David Moyes was left counting the cost of victory against Fulham at the Cottage after he had to make a triple substitution at half time of their 3-1 victory today.
All three changes were enforced by injury, with Rafael, Tom Cleverley and Johnny Evans all being replaced at the break with United having raced into a 3-0 lead within 22 minutes through goals by Antonio Valencia, Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney.
I don’t believe I’ve ever made three substitutions at half time before.” admitted Moyes. “They were all injuries and we also had couple of injuries with Patrice Evra and Phil Jones too. No matter what happened they were going to stay on the pitch.
“Tom Cleverley had double vision, Johnny Evans’ back had seized up, and Rafael had gone over on his ankle on the touchline.”
Moyes was delighted with the recent improvements shown by his United team lately as they comprehensively beat a lacklustre Fulham side whose manager Martin Jol was booed by a section of the home crowd.
“We were fantastic in the opening 20 minutes and we scored three and could have had another goal or two.
“I think we saw really good link-up play between Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney today. They both made each other a goal and they were a bit unfortunate with another one.
“I want our performances to improve and for us to win more games, and I think we’re beginning to show signs of that.”
Fulham improved after the break and pulled one back through Alex Kacaniklic’s deflected shot while Darren Bent also hit the bar but United had long since taken their foot off the gas but the home crowd had something to shout about after Fulham’s Sascha Reither appeared to stamp on Adnan Januzaj and was subsequently confronted over it by United midfielder Marouane Fellaini.