This may well be Fulham’s most damaging defeat of the season. Tantalisingly, a spot above the relegation zone appeared in their grasp after Aleksandar Mitrovic punished a horrific mistake by Tyrone Mings to put them in front at Villa Park, but Scott Parker’s side couldn’t hold on. Instead, they crumbled. Two goals in space of three minutes from substitute Trezeguet turned the contest on its head before Ollie Watkins completed the comeback from close range.
The faces at full-time said it all. Dean Smith’s Villa charges were delirious – but Fulham looked shellshocked. They had been comfortably in control when Mitrovic brought his outstanding international form back to the domestic arena and, although there was more than an element of fortune about the way the ball fell for him, the visitors thoroughly merited their second half lead. The Whites had been the more adventurous of the two sides – and it took Villa nearly seventy minutes to muster a shot on target.
That’s what made the turnaround so surprising. Villa had flickered with Bertrand Traore briefly coming to the fore, but the away defence had kept Watkins – a scorer on his international debut with England – particularly quiet and looked on course for a crucial away win. It was Mings himself who sparked the Villa comeback, galloping down the left flank and picking out Trezeguet on the edge of the box with a low cross that the Egyptian guided into the bottom corner with real precision.
Just three minutes later, Villa were in front. An error from the usually reliable Tosin Adarabioyo saw Keinan Davis seize possession from the Fulham centre back in a dangerous position. The forward surged down the right flank and produced a deep cross that Trezeguet gleefully forced home at the far post. Adarabioyo booted the loose ball away in anger – knowing just how cruical that lapse might prove in such a tight relegation battle – and Fulham heads dropped.
Any hopes of a rousing revival were extinguished when Watkins tapped home a third from close range after Traore had tricked his way past Ola Aina and you sense it will take all of Parker’s powers as a motivator now to lift his troops for the run-in. Staying up is certainly not beyond Fulham, but they keep making it even more difficult.
The away side had begun brightly, with Mitrovic underlining his rediscovered confidence by testing Emiliano Martinez with a low snapshot from just outside the box. Bobby Decordova-Reid might have done better than direct a header wide of goal from an excellent Kenny Tete cross, before Mitrovic’s vociferous appeals for a penalty when he was pulled down by Mings were waved away. The Serbian was certainly Fulham’s talisman, seeing a left-footed effort palmed aside by Martinez after a surging run from Ruben Loftus-Cheek threatened to open Villa up.
The hosts gradually got into the contest but found Fulham’s well-drilled midfield particularly difficult to play through. Watkins was anonymous, save for a heavy touch in the second minute that prevented him from converting a devilish cross from Matty Cash. Though they enjoyed more possession as the half went on, it would have been a tragedy if Villa had gone in front at the break. That nearly happened when Andy Madley penalised Mario Lemina’s challenge on Watkins on the stroke of half-time but, after consultation with the pitchside monitor, the referee overturned his decision, deciding that the Fulham midfielder had made contact with the ball.
Fulham’s plans for the second half were disrupted within two minutes of the restart when Ademola Lookman was forced off injured after clashing with Cash. Ivan Cavaleiro came on and the second period followed a similar pattern. Fulham were purposeful in possession – but you could sense the tension was playing a key role too. They were only too grateful to profit from a terrible mistake by Mings, who underhit a routine backpass to Martinez badly, allowing Mitrovic to nip in, round the goalkeeper and stroke his first Premier League goal in some 22 matches into the empty net.
The visitors initially showed little sign of sitting on their lead, with Harrison Reed bending an effort wide from just outside the box after Villa had been caught trying to play out from the back. But Villa began to throw numbers forward – and after Smith sent on Davis to join Watkins in attack – the Fulham rearguard dropped decidedly deeper. The decisive Villa goals came in a rush, with Trezeguet’s well-struck first swiftly followed by a poacher’s finish at the far post. The substitute’s first goals of the campaign felt like a hammer blow for Fulham, who are now three points behind Newcastle in seventeenth place.
ASTON VILLA (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Cash, Targett, Mings, Konsa; Douglas Luiz (Ramsey 74), Sanson (Davis 67); Traore, El-Ghazi, McGinn; Watkins. Subs (not used): Heaton, Engles, Taylor, Nakamba, Barkley, El-Mohamady.
BOOKED: Douglas Luiz.
GOALS: Trezeguet (78, 81), Watkins (87).
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Areola; Tete, Aina, Adarabioyo, Andersen; Lemina (Onomah 83), Reed; Lookman (Cavaleiro 47), Decordova-Reid, Loftus-Cheek (Maja 83); Mitrovic. Subs (not used): Fabri, Ream, Kongolo, Robinson, Bryan, Anguissa.
BOOKED: Andersen, Decordova-Reid.
GOAL: Mitrovic (61).
REFEREE: Andy Madley (West Yorkshire).
VIDEO ASSISTANT REFEREE: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire).
I think that defeat has to go down to Parker. It was obvious that Fulham needed subs to instill some spark and that Lemina, in particular, was tried post Gabon duty. When Trezuguet came on and Tete lost him, before the first goal, it was equally obvious that needed addressing. Regrettably, screaming this at my TV had no effect. Parker needed to see it and respond and he did neither.
Tosin is far too casual on the ball and should have released the ball more quickly he has been caught out like that before and hasn’t learned from it.Why wasn’t Anguissa playing instead of Lemina, our defence now looks leaky.
Yep obvious we needed some extra energy to see this over the line. Parker back to his subs too late habit again.
That said I thought we were a little sloppy in our passing all game. Villa were so flat they made us look good until they woke up. We didn’t really move the ball like we can.
When we did get the ball up the pitch we lack the confidence to have a go at the full back or whip crosses in. Surely that’s playing to Mitro’s strengths. I’ve had enough of Cav. If he has any point then surely it’s to use his pace and whip crosses in. All he does is cut inside and run across the pitch before losing it. I’d rather we’d kept AK or Kebano than Cav. I hope Lookman isn’t bad because we’re down if Cav plays. Simple as that.
A disastrous result.
1. Game management was poor by the manager and on the field – Villa’s subs changed the midfield plus we sat back – we were still 1-0 up after 77 mins but the previous 10 mins had all been Villa following their subs – it was clear at the time Parker should have responded – Anguissa should have been on after 65 – the midfield is where we lost it
2. Mitro took his goal well but the fact the goal came from a mistake highlights once again our inability to make possession or chances count.
3. Poor defending for each of their goals – our back four held line well but following their subs Traore had so much space – plus the unforced error for their second.
4. Loftus Cheek and Lemina faded from the game
5. We must not lose focus or hope … look at Newcastle on 29pts – Burnley A – West Ham H – Liverpool A – Arsenal H – Leicester A – Man City H – Sheff U H – FFC A – they might have only 33 pts by the time they play us!
Parker has to raise the team and hope our luck turns and/ or make some tweaks. We can beat Wolves and Newcastle might lose at Burnley – they have a tougher run-in – but we have lost 4 out of 5 – teams know how to play against us – for 75 mins Villa were average but then an average Villa side took us apart.
Catastrophic. More so when we were in the lead and had Mitro that was bullyin his way up front. Why do we have to always play nice? Today long balls could have got us out of the bottom three…
Such a poor performance from us right from the start. So many players were constantly giving the ball away. Maybe players were jaded after travelling with their respective International teams as Villa players were just as guilty and it was pretty obvious that any goal would come from a sloppy giveaway. Such a crucial part of the season for teams like us yet our preparation is pretty much non-existent because of another stupid International break.
Surprisingly, the first goal came to us as Mitrovic chased down what seemed like a lost cause and got the goal that his overall performance deserved. Only a few weeks ago, it’s fair to say that Mitro would not have chased that ball down and it’s great to see him back in the team and in good form.
At that stage, we needed fresh legs. It was clear to see that Decordova Reid was exhausted, Lemina was fading more and more from the game and Loftus Cheek, after some glimpses of class in the first half, had done his usual act of disappearing from the game.
Yet again, Cavaleiro was a liability but, apart from free kicks, Lookman had been anonymous first half.
We badly needed Anguissa to come on and take a grip of midfield but, unfortunately, not for the first time this season, Parker failed to act in a timely fashion.
Incredibly, it was Robinson who was stripped and ready to come on before, even more incredibly, Parker sent him back to the bench.
When changes were eventually made, far too late, Anguissa was not the midfielder of choice for Parker. Instead he brought on Onomah?
Bringing on Maja really smacked of desperation. We had been incapable of providing any kind of decent service to Mitro all game. Having two strikers struggling for service only compounded the problem.
A continuation of the sloppy passing that had been inherent from the start of the game contributed to our eventual downfall.
We are a better away team than a home team so it’s hard to see us turning things around against Wolves but Parker’s post match interview was, as Eddie Howe commented, superb. It was as honest and emotional as it was a rallying cry and, if these players have any fighting spirit, they should dig deep and give us something to be proud of on Friday.
I think Parker was going to bring on Robinson and go three at the back. Maybe that would have worked. Anguissa should have come on for Lemina. Losing Lookman was a blow. Let’s hope it’s not too serious. Nobody has suggested that we might go down with Newcastle. WBA and Allardyce now only five points behind. I have nightmares about Big Sam!
Why do we always revert to slowing the game down and playing stupid passes in our own half of the pitch when we take the lead,it is really frustrating and we always end up giving the ball away, Mitro was once again starved of good service,we have to get the ball up to him much faster and with more precision,we also need to press the opposition and push them back,Andersen is well able to play long balls up to our forward s so why doesn’t he do it more often? We stopped playing after we scored and let them run all over us, there was no fight in us we gave up.I don’t know why Parker keeps playing Caveleiro and not playing Anguissa, I am preying Lookman will be fit for the next game as he is our best player going forward. Please Parker cut out all the passing in and around our own half and get the ball upfield much faster and more accurately.