The contest was not 10 minutes old at Craven Cottage and Tyrell Malacia had already had Christian Eriksen and Anthony Elanga in his ear.
Elanga's recall was more defensive than attack-minded, a human shield for the left-footer at right-back. He knew he would be running backwards more often than forwards but Malacia fared unfavourably against the wily Willian and Antonee Robinson, nicknamed 'Jedi'. Willian was a force awoken.
As Dutch-centric as United's summer recruitment was, the sole Dutchman has been the weakest addition. Malacia has not quite recovered from the chasing Phil Foden gave him in a chastening 45 minutes at Manchester City that evoked memories of Patrice Evra's debut at the same stadium. Like Evra, Malacia was hooked at half-time.
