Sarah runs the rule over some fine performances as Fulham recorded their first Premier League win in four years yesterday …
Marcus Bettinelli: Football’s a funny old game. Just two weeks ago, it looked as if Bettinelli would be frozen out after the Whites signed two senior goalkeepers and now he has returned from the cold to keep goal in the Premier League. He had little to do here, in truth, with Burnley’s two goals being their only shots on target and he was left helpless for both of them. Jokanovic clearly wants a keeper comfortable with the ball at his feet and there were early signs that Bettinelli still struggles to fulfill this requirement. There’s hesitancy in his distribution and several of his early passes went into touch – and it will be interesting to see how the goalkeeping situation resolves itself. 6
Timothy Fosu-Mensah: An energetic and enterprising display from the Manchester United loanee, who was once again preferred to Cyrus Christie at right back. He showed an eagerness to get forward from the off and displayed a blistering turn of pace in the final third that Fulham could yet utilise to their advantage. Fosu-Mensah was solid defensively and read the game well, but like most modern full-backs offered real value as an overlapping attacking. His crossing proved more dangerous than Christie’s and one splendid low centre narrowly eluded Andre Schurrle and Aleksandar Mitrovic in the second half. 7
Denis Odoi: The Belgian was recalled to the heart of the Fulham back four following his suspension and Calum Chambers’ below-par display at Wembley. He is still very much a makeshift centre back and can struggle to convince at this level, but managed to nullify Chris Wood’s physicality for the most part. Although it was Maxime Le Marchand who gave away the ball for Burnley’s equaliser, Odoi was slow to shuffle across and read the danger, ultimately leaving Bettinelli unsighted for Hendrick’s first shot. 6
Maxime Le Marchand: This was probably the Frenchman’s least assured of his three Premier League outings to date. He has been superb since stepping into the Fulham defence but was badly culpable for Burnley’s first goal, gifting the Clarets possession on the halfway line with a sloppy pass. Did little else wrong, making a couple of excellent recovery tackles to thwart potential danger and switched to left back for the final quarter of the contest after Joe Bryan went off. 6
Joe Bryan: Another excellent display from the left back, who has shown little sign of being daunted by the step up to the top flight after arriving on deadline day from Bristol City. Got forward to great effect and dovetailed nicely with Luciano Vietto down that flank, providing him with the pass that began the move for Fulham’s first goal. Positioned himself well defensively and seems a solid acquisition with scope for improvement, who already looks comfortable at Craven Cottage. 7
Kevin McDonald: The Scottish international was restored to the starting line-up to face his former club having missed the meeting with Spurs last weekend – and delivered another composed performance at the base of the Fulham midfield. Didn’t need to snap into too many tackles to break up Burnley attacks, but his reading of the game and positioning remained spot on. A reassuring pressure in front of the back four, McDonald know hows he will need to be on top of his game as Anguissa adapts to English football. 7
Tom Cairney: The Fulham captain was a little quieter than usual at the heart of the midfield, but was by no means poor. Produced a brilliant floated ball that looked to be straight from the Motspur Park training ground routines for Mitrovic’s first goal from a cleverly worked short corner and found the room to run at the Burnley defence as the game became open in the second half. Substituted as a precaution following a late challenge from Charlie Taylor, but Jokanovic revealed that he should be available for the trip to Brighton on Saturday. 7
Jean-MIchael Seri: The Ivorian already appears a cut above as a classy orchestrator of possession in the Fulham midfield, with his quick movement of the ball, and his exceptional footballing brain. He produced a moment of genuine quality to put the Whites ahead, with an exocet from long-range that left Joe Hart beaten just four minutes in – the kind of effort that the Whites have seemingly been reluctant to take on in recent years. But with the low centre of gravity reminiscent of Mahamadou Diarra and some of the vision that reminds you of Mousa Dembele, Seri has all the attributes to be a star. 8
Andre Schurrle: The German was determined to make his point after being recalled to Jokanovic’s first eleven yesterday afternoon and buzzed around with intent from the off. You can see his quality in the driving runs from midfield he makes and how he darts into dangerous central areas – as will as some of that vision to release team-mates. Schurrle seems to be full of confidence and looked to test Hart at every opportunity, hitting eleven shots during the contest, but it appeared as though it wouldn’t be his day until the former England goalkeeper turned Mitrovic’s effort onto the post and the winger rifled in the rebound. 8
Luciano Vietto: The Argentinian was handed a surprise start at the expense of Ryan Sessegnon on the left of Fulham’s front three and turned in an excellent performance on his full debut. He might look a little lightweight for the rough and tumble of the Premier League, but Vietto’s intelligent runs and clever use of the ball shows just how he could fit into Jokanovic’s plans. Vietto was bright throughout and floated in an inviting cross for Fulham’s third goal – the high point of an energetic display. 7
Aleksandar Mitrovic: On this form, the £22m Fulham paid Newcastle to finally secure the Serbian’s services this summer looks a snip. There have been question marks about his ability to score goals at this level but Mitrovic seems to thrive on proving the doubters wrong. He already has three – topping the Premier League’s goalscoring charts – and he bullied the Burnley centre halves throughout. He buried two headers but his all-round play was far more significant, with intelligent movement and the ability to play in others. Unfortunate not to claim a memorable hat-trick late on. 9
Substitutes:
Calum Chambers (on for Joe Bryan, 72): Sent on to sure up the Fulham defence for the final quarter of the contest as Joe Bryan tired and didn’t let anybody down. 6
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (on for Tom Cairney, 78): Showed plenty of promising touches during a late camera that also features such driving running from deep and a penchant for pulling the trigger. Anguissa will need to smooth out some of the overplaying that got himself into trouble against Tottenham, but proves much-needed competition for McDonald in front of the back four. 6
Ryan Sessegnon (on for Andre Schurrle, 88): Gareth Southgate’s scouting trip afforded him just two minutes of seeing the wonderkid, who was a late substitute for the excellent Andre Schurrle. 6
