Fulham 2 - 0 Manchaster United

Great Victory for Fulham, Bad for MANU

YOU!!.. Out..

Sir Alex Ferguson shuffled from the crime scene, looking like an elderly man bemused by the sudden disappearance of all he holds dear. In just eight days, the heart of his team of multi-million-pound footballers has been stolen from in front of his disbelieving eyes.

On a second successive afternoon of abject misery for the Scot, Manchester United finished with nine players on the pitch and a crisis on their hands. If Sir Alex had been enraged when Liverpool sacked their Old Trafford citadel last weekend, his mood on the return north last night can be only imagined.

Just a fortnight ago, United had embarrassed Fulham in a 4-0 FA Cup victory. Yesterday, they played like drowning men, and Ferguson must take his share of the blame.

He gambled with a team selection that demoted Wayne Rooney to a seat on the bench in the sunshine that bathed this fashionably elegant quarter of south west London with a warmth that never permeated the demeanour of United's manager yesterday.

Ferguson could feel only the cold breath of Liverpool on his neck. According to well-informed sources, Ferguson has vented much of his fury in recent days in the direction of Rooney at United's training ground at Carrington.

But if the striker was not deemed necessary to stop the rot set in by that defeat against Liverpool, he must truly have offended his manager.

Ferguson, summoning all his years of experience, opted to drop England's premier forward along with Carlos Tevez, Michael Carrick and Anderson. Before the interval, he had realised the folly of his plan.

Dimitar Berbatov was a listless, ineffectual lone target man, and at half-time, when no one in a United shirt escaped Ferguson's wrath, Rooney was instructed to replace the Bulgarian.

Perhaps in the days ahead, Ferguson will reflect that this had been no occasion to put the family silver at risk on such a reckless call.

Who would you want in a backs-to-the- wall battle? Rooney's belligerence, and renowned allegiance to United? Or Berbatov, a dilettante of a striker whose neat touches complement a team in the ascendancy?

Sadly for Ferguson, by the time Rooney's call came, the red mist was only a short time away. He was summoned only after United were already one goal, and one man down.

Paul Scholes was correctly shown a red card by referee Phil Dowd after he used two hands to prevent a close-range header from Bobby Zamora finding the net in the 17th minute. As soon as he had flapped the ball to safety, Scholes dropped on to his haunches.

His faraway look told its own story. He knew a red card was inevitable and, when it came, he walked disconsolately to the dressing room.

Fulham captain Danny Murphy, cool-as-you-like, sent United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, in the wrong direction from the penalty spot with his fourth Premier League goal against the champions.

Van der Sar, who played for Fulham until Ferguson paid £2million to solve an ongoing problem with filling his goalkeeper's jersey, had to be at his best to prevent United from falling deeper in arrears.

Only after the arrival of Rooney did United at last look capable of mounting a threat. But then Fulham's previously unemployed goalkeeper, Mark Schwarzer, showed his full repertoire.

He made a stunning double-save, from Ji-Sung Park, and Rooney, who pounced on the rebound, and for an encore made an accomplished save from a flashing header by Cristiano Ronaldo.

In truth, Ronaldo spent too much of the afternoon in his mode of pantomime clown, falling to the ground seeking sympathy for perceived aggrievances only to be mocked by Fulham's fans sensing what they had feared to be a wake was becoming a party down by the riverside.

Rooney - obviously frustrated at being left out - showed us both sides of his mercurial temperament. On the ball, he was hard to contain; but as the clock ran down, so did his patience.

He was booked in the 81st minute for a foul on substitute Olivier Dacourt - and six minutes later Rooney over-reacted to Dowd's whistle by hurling the ball, with child-like petulance, down the field.

Dowd raised a yellow card, then instantly turned it to red. As Rooney left the field, eyes blazing wild, he smashed a corner flag that duly bounced around like a speed ball in gymnasium. He vanished to a cacophony of boos and laughter.

One minute earlier, Zoltan Gera, who had been on the field barely five minutes, scored Fulham's second with a delightful volley after an exquisite first touch.

At the final whistle, Fulham's players revelled in victory, a reward for a performance that had been bright and busy in the first half, and stoic after the interval.

It will be little consolation to Ferguson to hear that his Fulham counterpart Roy Hodgson believes his side had beaten this year's champions.

'United are such a good team with so many good players, I still think they are favourites for the championship this year,' said Hodgson. 'But the last two defeats have given the teams chasing them that little bit more hope.'

And down on the field, Ferguson, in eight short days, had aged with worry as his football team could not respond to a crisis for the second time of asking.

FULHAM (4-4-2): Schwarzer; Pantsil, Hangeland, Hughes, Konchesky; Davies, Murphy (Dacourt 67min), Etuhu, Dempsey (Gera 81); Johnson, Zamora (Kamara 77). Subs (not used): Zuberbuhler, Nevland, Stoor, Kallio. Booked: Pantsil, Dempsey.

MAN UTD(4-4-2): Van der Sar; O'Shea (Tevez 70), Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Fletcher, Scholes, Giggs, Park; Ronaldo, Berbatov (Rooney 46). Subs (not used): Foster, Neville, Anderson, Carrick, F Da Silva. Booked: Evans, Evra, Ronaldo, Rooney. Sent off: Scholes (18min), Rooney (89). Referee: P Dowd (Staffordshire).