Player Ratings: Fulham 2-0 Manchester United

Fulham condemned nine-man Manchester United to their first back-to-back defeat in the league in almost exactly four years with a disciplined display. Goal.com rates the performers on the pitch.

FULHAM

Schwarzer – 8.5: Didn’t have a single save to make in the first half but it was a different story in the second, and he did not let his side down. Made at least four superb saves when United were really laying siege to his goal.

Paintsil – 7: Made a few well-timed tackles and interceptions and shackled Ronaldo closely whenever the Portuguese drifted over to his flank.

Hangeland – 8: Rock solid in the air and very assured on the ground, always at the right place and the right time to intercept any crosses or through balls.

Hughes – 7.5: Combined well with Hangeland and cleaned up anything that got past his defensive partner. Together, they completely shut the door on United in the first half. Wasn’t intimidated by Ronaldo’s speed or trickery.

Konchesky – 6.5: Wasn’t afraid to bomb forward in the first ’45 and that pinned O’Shea back. Whipped in a number of telling crosses and he rarely looked troubled at the back.

Davies – 6.5: Very dangerous with his through balls on the counter. Involved in almost every attack in the first half and retreated to the back in the second to help his side defend.

Etuhu – 7: Lingered right in front of the back-four and barely allowed any space or time for Ronaldo to exploit. Also kept Fletcher very quiet. His passing out of defence wasn’t the best, though.

Murphy – 8.5: Never stopped running all over the pitch to win tackles. Coolly smashed home the opening goal from the spot. Faded away late in the game after picking up what looked like an ankle sprain.

Dempsey – 6: Very energetic in the beginning, constantly swapping flanks with Davies. Faded away as the game wore on and restricted himself to hopeful shots from distance.

Johnson – 6.5: Didn’t have too many look-ins at goal but always posed a threat playing behind Zamora. Assisted the second goal.

Zamora – 7.5: Had numerous shots at goal from distance but caused United’s defence endless headaches with his runs into the box. Used his strength and power to outmuscle the opposition backline time and again. Won the penalty for the opening goal.

Substitutes:

Dacourt – 5.5: Replaced the injured Murphy to strengthen the midfield line and he did his job.

Kamara – 6: Got into the game straight away and almost caused immediate panic in the United backline.

Gera – 7: Started the move for the second goal and finished with aplomb with a delightful acrobatic scissor-kick.

MANCHESTER UNITED

Van der Sar – 7: Made a number of crucial saves in the first half to keep his side afloat. Could do little to stop the well-taken penalty and can’t be faulted for Gera’s wonderful goal as he was left exposed by his defenders.

O’Shea – 5: Wasn’t afforded the opportunity to overlap in attack in the first half. Played more as a midfielder in the second half as United pushed forward but had little impact.

Evans – 5: Struggled horribly to contain Zamora. Showed no understanding with the rest of his defensive team-mates.

Ferdinand – 6: As the more experienced centre-back, he didn’t make any extra effort to help cover for his young colleague. Looked nervous at the back and never offered any signs of assurance to his goalkeeper.

Evra – 5.5: Made the effort to attack but his runs down the wing produced little results other than the odd free-kick. Caught out of position a few times and left his flank wide open for Fulham to strike the killer second goal.

Park – 6.5: Back-tracked diligently to help retrieve the ball out of defence into attack. Could have brought his side levelled midway through the second half but his toe-poke from four yards out was blocked by Schwarzer. The only player to show any fight when his side was being run ragged.

Fletcher – 5: Almost anonymous. Had a brief spell early in the second period where he came to life but other than that, made no significant impact to the game whatsoever.

Scholes – 3: Sent off after just 17 minutes for an obvious handball on the line – two hands, mind you – to block Zamora’s header. Clearly didn’t learn his lesson from the UEFA Super Cup defeat to Zenit when he was sent off for a similar offence… although it was less blatant this time. Only just.

Ronaldo – 5: Kept losing the ball and going to ground in the first half. Saw a lot more of the ball and had more space to attack in the second, but wasted his energy and focus protesting and throwing tantrums.

Giggs – 5: Started off brightly with a few of his typical surging runs but disappeared completely from the game after that. His contributions were restricted to corner kick deliveries, which were poor.

Berbatov – 3: Had all of three touches of the ball in the first half. Showed no fire or urgency when his team went a goal down.

Substitutes:

Rooney – 5: Did so well to breathe new life to his team’s attack after coming on for the second half. Created chances, spaces and openings for his team-mates but promptly let them down by foolishly getting himself sent off late in the game and will now miss the clash against Aston Villa.

Tevez – 5: Got himself into a decent scoring position on a few occasions but never really had a clear-cut chance.