Yesterday’s short hop across to Shepherd’s Bush went almost exactly as Marco Silva would have dreamed about. Fulham, skittish in two supine away showings both the international break, were purposeful and penetrative in possession and intelligent in how they used the ball. Aleksandar Mitrovic might hog the headlines with a brace that brought him level with Les Barrett on ninety Fulham goals, but the league leaders’ industry was almost more important that the Serbian’s predatory finishing. Harrison Reed typified their control of proceedings with a tireless performance in front of the back four, whilst Tim Ream strolled serenely through the afternoon’s assignment exuding class.
Fulham have built what appears an impregnable lead at the top of the Championship by applying Silva’s attacking principles, although there were still worries after the surrender of points at Barnsley and West Brom that spring might not be as fruitful as winter. How would they cope with the intensity of a local derby that QPR simply had to win? Would the Whites be intimidated by a rare W12 sell out? Those questions were answered in an opening quarter of an hour where Silva’s side seized control through a combination of careful husbandry of the ball and intelligent movement in the final third.
Rangers had warnings of Mitrovic’s threat – although you didn’t need to be clairvoyant to identity our number nine as the game’s real protagonist – when he swivelled on a Wilson flick on and saw a shot deflected wide. An indication of the competency of Gavin Ward (who awarded that laughable penalty at Coventry) came with the fact that the oblivious referee pointed for a goal kick. Joe Bryan, who had an excellent game at left back, almost crashed in another memorable derby long-ranger before the deadlock was broken with one of the moves of the season.
Silva revealed afterwards that one of his plans was to exploit the space between QPR’s centre backs and Moses Odubajo, the attack-minded right wing back who Mark Warburton previously managed at Brentford. Tom Cairney, who ran the show from central midfield, clipped a clever ball ahead of Fabio Carvalho and kept running so that when Harry Wilson slid it back in field, the skipper was in the perfect position to slid a pass towards the byline. Carvalho’s cross flashed across the six yard box and Mitrovic arrived between bewildered Rangers defenders to score with a simple finish. It was a glorious exhibition of pass and move football.
Maintaining the lead didn’t prove especially difficult as Rangers offered little other than hopeful shots from long range but such was Fulham’s stranglehold on the engine room, provided by the peerless Reed back in his conventional number six position, you couldn’t really hold it against the hosts. Reed, whose radar for sensing danger might just have been designed by Christian Hülsmeyer himself, was utterly relentless bustling around in the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium in a manner reminiscent of Stefan Johansen in his Fulham days. The QPR captain departed early having delivered just one reducer on Reed, infuriating the natives with prolonged recognition of the away end. R’s fans suggested Johansen’s legs have gone, but perhaps the Norwegian was simply abiding by the terms of a non-compete clause inserted into last summer’s deal?
Reed, comfortably Fulham’s most consistent performer in our last miserable Premier League campaign, looked back to his attentive best in front of the back four but perhaps his finest moment came after he had been replaced by Jean Michael Seri. After goalkeeping coach Hugo Oliveira had demonstrated control and ball juggling skills Dimitar Berbatov would approve of in the dugout, Reed rushed to protect the Portuguese from the rage of John Eustace, who was more a scrapper than an artist in his own playing days.
Johansen’s embellishment of the dark arts appears to have left a lasting impression on the Fulham squad. Perhaps the day’s best demonstration of shithousery came when the population of the Ellerslie Road stand questioned Mitrovic’s fitness in much the same manner that Scott Parker did last season. The Serbian was kind enough to perform a couple of press-ups whilst waiting for the home fans to return the ball for a throw-in – and you wonder whether Andre Gray and Charlie Austin might benefit from a personal training course. Austin’s main contribution was to try and distract the Serbian with some choice words before he lined up the contentious penalty that settled matters: a man who delighted in rattling the Delije at the Marakana as a teenager barely batted an eyelid at Austin’s antics.
The penalty itself was another example of just how shocking the officiating is at this level. Ward decided Lee Wallace had handled Neco Williams’ cross only after extensive Fulham protests and it was a laughable decision. I’ve adopted the strategy of appealing for everything that characterised my career as a very, very slow left-arm spinner in club cricket for penalty box events after the decisions that have gone against the Whites this season – and perhaps Silva’s side are doing the same. You can’t blame them or Warburton for questioning the futility of the inevitable apology that will eventually arrive from some entitled EFL apparatchik. With the rewards at stake, officiating in the second tier shouldn’t be a guessing game.
Fulham’s calmness on the field radiated from Ream’s reassurance at the heart of the defence. The veteran American is closing in on 250 appearances for the Whites and comfortably contained the threat of Lyndon Dykes, whose only sight of goal evaporated with a woeful touch in the penalty area in the first half, without too much trouble. He supplied a few superb raking passes forward and, even though the top flight might prove a step too far, it is worth recognising what an elite performer he has been after an inauspicious start in south-west London. Reliability should never be ridiculed.
