A miserable week for Manchester United ended with their blushes being saved via a last-minute equaliser against Fulham in what looked to be one of the club’s worst weeks in recent memory
Manchester United fans will be delighted to turn their backs on a miserable week – because they now have three weeks without the pain of watching Michael Carrick’s side.
Matheus Cunha rescued a late draw at Craven Cottage on Sunday when his deflected effort from distance was turned past the helpless Bernd Leno to cancel out an embarrassing own goal from Lisandro Martinez.
United will feel they should have been ahead at the break with Bruno Fernandes hitting the post from the best sight of goal, but they never turned up in the second half against the team who came into the match bottom of the table.
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And the Reds paid the price when the ball found the back of the Fulham net off the shin of Martinez, who knocked the ball past Senne Lammens following the Belgian stopper’s awkward save. Lammens caught his foot in the ground as he missed the ball, and both players were left with their heads in their hands while Fulham fans behind the goal celebrated with as much laughter as they did cheers.
If that had been the match-defining moment, it would have sealed one of the most humiliating weeks in recent United memory after losing to 10-man Manchester City in the derby the previous Sunday, before their brightest young talent JJ Gabriel requested to rip up his registration, and see a record spanning back to Sir Alex Ferguson’s time in charge of St Mirren lost in Brighton’s midweek Carabao Cup comeback after surrendering a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford.
Immediately after the derby defeat, United were slapped by another blow as 15-year-old sensation JJ Gabriel demanded he leave the club and become a free agent just days before he was set to become the youngest ever player to play for United.
Gabriel joined the first team in pre-season and was due to be in the squad to face Brighton in the Carabao Cup, but his exit bombshell scuppered that historic moment for the teenager and club.
Effectively, a Year 11 is on strike at United. The idea that such a thing would happen at the biggest club in England is utterly ridiculous, but this is the world with entitled youngsters and deluded dads.
JJ’s father, Joe O’Cearuill, started his professional career at Arsenal but never played a game before soon bumbling around non-league and retiring at just 29. He’s since been dedicating his life to pushing his son’s football career, including changing his surname to Gabriel for brand reasons because it sounds Brazilian, reportedly to the point that they had broken ties with every top London academy and moved to Manchester for a fresh start.
It’s no surprise then that the family are pushing to leave United when he was on the verge of the first-team. It’s been reported they have already flown to Barcelona for talks and Real Madrid are also interested.
According to the Daily Mail, a source close to the family claims that United are “far away” from their European and Premier League rivals, adding that Gabriel wants to “learn from the best”.
United’s plan was for Gabriel to sign a first-year scholarship when he turned 16, and a first professional contract on his 17th birthday.
But now, he is away from United’s development teams as Omar Berrada and the senior chiefs attempt to convince him to stay at Old Trafford. If no resolution happens, he will be free to leave at the end of the season.
Gabriel and his family seem like a problem United would very much do without. If he was not the immensely talented protégé he appears, he certainly would have been thrown out of the academy and told ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out.’
United being held to ransom by a schoolkid is staggering, but can the club actually argue that the very best place for his development is at Old Trafford?
On the basis of the last week alone, it certainly hasn’t been the message the club would want to send the player and his family.
Shea Lacey scored and was United’s brightest spark in the Brighton game. Yet he was nowhere to be seen off the bench when the visitors were dying for an injection of hunger and determination off the bench at Craven Cottage.
Carrick’s decision to leave Lacey an unused substitute just shows that he’s not ready to trust the youth. And why would Gabriel change his mind that he can become the best player in the world at United off that?
United have now got three weeks of soul-searching during the international break – a near month-long wait that could have been the most pressurised the club have seen since this time last year.
The thought of returning against Tottenham at Old Trafford is probably the worst game Carrick could’ve had to prepare for. Spurs are bottom of the table, without a win in five games, but possess the quality to win at Old Trafford after splurging £300million in the summer.
These next three weeks could be crucial in shaping the remainder of the year, and possibly Carrick’s future.