in the dressing room.

    From Westley C, on Sun 22 Mar 1:14PM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    9 Man Utd fall apart, jouralisitic over kill, like LFC­ it is all talk and no substance, sorry except for the­ Spanish Waiter, but then that might be over indulgence.

    From Roughie Toughie Northerner, on Sun 22 Mar 12:48PM

  15. The time as now come to sell ronny boy just a waste of­ space in a red jersey spends more time on his arse­ moanin

    From anthony h, on Sun 22 Mar 12:47PM

  16. the old saying is whoever is at top of the tree at xmas­ is the champs so its liverpools titile this season look­ at all the lates winners they got early in the season­ and doin the dble over untited i dont want it to be­ them but its theres united are fools to them selves­ sometimes scholes and rooney have the dendicey to get­ frustrated when things arnt goin there way like to­ babys

    From warren, on Sun 22 Mar 12:44PM

  17. 2 weeks without a ref, and scumchester @#$% up, and get­ battered twice. What numpty cun-s to say we need other­ teams to do us a favour, so recently when we have­ dropped points at home didn,t these teams do scum a­ favour (makes a change from the refs).
    the most haated­ club in the world, will always live our shadow.

    From stephen m, on Sun 22 Mar 12:31PM

  18. come on liverpool today,manchester city forever

    From Nicole, on Sun 22 Mar 12:28PM

  19. MAN UTD HAVE A TEAM THAT WILL DOMINATE ENGLISH AND­ EUROPEAN FOOTBALL FOR THE NEXT 5 YEARS THEY ARE SO­ YOUNG COMPARED TO chelski and the SC*M HAVING LOOKED AT­ THE SQAUDS chelski are an old team and the SC*M have no­ one coming thourgh plus what was the fat spainish­ waiter talking about when he said THE GREAT MAN UTD had­ spent more than liverpool over the last 5 years get­ your FACTS right you liverpool sc*mbag liverpool have­ spent more on @#$% over the last 5 years where as MAN­ UTD have bought youth,benny said MAN UTD had spent £30­ million more than liverpool but it was the other way­ around benny with his FACTS again what a fool he his.

    From The Man, on Sun 22 Mar 12:23PM

  20. ha ha very funny u sad man u loser!!! least our manager­ will do press conference!!! not like fergie!!! hiding­ in the dressing room and sending anybody who'll go­ out there to take the @#$%!!!

    From gus h, on Sun 22 Mar 12:20PM
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