In the end, there wasn’t much drama. Manchester City easily extended English football’s longest winning run against a professional opponent in the Craven Cottage sunshine, their 15th league win over Fulham in succession something of a formality before Erling Haaland’s second-half spot kick confirmed Pep Guardiola’s side had secured third spot after Ilkay Gundogan’s improvised overhead kick had put them in pole position early on. Marco Silva handed Tom Cairney a start on what might be the midfielder’s final appearance in a Fulham shirt – nobody still seems sure – but this had the feel, for the home side at least, of an end-of-term obligation after the Whites’ push for a European place petered out a fortnight ago.
There is no shame in losing to even this Manchester City outfit, who are slower and far less ruthless than the outfit that has utterly transformed the English game under Guardiola’s stewardship. But Fulham could still feel aggrieved at letting a good opportunity to end their City curse at the Etihad earlier this season and there were opportunities to have upset the form book here, too. Gundogan’s acrobatic opener was eye-catching but the product of ponderous defending, whilst the home side spurned a host of chances to equalise, before Haaland did what he couldn’t do in the FA Cup final and coolly converted a penalty to put the result beyond doubt.
Where Silva started with Fulham’s feted number ten, Guardiola introduced the departing Kevin de Bruyne for the final six minutes. Gundogan filled the Belgian’s shoes as an advanced playmaker and eased any nerves amongst the travelling support by scoring from City’s first attack of any note. Omar Marmoush had sent a sighter wide from a free-kick, but Matheus Nunes scuttled between Jorge Cuenca and Antonee Robinson far too serenely. The right back’s drive spun off Bernd Leno’s gloves and high into the air, where Gundogan produced a brilliant bicycle kick that cannoned in off the crossbar. A lengthy VAR check found no reason to disallow the goal and, the Champions’ League chasers were in front.
Silva’s side offered a rousing riposte. Harry Wilson, restored to the right flank after another wonderful winner against Brentford, forced a sprawling save from Ederson with Adama Traore unable to profit from the rebound. Andreas Pereira put Traore clear of the visiting back line with a chipped pass but the winger was unable to bring the ball under as spell as he advanced on goal. City enjoyed two-thirds of the ball and should have been further in front by the back but Jeremy Doku’s shot clipped the heels of Kenny Tete and drifted a couple of yards wide of Leno’s far post.
Cairney, taking the opportunity to impress in a deep-lying midfield role, had a couple of shots blocked before releasing Wilson down the right but the Welshman’s shot was kept out by Ederson’s fingertips. The loose ball run to Pereira but the Brazilian found only the side netting from inside the six-yard box. City reasserted themselves at the start of the second half with Tete nipping in the nick of time to stop Doku and Leno saving Josko Gvardiol’s header from a corner.
The tireless running of Raul Jimenez fashioned a great chance for Silva’s side as the Mexican played Wilson into space. Reuben Dias read the danger but the loose ball broke favourably at the feet of Pereira only for the former Manchester United man to scuff his shot into Manuel Akanji rather than the net. It proved to be that sort of day for Fulham. Jimenez beat Ederson to hopeful punt but badly miscued his lob when he had time to take a touch – and the hosts were duly punished when Sasa Lukic tripped Gundogan in the box, with Haaland sending Leno the wrong way from twelve yards.
Academy graduates Ryan Sessegnon and Josh King were waiting to come on when Andy Madley pointed to the spot and the substitutes nearly combined to set up a grandstand finale, but King’s header lacked a little conviction. Madley ignored home shouts for a spot-kick of their own when Dias appeared to use his arm in the area after a terrific Tete flick and Fulham at least finished with some fluency. Sander Berge was denied by a superb save from Ederson and Jimenez’s own acrobatic attempt flashed over the bar.
City’s resilience and killer instinct in the final third constructed a cushion Guardiola’s side never looked like relinquishing. The Hammersmith End implored the Fulham hierarchy to offer captain Cairney ‘one more year,’ whilst paying fulsome tribute to Cliffie Dean and Stuart Gray at different points during an emotional afternoon. Eleventh place in the Premier League shouldn’t be sniffed at, but you sense Silva’s attention has already turned to an extensive summer rebuilding project.
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, A. Robinson, Andersen, Cuenca; Lukic (Berge 86), Cairney; Wilson (Iwobi 61), Traore (R. Sessegnon 64), Pereira (Smith Rowe 64); Jimenez. Subs (not used): Benda, Bassey, Willian, Vinicius.
MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Nunes, Gvardiol, Akanji, Dias; Gonzalez, B. Silva; Marmoush (Foden 82), Doku (Savinho 74), Gundogan (de Bruyne 85); Haaland (Echeverri 85). Subs (not used): Ortega, Ake, Rodri, O’Reilly.
GOALS: Gundogan (21), Haaland (pen 72).
REFEREE: Andy Madley (West Yorkshire).
ATTENDANCE: 27,671
I hope that’s Pereiras last game and that we try to recoup some of the money we spent on ESR who was a big mistake and we should try and sell him.
We have had some great moments this season. There’s no doubt about that. Just off the top of my head, the win at Stamford Bridge and the victory over Liverpool at the Cottage were among some of the best.
But, to hear Marco Silva describe this as a “great season, overall” is just a bit too much.
The same two or three players have consistently underperformed, yet have been selected on a regular basis by the manager. Most obviously, our designated set piece taker, Andreas Pereira, has been woeful. In an age where so many clubs put such major emphasis on free kicks and corners, for some strange reason, Pereira was allowed to stuff up, week after week. That seems almost criminal to me.
From my perspective, today, Pereira was selected purely because it will be his last game in a Fulham shirt. I sincerely hope that is the case.
Tom Cairney starting, as skipper, also indicates that he, too, will be on his way. Good luck to him if that proves to be the case.
I noticed that, as the players emerged from the tunnel before the second half, Kenny Tete stopped and hugged a groundsman. Could that be a sign that his time at the club is also at an end?
Maybe I’m reading too much into it but, out of the three, Tete staying seems to be a priority.
Stuart Gray departs and, again, maybe I am wrong but, from his interview on Fulham TV, I detected a certain disappointment in his voice and, at one stage, he definitely said that he was “disappointed” to be leaving-which suggests that, perhaps, the decision to retire was not entirely voluntary? Either way, we are in great need of a set piece coach, IMO, judging from everything we have witnessed this season.
Back to the game and it all went pretty much as expected, unfortunately. We had our moments but, in reality, City never really needed to raise the tempo to ensure that they qualified for the Champions League.
I am at a total loss as to why Harry Wilson was subbed. He seemed our liveliest player.
To be fair though, both Iwobi and Smith Rowe performed decently.
But, for me, the best of the subs was, by far, Ryan Sessegnon. Yet again, played out of position, wide right, he showed a willingness and aptitude for attacking defenders that we had been sadly lacking.
I’ve just been told that Marco Silva is definitely staying at Fulham. So I hope that he is given the funds to improve the squad in the summer and things aren’t left to the last minute again.
I’m not sure why Bassey was omitted from the team; possibly to allow him a rest before his International duties with Nigeria? But, Cuenca, once again, had a decent game in his place.
We end the season in 11th place. Palace came within a whisper of pushing us down to 12th. Either placing would have been an improvement on our position of 13th, last season. So, in a way, it has to be regarded as a positive.
But there has to be a point at which we show much more ambition, surely? A cup? Qualification for Europe? To be satisfied with a marginal improvement in our final placing or points tally, each season – is that really enough? Is this the best that we, as Fulham diehards, can ever aspire to?
Marco says that he is ambitious and the summer is crucial; one that he has been planning for since January so, here’s hoping for some exciting news in the months ahead and I’ll see you all in August for another tilt
Not very good today if it was a end of term school report it would say must try harder with a big improvement for next season let’s hope that happens we know Marcos staying to “carry on with this project “ his words not mine looked very much like Cairney is leaving a good servant to the club
Just a mention for Stuart Gray who looked a forlorn figure on his own in the middle of the parade at the end of today’s game
Thanks Stuart maybe a bit to soon for you to go,always the calming figure on the bench many times has calmed Marco down from getting into trouble with the fourth official
Let’s hope for a very good and important transfer window and go again next season
The person that Kenny hugged was the club chaplain Gary Piper. Maybe he was asking for a little help from above.
It cannot be denied that this season has been an improvement on last year, and there have been some great moments that I do not need to list. BUT this team were at one stage tentatively looking at involvement in the Champions League???
So amongst the euphoria I am reminded of my old school reports “could do better”.