Player ratings: Fulham 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur

Written by George Rossiter on 24th January 2023

George Rossiter returns to rate the boys after a second consecutive defeat.

Fulham fell to another narrow defeat on a cold Monday night at the Cottage. A stoppage time effort from Harry Kane in the first half was the difference, despite the whites dominating the proceedings in the first 45. Regardless, Silva’s men remain in a good position in the league and can look forward to returning to form in the cup on Saturday against Sunderland.

Bernd Leno

Bar a slight hospital pass and a save from Emerson, Leno had barely anything to contribute in the first half and would’ve needed arms double the length of his own to reach Harry Kane’s goal-bound effort on the brink of half time. An astonishing second-half save from a Kane header kept the deficit at one. 6.5/10

Kenny Tete

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Tete dealt very well with the potentially worrying threat Tottenham posed with a left-hand side of Perisic and Son, regardless of their form. One-on-one defending and crosses continue to be strengths frequently demonstrated by the Dutchman in the Premier League this season. 7.5/10. – Man of the match

Issa Diop

A fairly standard game from Diop. Solid both in the first and second half both on the ball and in his defending. The Frenchman continues to bring a calmness and assurance to the backline which is especially impressive in a defeat you could say. With rumours spreading regarding Tosin’s future and Ream being in his mid-30s, Diop seems to be the future of our backline. 7/10

Tim Ream

Call it experience or whatever you like, Ream’s calmness on the ball even in the highest pressure of situations is really quite something, looking fearless even with the ball in his own six-yard box. It showed great leadership and captaincy seeing Ream continuously push Fulham’s players away from the referee when they looked to unnecessarily crowd Paul Tierney and potentially gain needless yellow cards. 7/10

Antonee Robinson

Similarly to Ream, Robinson shows great composure on the ball when close to his own goal. One slight worry, even if it is yet to cause sufficient worry, may be his complete seeming lack of trust in his own right foot, which hopefully never comes back to bite him. One compliment you can give him this game is how seemingly anonymous he made the dangerous Kulusevski look. 7/10

Joao Palhinha

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Set the intensity of Fulham’s game in the first ten minutes of the game with a quickfire burst of strong challenges in the midfield which resulted in an early yellow for a hefty foul on Hojbjerg. If I’m 100% honest, I’m still not actually sure if Palhinha is a good passer of the ball or not, every pass either seems spot on or a mile off. 7/10

Harrison Reed

Not for the first time this season, Reed demonstrated his ability to pick the ball up in pockets higher up the pitch than a traditional holding or box-to-box midfielders. His link-up with Tete and Decordova-Reid is crucial in allowing Pereira to find similar space on the left side of midfield. Harrison was unlucky not to find the net after a first-half volley found Lloris’ path. 7/10

Andreas Pereira

Something of a theme this season seems to be Pereira having a much bigger effect on the first half of games. Early on he played with great pace with a number of wonderful deliveries into the box that didn’t quite produce a goal. His second half was a lot more quiet, however, something maybe noticeable in quite a few games this season. 7/10

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Bobby De-Cordova Reid

Bobby got the better of Perisic on a number of occasions in the first half and linked well with Tete as per usual but as the game went on he struggled to impose himself on any Fulham attacks. Reverted to right back late on, once again showing his versatility and ability to allow Fulham to change system in a heartbeat. 6.5/10

Willian

One of Willian’s quieter games, not necessarily a bad game but maybe we’ve come to expect a higher standard and seeing the Brazilian stamp his authority on games more than he did in this game. What was noticeable was how often Willian drifted inside and switched the play to change Fulham’s direction of attack when things went stale. 6.5/10

Aleksandar Mitrovic

Mitro did brilliantly to come as deep as the halfway line on a number of occasions in the first half, linking play brilliantly with the wide players before getting himself back into the box. Chances for the forward were slightly limited, with half chances from tight angles or headers from deep all the Serb was given. 6,5/10