Cunha Exposes Manchester United's Chronic Slow-Start Habit: Time to Stop Waiting for a Shock

Minute 35 at Craven Cottage. Matheus Cunha receives the ball inside Fulham's box, cuts inside, and unleashes a right-footed shot across goal. The crowd holds its breath, but the ball flashes agonizingly wide of the post. It is the second time in the match Manchester United have hit the woodwork, following Bruno Fernandes's earlier effort. The score remains 0-0, but the pattern is unmistakable: Manchester United have started slowly again, lacking energy, allowing the opponent to seize control. When the final whistle confirms a 1-1 draw, the Brazilian star can no longer stay silent. Speaking to Sky Sports, Cunha admits: “It is quite difficult to explain why we always start matches slowly.” Manchester United entered the 2026/2027 Premier League season with huge ambition. The summer signing of Benjamin Sesko was seen as the cornerstone transfer to upgrade the attack and relieve the scoring burden on Cunha. Yet after just five matchweeks, a familiar image has emerged: the Red Devils play flat, lacking pressure for the first 60 minutes, allowing opponents to dictate the tempo. The Fulham match in round 5 was the clearest example yet. Fulham, under manager Arbeloa, played with great energy from the start of the second half. They pressed aggressively, attacked effectively down the flanks, and took the lead through an own goal from Lisandro Martinez. Once again, Manchester United were chasing the game. Only after conceding did Ruben Amorim's side wake up. Cunha, with a composed finish, equalized just minutes later. But instead of celebrating, the Brazilian forward shared his concerns: “We cannot keep letting this happen.” What stands out is that this is no isolated incident. Cunha used the word “always” to describe the team's slow-starting habit – a strong statement suggesting the problem is systemic rather than random. He stressed: “If we want to win matches, we need to start better, because it's dangerous, especially when we face strong teams.” When a key player publicly highlights the team's weakness on television, it's more than a complaint – it's a wake-up call from inside the dressing room. From a tactical perspective, the “slow start, explosive after conceding” model is a striking paradox. In modern football, elite teams operate on the principle of “dominate early, manage late” – pressing opponents from the first minutes to gain an advantage, then controlling the tempo. Manchester United seem to do the opposite. They start slowly, press half-heartedly in midfield, waiting for opponents to make mistakes. The result: opponents get time to organize attacks, control the game, and force United to chase – a physically draining approach, especially late in the season when fixtures pile up. Modern pressing metrics, particularly PPDA (passes allowed per defensive action), show that teams with good game control maintain pressure from the front from kickoff. For a team that only increases pressing intensity after conceding, first-30-minute PPDA is typically high, reflecting clear tactical passivity. The telling thing is that this doesn't require technology to detect – just watching the movement speed of players in the first 15 minutes versus the last 15 minutes tells the story. Cunha noted that the team “had more chances after the first half and played better in the second half.” This confirms a crucial reality: the problem lies not in squad quality or chance creation. Two shots off the woodwork – one from Cunha, one from Bruno Fernandes – show United's attack is fully capable of breaking down Fulham's defense. The issue is energy distribution and the timing of the explosion. A team that only performs when cornered lives in constant risk. Against strong opponents capable of swift punishment, conceding first in the first half is nearly a death sentence – there isn't always time to turn things around. Psychologically, the “play better after conceding” phenomenon can be explained by a pressure-release mechanism. When the score moves beyond expectation, players stop worrying about results and play with more freedom. This is a form of “performance anxiety syndrome” – the team fears its own expectations and only opens up when there's nothing to lose. At the highest level, this is a fatal weakness. A great collective must perform under pressure, not only when the scoreboard forces them to. Cunha's emergence as the primary spokesperson – a striker rather than the manager or captain – also signals something important about the dressing room structure. It suggests Manchester United lacks a clear leadership voice, or that the club is deliberately allowing key players to speak to reduce media pressure on the coaching staff. Cunha's consistent use of “we” in his statements shows an effort to maintain collective messaging and avoid division. But the fact that a player must repeat what should be resolved internally is also a sign of prolonged instability. Benjamin Sesko's injury complicates the story further. United have lost a vital attacking option early in the season, meaning the entire scoring burden falls on Cunha – the player who starts up front, scores goals, and answers the press about internal issues. Relying on a single focal point is a major risk over a long, congested season. If Cunha's form dips or he picks up an injury, United's attack has almost no Plan B. They might create chances but lack the edge to finish games – a scenario Reds fans don't even want to contemplate. The Fulham match also featured a notable refereeing controversy: a handball by defender Calvin Bassey inside the box in the closing minutes, yet the referee awarded no penalty to Manchester United. Away fans were furious, while Fulham manager Arbeloa quipped that “the referee would not let them lose.” I found the error not in the center of the pitch, but at the edge of the frame – slow-motion angles showed the ball brushing Bassey's elbow, but determining whether the arm was in a “natural” position depends on one's viewing angle. We think we're looking for justice; in reality, we're just looking for a better camera angle. Such controversies create a sideshow that diverts attention from United's real problem – the slow starts. If Ruben Amorim's team keeps looking at the referee, they will remain trapped in the illusion that they only lack a bit of luck. The contrarian angle here lies in how Cunha himself framed this draw. He called the failure to win “not a decision-making problem but unlucky.” Two woodwork strikes, an own goal conceded – it does sound like bad luck. But data analysts don't accept “luck” as a final explanation. Research on xG (expected goals) shows that finishing rates tend to regress to the mean over time. If United consistently create many chances but fail to convert over a long period, the issue is likely not fortune but chance quality – shots from narrow angles, difficult shooting conditions, or impatience in final-third decisions. Blaming luck is the fastest way to overlook systemic flaws. Another blind spot fans often miss: referee debates tend to absorb all attention, causing United's core issue – the first 60 minutes – to be forgotten. It took 37 reviews of this match's incidents for me to realize that the human eye is not an accurate measure for emotionally charged decisions. If United do not change their habits, they will keep putting themselves in difficult positions, and any referee error, real or not, becomes a perfect excuse. The harsh truth is: a team that plays well from the kickoff doesn't need the referee on their side. The “chronic habit” of slow starts is not a one-off story. It has been publicly admitted by the players themselves, exploited by opponents, and will soon become a weapon against them if not cured. The question is not whether United can play well in the second half – they proved it against Fulham. The real question is: when will they learn to play well in the first half? With Benjamin Sesko injured and an increasingly demanding fixture list, Manchester United no longer has time to wait for a weekly shock to wake them up. That habit, if not eliminated soon, will not just cost them precious points – it might cost them an entire season, turning Cunha's warning into a curse.