Manchester United’s winless start to the campaign continued on Sunday as Ruben Amorim’s side were held to a 1-1 draw by Fulham.
After back-to-back record-breaking poor starts to seasons, Amorim will have been hoping to have United flying out the blocks after having a full pre-season with his squad for the first time.
Ultimately though United continue to flounder, despite many of the signs for optimism taken from the opening day defeat to Arsenal.
At Craven Cottage Leny Yoro put pressure on Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz who subsequently turned the ball into his own net to give United the lead.
Emile Smith-Rowe’s equaliser for Marco Silva’s side later in the second half meant an unwanted record for Yoro continues to stretch on.
Journalist Daniel Storey pointed out on X (formerly Twitter) that Yoro is still yet to start in a victory for United against a current Premier League team.
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The signing of the French centre back was hailed as a coup for United when they secured his signature last summer following an impressive breakout campaign in Ligue 1 with Lille.
However, a foot injury suffered during a pre-season friendly with Arsenal initially limited his involvement under then-United boss Erik ten Hag.
Yoro went on to make 12 Premier League starts last season, with a 3-2 victory over since-relegated Ipswich the only time of those that he found himself on the winning side.
Another failure to secure all three points this weekend has further damaged Amorim’s win percentage since taking charge at Old Trafford.
In the ten months since Amorim assumed the managerial hot seat at United, the former Sporting Lisbon boss has now taken charge of 29 Premier League games.
From those games United have managed to walk away with just 28 points in total.
As a result, Amorim’s Premier League win percentage as a manager currently stands at a dismal 24.7%.
That figure, notes OptaJoe, is the same as the one held by Neil Warnock across his 112 games in the English top flight while regularly in charge of relegation-threatened sides.
It also leaves Amorim with a worse win percentage at United than under-fire West Ham boss Graham Potter has managed since taking charge of the Hammers in January.
The stats platform also noted that of the teams in Europe’s top five leagues, only Serie A’s Genoa – who won just one of their first ten league games last season – have failed to score a first-half goal on more occasions than United since the start of the 24/25 campaign.
United’s hunt for a first league win of the campaign will stretch into gameweek three when they play host to newly-promoted Burnley on Saturday.
In the meantime, Amorim will get an opportunity to continue to refine his tactics to suit the English game.
On Tuesday United travel to Blundell Park to take on League Two Grimsby in the second round of the EFL Cup.
The game will mark the first time the two teams have met in a competitive fixture since 1948 when The Mariners held United to a 1-1 draw in a top flight clash.
