Slavisa Jokanovic moved to downplay the importance of Fulham’s win over Aston Villa by insisting that his side had not won anything more than three points after the win at Craven Cottage this afternoon.
The Fulham head coach reflected on the fact that he was not left lamenting the Whites’ failure to finish in front of goal after his side ended Aston Villa’s seven match winning streak thanks to second half goals from Ryan Sessegnon and Floyd Ayite. The Serbian told his post-match press conference that his only regret was that the final scoreline did not accurately portray his time’s overall dominance:
We scored two goals and we could’ve scored more. Normally, I complain about missing a second goal, but today we missed a third. In the end, we must satisfied with our performance. I believe we played a very good game of football, but in the end, it’s only three points.
In the first-half, we couldn’t find a way to connect with our full-backs, but we changed our shape, tried something a little different and showed a better face in the second-half. We have enough experience from losing points against Bolton.
Jokanovic was keen to remind everybody that, whilst Fulham’s recent run has certainly propelled them into promotion contention, the Whites hadn’t won anything yet.
We can’t think the job is done, because it’s not. We’re fifth in the Championship and we must show solidarity and work together. We will need whole the squad and if we push together in the same direction, we can think about positive things. Right now, we need to rest, prepare for the next step and fight to find our best performance.
He was full of praise for Sessegnon’s match-changing display in the second half, saluting the youngster’s professional and his ongoing desire to improve.
Sessegnon is an extremely talented player and we must push him in the right direction. He has definitely improved over the season and I expect he will improve in the future. He’s a very important player within my team and my squad. We are satisfied with his performance today as he scored and important goal but he must push himself and try and improve each game.
The Fulham head coach also highlighted the way Aleksandar Mitrovic led the line on his first start since arriving on loan from Newcastle at the end of January.
Although he didn’t score, Mitrovic had a very good game for us. He held the ball up very well and a positive impact on the game. His movement for the first goal allowed space for Sessegnon to score an important goal. He was unfortunate not to play for many months, we expect we can help him to be in better shape for the upcoming games.
