If you were anything like me, the early part of the English summer was spent fretting about the fixture list. Scarred by three recent relegations from the top flight, I frantically circled the matches where the Whites might be able to pick up points. It got so bad that I had a purchase a second calendar as the first quickly looked like a primary school exercise book as it was covered in red ink. Nobody could have conceived that Marco Silva’s side would be safe ahead of the trip to Bournemouth at the start of April. That simultaneously shows what a great job the Portuguese head coach has done and makes yesterday’s meek capitulation from a winning position so maddening.

Fulham’s superb season – because it has been better than any of us dared to expect – has been forged by a combination of hard graft and a sense of adventure. The first is a non-negotiable for a successful side and the second has been a breath of fresh air after years of bland, safety first football under a manager whose name doesn’t need to be mentioned these days. Some of the football has been sublime. It looked promising yesterday as the Whites moved the ball intelligently and some of the interplay was breathtaking. The goal was a thing of beauty. Andreas Pereira popped up in the penalty area to fire Fulham in front after starting a lovely move on the left wing that saw Carlos Vinicius, Manor Solomon and Harrison Reed progress the ball into a shooting position.

The visitors could – and should – have had a couple more before the break. Antonee Robinson clipped the crossbar with a rising drive and Pereira’s confidence was such that he attempted an insane overhead kick. It nearly went in. Fulham looked levels above Bournemouth, who looked cowed by the enormity of the contest. What followed the half-time break almost felt like a different game between different sides. Silva was right to assert that his side didn’t turn up for the second half. Bournemouth, transformed a pair of changes, swarmed all over their visitors and could have levelled before Marcus Tavernier’s exquisite equaliser. The less said about Dominic Solanke’s winner, the better. Shambolic.

A defeat like that prompts plenty of questions but the pressing one is: why? Did Fulham, as Dan suggested in yesterday’s match report, leave all their fight at Old Trafford? Were the players convinced that they only had to turn up for the second 45 minutes because the first half was so easy? Or do they think that reaching 39 points by the middle of March means the job is done? There are more technical concerns, too. Fulham usually put a heavy premium on possession but they could barely string a pair of passes together in a sloppy second half.

For a side who have been streetwise for much of the season, some of the defending was reminiscent of the teams who have gone down with a whimper in the recent past. Did nobody think it was a good idea to try and close down Tavernier after Bernd Leno’s punch? Precisely what was Robinson doing when the German goalkeeper blocked Ryan Christie’s shot? The American full back was in the perfect position to clear the danger but allowed Solanke to bundle in the winner. The goals weren’t the only time it went a bit keystone cops at the back, with Tim Ream having to clear off the line right after the restart. That should have been a real warning sign, but nobody heeded the alarm bells.

Silva’s substitutions, not for the first time, were scattergun – suggesting that there wasn’t really a considered plan to respond to the way his side had folded at the very first pressure point. Fulham used all five but only Tom Cairney, who has regularly displayed his class in cameos from the bench, appeared to have the invention to try and turn things round. The silver lining from this setback – and you really have to search to find it – is that it shows how threadbare Fulham’s first team squad remains. Without Aleksandar Mitrovic and Willian yesterday, the Whites went from bossing the game to a ragged rabble who had little in the way of industry or a focal point. The tame nature of recent reverses should prompt some serious spending in the summer, but the fact that such a strong season seems set to fizzle out should still rankle.

We’ve been talking about the requirement for a response to several setbacks for almost a month now. That Fulham will likely have to be find one without Silva and Mitrovic only makes things harder. The supposed siege mentality that has dominated conversations since Manchester United looked as feeble as Fulham’s second half showing. The players will have to put that right – and fast.