Had Manchester United not reaped only one point from this result, Louis Saha's triumphant return to Loftus Road would have been the talking point of this match. The Fulham fans called him Judas, but Saha punished his former team with a blistering run and finish straight up the middle. Latching onto Cristiano Ronaldo's throughball, Saha took the ball and outran his markers before efficiently shooting the ball past the hapless Edwin Van Der Sar. It was a brilliant goal for the impressive frenchman who had nearly also capitalized on another fleet run just nine seconds into the start of the match. Unfortunetly for the Red Devils, the action settled after the that 14th minute goal. Fulham held off United for the duration of the first half and went into halftime perhaps a bit rueful that their one defensive mistake had cost them so dearly. At the same time, the Cottagers also must have known that they weren't in danger of being swept aside either as United was unable dominate with the lead in their hands. No wonder then that Fulham's equalizer on the 60th minute seemed inevitable in wake of United's inability to kill off their opponents. A quick stutter step by Luis Boa Morte and Wes Brown found himself one step too far behind the Fulham striker who then ripped a shot past Roy Carrol. It was an unfortunate misstep for the heavily criticized Brown who otherwise played quite well on the day. h3. Precarious Defence Despite recently hemorrhaging goals, the United defence faired well for most of the match. Roy Keane was asked to play out of position at center back and did a fine job of keeping Fulham's attack from getting any clean shots on goal. Even with Silvestre and Ferdinand out, United still have enough pace at the back to force most offences to rely on intricate, rather than athletic, attacking schemes. But, the one glaring weakness with United's depleted defensive center is its mediocre aerial ability. Brian McBride missed a few unmarked headers that many Champions League strikers could have punished the United defence with. There really seems no antidote to this vulnerability and I can only hope that United can get by domestically and in Europe until Silvestre can return. h3. The Ubiquitous Penalty Debacle Perhaps United fans could feel they were denied a win after Van der sar clattered Saha on the 66th minute. The stranded goalie obviously tripped up the United goalscorer, yet referee Alan Wiley managed to completely miss the blatant penalty. Even Fulham fans would have counted themselves lucky if any other referee had even allowed the offending van der Sar to stay on the field. Instead, the Fulham keeper stayed, the penalty was not given and the inactive Ruud Van Nistlerooy was comedically yellow carded. Reacting to the blown call, Van Nistlerooy was reported to Wiley by fourth official Grahm Poll even though the striker wasn't even playing yet! h3. Killer Instinct Despite the penalty controversy, two points were still squandered to United's failure to build upon their lead. Truly, the easiest way to diagnose the current form of Sir Alex's team over the years has always been to observe United's ability to quickly build upon their first goal and put the game out of reach before opponents knew what hit them. We saw it last year and Manchester United won the Premiership. Arsenal demonstrates the same qualities this year and they now have a nine point lead on Chelsea and United. Manchester United's prospects in league play grow more dour with every succesive failure to get a full three points from each match. I'm not saying the battle for the Premiership crown is already decided, however it does seem like United will need a big break sometime soon. Perhaps if Arsenal's Thierry Henry were to take to the drink...