Olly Johnson rates Fulham’s performances after the Whites scored six again last night – this time against Birmingham City
Marek Rodak: At the time I thought Rodak couldn’t have been expected to save either of Birmingham’s goals but looking at replays and being slightly harsh, you may suggest he should’ve tipped Ivan Sunjic’s shot behind for a corner. Aside from a comfortable save down to his left at the near post he didn’t have enough to do to justify a higher score. 6
Denis Odoi: Old reliable Odoi was selected over Tete at right back and, as he did earlier in the season, when Tete was injured, he filled in superbly. A few shaky touches throughout the game showed he may have been short of match practice but overall he was solid and with a great low cross he put one on a plate for Kebano to grab our second of the game. 7
Tim Ream and Tosin Adarabioyo: There isn’t a huge amount to say about the two centre backs, two goals conceded might suggest they had poor games but both goals were almost unavoidable from their point of view and chances were kept to a minimum for the remainder of the game. Ream almost got caught out in the first half and a lack of pace without Robinson covering showed his weak side. Tosin enjoyed spraying the ball across the pitch throughout the game, his success rate wasn’t as high as it could’ve been but on the few occasions it came off it was very effective. 7
Antonee Robinson: He’s had a bit of stick this season but here he was excellent and fully merits praise. Solid at the back with good attacking intent and really starting to build a partnership with Kebano down the left hand side. His pace has been causing defences big issues the last few games and although the end product hasn’t always been there for him, he has opened up space to allow others, mainly Kebano, to capitalise. Today though he put in a super cross to assist Carvalho and then helped himself to a goal at the death and what a great finish it was. We thought we might only get five goals today but Robinson was on hand to ensure we got six once more. 8
Harrison Reed: Whilst he did his job well for the majority of the game a silly lunge could very well have resulted in a red card on another day and left us in a spot of bother with Seri missing for the next few matches. He was also the player who you’d expect to have been there to challenge Gardner before he scored Birmingham’s second goal but he’d been dragged out of position. It certainly wasn’t a poor performance but we know he’s capable of much better. 6
Tom Cairney: He’s been absolutely integral to our goal scoring form recently and last night he got in on the action himself as he coolly passed it into the net via the upright. His all round game was brilliant once more, what might seem like a lack of urgency at times is just an incredibly calm player waiting for the right moment to move the ball forward or into space, he does it so well and when on form his tempo can dictate the entire game. 8
Fabio Carvalho: He showed signs of getting back to his best on Saturday and now he’s right back on track. It was a joy to watch Fabio as it has been on many occasions this season. His strength, composure and skill on the ball is up there with the very best youngsters in the world. He drove the ball forward and got the crowd on their feet on a number of occasions, an unexpected but beautifully placed header put us 3-0 up and cruising before he set one of for Tom Cairney on the stroke of half time. His 2nd of the game drew parallels with his goal on the weekend, a lovely shift in weight showed him onto his right foot on the edge of the area before he placed it, once again, into the bottom right. I called it Messi-esque on the weekend and I’ll do the same again today. Man of the match for me and whilst I can’t see him staying I can only hope we get to watch him for the rest of the season. 9
Harry Wilson: A lively game out on the right wing for Wilson, his energy up and down the wing was evident throughout and it was his run fed through by Cairney which set up the first goal, a simple cross which would’ve provided Mitrovic a tap in had the defender not got to it first to divert it in for an own goal. 7
Neeskens Kebano: It was a quiet start for the Congolese winger but a great run from wide across the defender at the front post allowed him to latch onto Odoi’s low cross and dispatch his finish into the back of the net. From then on he was involved regularly down the left and played a part in Cairney’s goal as well as Carvalho’s first. 7
Aleksandar Mitrovic: We scored 6 goals and he had no goals or assists!? I never would have thought this was possible. Despite that, Mitrovic which integral to almost everything we did in our build up play. He held the ball up and battled well in a slightly deeper position at times, drawing in opposition players in numbers allowing us to capitalise on the space that created. Its a side to his game which has progressed significantly since Silva took over the reigns. 7
SUBSTITUTES
Bobby Decordova-Reid: He had some bright moments and after last season we know what he can do but a lack of game time seemed to let him down here, he had some great opportunities to be involved in promising attacking play but on three occasions it broke down with him. 5
Nathaniel Chalobah: He quietly got on with his job in the middle of the park, at this stage in the game there wasn’t a huge amount of work to be done but show off his passing range. 6
Josh Onomah: With just 10 minutes left when he came on there wasn’t a big chance to make an impact but he managed to create a few very nearly moments, I think Onomah always does a great job at carrying the ball forward and he did that yesterday at a time where we became a little lacklustre (probably understandable after netting 18 goals in less than three games by this point). 7
