Nothing went right for Fulham at Villa Park last night. Marco Silva had planned on making only a single change from the side that saw off lowly Leeds United and earned back-to-back wins, with Dan James replacing Carlos Vinicius in attack, but he lost the services of Willian in the warm-up. Manor Solomon came in for the Brazilian only for Harry Wilson to last barely a quarter of hour before limped off as well. Four minutes later and a frail Fulham defence, robbed of their near post insurance in Aleksandar Mitrovic, conceded the only goal of the game to Tyrone Mings from Aston Villa’s second successive corner. You could understand why Silva shook his head ruefully on the sideline.
Mings, whose looping header secured a fifth straight league win at Villa Park for the first time in a quarter of a century, scored an own goal in the reverse fixture – part of a meek capitulation that cost Steven Gerrard his job. He was fortunate not to repeat the feat here in the dying stages, having turned Harrison Reed’s cross past Emiliano Martinez after the all-action midfielder’s tireless running had fashioned a chance from Tosin Adarabioyo’s hopeful ball. The assistant referee had indicated the all-action was onside, encouraging Reed to chase a lost cause, only to raise his flag as Fulham celebrated an equaliser. VAR confirmed the most marginal of offsides, but Fulham’s late flurry, that coincided with the introduction of Tom Cairney and Neeskens Kebano, wasn’t enough to earn a point.
The Whites began brightly with a brilliant bicycle kick from Andreas Pereira ruffling the side netting – and fooling the Fulham fans into thinking he’d scored – inside 20 seconds, but Villa, totally transformed under Unai Emery, quickly got onto the front foot. Reed bravely blocked a pildedriver from Ashley Young and when Adarabioyo tracked Ollie Watkins all the way at the expense of a set-piece, John McGinn’s inswingers posed problems for the Fulham rearguard. Adarabioyo got his head on the first, but Mings climbed highest to head Villa in front from another devilish delivery moments later.
Bernd Leno kept the home side at bay until the interval, saving well from Watkins and McGinn, but the pattern of play remained undisturbed by the break. Antonee Robinson did brilliantly to deny Watkins a sight of goal on the hour and Adarabioyo then thwarted the former Brentford forward with a fine block as he looked likely to double Villa’s lead. Silva eventually turned to his bench and the changes enlivened a team that looked toothless in comparison to the vibrant displays against Everton and Leeds. Young produced a brilliant piece of defending to divert a Bobby Decordova-Reid cross away from James at the back post, before Reed came close to rescuing a point.
Silva’s side looked leggy by the end of an underwhelming evening and Villa’s efficiency, allied to Emery’s pragmatism, allowed them little cheer. Fulham aren’t on the beach, but this defeat extinguished any feint hope of European qualification, and the Whites now face two tough tests against title chasing Manchester City and a Liverpool side, who will be eager to end their miserable season on a high. This should still be classed as an outstanding campaign, but reinforcements are sorely needed in the summer.
ASTON VILLA (4-2-3-1): Martinez, A. Young (Chambers 86), Moreno (Digne 77), Konsa, Mings; Dendoncker, Douglas Luiz, McGinn, Buendía, Ramsey (Traoré 77); Watkins. Subs (not used): Olsen, Carlos, Revan, O’Reilly, Sinisalo, Dhuran.
BOOKED: Young, Traore, Martinez.
GOAL: Mings (21).
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete (Cedric Soares 68), A. Robinson, Adarabioyo, Ream; Palhinha, Reed (Kebano 83); Wilson (Decodova-Reid 17), Solomon (Vinicius 67), Pereira (Cairney 68); James. Subs (not used): Rodak, Duffy, Diop, Lukic.
BOOKED: Palhinha, Decordova-Reid.
REFEREE: Tom Brammall (Yorkshire).
ATTENDANCE: 41,046.
Another great article Dan – thank you. The need for reinforcements in the next window, with the FFP shackles apparently being off is so true. But, as is often the way with Fulham, it will be just as important who we can retain. I’m surely not alone in my concern for both Marco Silva (the Spurs fans would welcome his style of football at The Lane) and Joao Palhinha (well on his way to being a cult hero at The Hammy End, but also now on the radar of heavyweights across Europe). ‘It’s a funny old game’ as that lad from Walham Green used to say…
At risk of sounding heretical, one issue was the uncharacteristically sub-par performance of Palhinha, which I think has been evident for the past couple of games.
Everyone has seen the press speculation around a possible big-money move for him to one of the behemoths of the PL and maybe whatever is going on is having a distracting effect.
If so. What on earth does Marco Silva do about it? Another tricky problem to solve, as if he doesn’t already have enough with Mitro suspended and all the various injuries.
Once again another lack lustre first half and not one shot did their keeper have to make all game,all the talk about finishing the season as high as possible is just talk if the players don’t fight to win, i think that was one of our worst performance and we still need some new players in the summer especially a good striker, Moussa Dembele would be a good addition.
Agree with all the comments above. Our 1st team when we’re on it has been above and beyond this season. We really need 90% of those players in place to compete. Without that then you can see our squad needs work and looks tired.
This summer is surely one of the biggest tests of us as a club for a while. We have the foundations now so we’ll really learn what the Khan’s are about and what their vision for the team is. If we keep our best and add 3 or 4 more then we’re in business.
Excellent analysis by Dan as always. Losing away to Villa by the odd goal, who are on a great run, is nothing catastrophic. I also think that compared to earlier performances, Palinha’s efforts have diminuished a bit, especially his distribution. What i cannot seem to understand is the hype around Reed. Do not get me wrong, the small terrier always gives his all, but in my opinion, both his physical attributes as well as his technical ability are always a bit short at this level. I would like to see a bit more of Lukic until the end of the season, we would get a better understanding if the January capture was really a good one. Our league position at this point doesn’t mean much.