Joshua Zirkzee and Erik Ten Hag Reacts To Man United Hard-Fought Victory Over Fulham In Premier League Opener.

Manchester United started the new 2024/25 Premier League season with a hard fought 1-0 win over Fulham on Friday night at Old Trafford.

It happened that manager Erik ten Hag started Bruno Fernandes in a false nine position, however, the Red Devils captain, missed two big chances as the hosts tried to make their dominance count.

Fulham began the game s better side, and had the better of the first quarter. Debutant Emile Smith Rowe who joined from Arsenal was pulling the strings in midfield for Fulham with Keny Tete forcing Andrea Onana into a good early save from 25 yards.

United looked like they would be frustrated to a draw in this opening Premier League encounter as Fulham soaked up everything they could throw at them.

Ten Hag brought in new signing Joshua Zirkzee on his debut alongside Alejandro Garnacho as super subs with half an hour to go, but the substitution initially failed to make an impact. If anything, Fulham looked more dangerous on the break with Andreas Pereira wasting two good openings on Adama Traore-led breaks with wasteful passes.

Marco Silva's side will be gutted to lose so late on after holding United so well and they had their moments on the counter. The rocket-powered Adama Traore skinned Lisandro Martinez down the left before firing over from another opportunity.

Zirkzee proved to be decisive with just his seventh touch of the game, as he ghosted into the box to finish off a fine passing move, sweeping Garnacho's right-wing cross into the bottom corner which was the only goal of the game in the 87th minute.

The goal sent the vast majority of a capacity crowd into raptures, as the 23-year-old who arrived from Bologna for £35m celebrated.

There was still time for Garnacho to produce an early contender for miss of the season as he failed to convert Marcus Rashford's square ball late on at Old Trafford.

Zirkzee who scored 12 goals to help Bologna qualify for the Champions League last season, became became the latest United player to score on his debut.

He joins his coach Ruud Van Nistelrooy, along with Alexander Buttner and Donny van de Beek as Dutch players to score for United on their Premier League debut.

He also becomes the 15th Dutchman to score on his Premier League debut.

"I've been told scoring at the Stretford End it's one of the best feelings at Man Utd," Zirkzee said. 

"I'm so thankful and blessed I could experience it in my first game. It's an amazing feeling.

"It's been amazing, it's been a dream actually."

With Ten Hag trusted with a third season at Old Trafford by new co-owners Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS, he will be delighted with this win and carrying  on the momentum from last season when they stunned Man City to win the FA Cup. 

Despite starting the new campaign began with three points and keeping a clean-sheet especially with the addition of two new defenders Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt, there was some rustiness about the teams display, which is understandable after the Dutchman claimed they were not ready for the start of the new season. 

He told Sky Sports: "The game showed that subs are very important. It's great in the first game to bring on a sub and he ends up winning us the game. It's good for the team process and the spirit of the group.

"Against Fulham, it's always a difficult game but we pressed very well and we kept them under pressure. We created a lot of chances and should have scored earlier. That's my only criticism of the team that we needed to kill.

"We know how important it is to keep clean sheets. Two seasons ago we kept the most number of clean sheets in the Premier League.

"When we have our consistent back four, we will defend properly with a high line and the midfield and wingers can get forward. Without a consistent back four, there is no pattern and routines and that's when gaps appear."

There is plenty more action to come this weekend in the Premier League 

Here's the schedule for a busy few days:

Saturday, August 17:

Ipswich Town 🆚 Liverpool (12:30pm) 

Arsenal 🆚 Wolves (3pm)

Everton 🆚 Brighton (3pm)

Newcastle United 🆚 Southampton (3pm) 

Nottingham Forest 🆚  Bournemouth (3pm)

West Ham 🆚 Aston Villa (5:30pm)

Sunday, August 18:

Brentford 🆚 Crystal Palace (2pm)

Chelsea 🆚 Manchester City (4:30pm)

Monday, August 19:

Leicester City 🆚 Tottenham (8pm).