Paul Merson issues damning verdict on Man Utd after watching them on Soccer Saturday, Simon Thomas was taken aback

Paul Merson issued a damning verdict on Manchester United after watching them lose 2-1 to Fulham on Saturday.

Merson was watching the game in the Soccer Saturday studio, with the Cottagers producing a memorable victory through Alex Iwobi's stoppage time winner.

The Arsenal legend had praised Fulham's performance throughout the game, and Marco Silva's side took what many thought to be a deserved lead through Calvin Bassey on 65 minutes.

United defender Harry Maguire thought he had rescued at least a point with the equaliser on 89 minutes, but Erik ten Hag's side were stunned by Iwobi's late heroics.

The defeat puts United eight points adrift of the current Champions League qualification places following fourth-placed Aston Villa's 4-2 win over Nottingham Forest.

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Merson gave a forthright view on United's performance in his post-match analysis - with one analogy even causing presenter Simon Thomas to be taken aback.

He commented: "If you'd have come over from another country today and I said, 'I'm going to treat you and take you to Old Trafford to watch Man United', and they didn't know much about football, they'd have thought United were playing in white [Fulham's kit colour for the match]."

Thomas twice replied: "Really?", to which Merson replied: "100 per cent. Honestly, they [Fulham] were by far the better team in my opinion.

"What Harry Maguire's saying there, it was only the last 10 or 15 minutes that United got up a head of steam and got a goal back.

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"Fulham, with seven points away from home, they don't know how to win away from home [this season], so their natural reaction is to go and sit back.

"In the end, they got the goal that I thought they deserved in the end. So yeah, you would have thought Fulham were Man United to be honest. Too many off days today."