Tom Cairney has revealed the Fulham dressing room have been revelling all week over the fact they are playing better than Barcelona!
Stats showed the Cottagers made more passes and with higher percentage accuracy in their 2-0 win over Barnsley last Saturday than Lionel Messi and Co did in their 5-0 drubbing of Las Palmas.
Slavisa Jokanovic’s boys completed 647 of their 725 passes against the Tykes, giving an 89.2 per cent success rate, compared to Barca’s 88.7 per cent as a result of 504 completed from 568.
Not only that, but Fulham’s season average for successful passes per game would put them only behind Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain in Europe’s five big leagues.
The number crunching shows how Jokanovic has transformed the West Londoners into the pass-masters of the Championship, and arguably England, which has not gone unnoticed by Cairney and his team-mates.
The creative midfielder, 25, told SunSport: “Someone said that we had passed more than Barcelona at the training ground.
“It’s a crazy stat and one you can’t think can happen to often on a weekend.
“But it just shows the confidence of the boys have with the ball. Long may it continue.
“I’m not being biased but I do honestly think we play the best football in the division. We’ve played every single team and I haven’t come across anyone who plays better football.
“I don’t think our league position represents what we’ve done to a few teams this season. Hopefully in the second half of the season we’ll get more results that we deserve for our performances.
“We’ve got to be looking at play-offs, minimum.”
Cairney has been the star of the show in Jokanovic’s easy-on-the-eye style.
Unsurprisingly, the ex-Blackburn man has been linked with a mega-money move away from Craven Cottage as a result.
Table-topping Newcastle are reported to have made an enquiry, to which they are said to have been quoted £20m.
Cairney, who scooped Sky Bet’s Championship Goal of the Month for December for his screamer at Wolves, said: “It’s flattering, of course it’s nice to hear.
“Some of the price tags people have been saying is a nice compliment and that’s all I can see them as.
“There’s a reason why them sorts of figures are getting chucked around my name and that’s because I’m playing well. I just need to carry on doing what I’m doing.
“I obviously want to play in the Premier League and if I can do that with Fulham it would be amazing.
“We have got a chance this season. We are going under the radar a bit because no one tipped us at the start of the season.”
Fulham go to arch-rivals QPR today eyeing revenge after they somehow lost 2-1 in the reverse fixture at Craven Cottage earlier this season despite missing TWO penalties.
Cairney recalled: “It was the craziest game I’ve ever been involved in. We had one-on-ones, two penalties, loads of shots and ended up losing 2-1. I haven’t felt that deflated after a game for a long time. It was a horrible feeling.
“It’ll be nice to put it right like we did last season at Loftus Road.”
