Player ratings: Ipswich Town 1-1 Fulham

George Rossiter has the player ratings for our away trip to Portman Road…

Fulham earned their first point on the road in the Premier League this season after coming from behind against Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich Town. An early Liam Delap corker was cancelled out by a lovely Fulham team move. Unfortunately, the game lacked quality beyond those two goals and the game finished at one a piece, with Fulham heading into the international break on four points from their first three games.

Bernd Leno

While Liam Delap’s strike from 20 yards to open the scoring was undoubtedly a great goal, you’d imagine a keeper of Leno’s calibre would’ve been disappointed to see a shot from distance go across his body and into the net despite getting a hand to it. Felt like he was quite shaky from corners, rarely coming to claim deliveries. Made two massive second half saves to keep the game level, firstly from the on-rushing Ogbene and then in stoppage time from an Omari Hutchinson effort inside the box. 6/10

Kenny Tete

Especially in the Championship, Ipswich’s left hand side was often a difficult thing for defences to cope with due to the attacking nature of Leif Davis at left back. Tete coped well with that threat, thwarting Davis’ crossing ability whilst also keeping Ogbene quiet for the most part. Both going forward and defensively, Tete looks to be growing a coherent relationship with Adama too, which could be key as one of the best aspect of Tete’s game over recent years was his brilliant relationship with the likes of Harry Wilson down the right hand side. 7/10

Issa Diop

You would have to say it’s going to be quite the brave decision from Marco Silva to replace Diop with new signing Joachim Andersen beyond the upcoming international break. Diop was rock solid again defensively, coping brilliantly with any Ipswich ball over the top and looking calm with the ball at his feet throughout. While he is prone to a clanger, he’s yet to show it so far this season. My one critique would be that he struggles to replicate Andersen’s long diagonal passes, a key part of our game, with one failed pass to Iwobi in the first half evidence as such. 7/10

Calvin Bassey

Looked uncharacteristically ropey on the ball quite often in the first half, especially when Ipswich were on top in the game and putting our backline under immense pressure with their superb pressing structure. Bassey calmed in the second half as the game calmed down around him, and on a couple of occasions was able to bring the ball out of defence to ease the pressure on the defence around him. Needs to just make sure he keeps his head under pressure, as there’s been a couple of times at the start of this season where erratic moments have crept into his game. 6/10

Antonee Robinson

Had a really busy first half, where confidence wise he looked a different player at both ends of the pitch. Defensively, like Bassey, he seemed to struggle slightly when Ipswich ran at him with a high intensity, shanking a couple of clearances either straight over his own head or into the Portman Road crowd. Going forward, Robinson’s overlapping runs, interchanging play with Iwobi and crosses were all superb, and led to an assist for Adama for the equalising goal. Second half was fairly quiet in comparison. 6.5/10

Sasa Lukic

Lukic was the class act on the pitch in my eyes, with a Rolls Royce of a performance, marshalling the Fulham midfield. Unlike a lot of our side, Lukic was calm when Ipswich pressed and used his athleticism to calmly move the ball around the park to avoid our defence facing increased pressure. Showed superb positional discipline throughout next to two midfielders who were less likely to track back. Was our main man when it came to getting the ball deep and pushing it through the thirds into the likes of Adama and Iwobi. Overall, Lukic has started the season superbly and really made this position his own in Marco Silva’s side, which is great to see. 8/10 – Man of the match

Andreas Pereira

I’ll admit to not being a Pereira fan in general, but I think it’s quite clear that this deeper number eight role is not for him. The Brazilian was so easily overrun in the midfield and it cost us dearly in the first half. Not only was he the man who lost the ball for Ipswich’s ball, but he also allows Delap to run 30 yards without being bought down, allowing the Ipswich forward to strike at goal and score. Pereira’s lack of positional discipline was almost as frustrating as his inability to create from open play, as per usual, wasting almost every single crossing opportunity in the final third. 4.5/10

Emile Smith Rowe

While not as poor on the day as Pereira, and still clearly acclimatising to this squad and system, Smith Rowe also looked a little out of position against Ipswich. Promisingly, Smith Rowe showed a willingness to drop deep, collect the ball and bring it forward with him, and some of his touches on the half term were really impressive. But those abilities on the ball do feel like they would be better utilised in a more advanced position, perhaps on the left wing. In that dual eight role, he looked slightly lightweight in his one on one duels and until deep into the second half, was struggling to make those perfectly timed runs into the box from deep. 6/10

Adama Traore

For me, Adama was our greatest attacking threat on the day, specifically in the first half. Leif Davis, who has already struggled defensively against the likes of Salah and Savinho this year, was completely on the ropes against the pace of Adama, especially in the first half when Fulham looked to counter attack. Multiple times Adama shot past his man and within the blink of an eye was in a good crossing position. His run and positioning to find himself in position to score his goal was superb, and defensively he covered Tete well too. 7.5/10

Alex Iwobi

In comparison, on the left hand side, Iwobi was slightly anonymous. Like Smith Rowe, I do wonder if he’s being played in his most effective position at the moment, seemingly not having the effect on games that he was last year when he played more centrally. While he combined well with Robinson at times, on the ball himself he was often frustrated by an inability to find his man or beat an Ipswich defender. The one anomaly was deep into the second half when a jig between two Ipswich men found Iwobi in a shooting position, but a weak strike was comfortably stopped by Muric. 5.5/10

Rodrigo Muniz

I’ve seen a fair number of fans critique Muniz because he’s yet to find the net this season, and granted he did fail to finish his best chance in the first half when a header from close range was saved comfortably by Muric. However, Muniz is absolutely key to our attack in so many ways. If we go more direct, his first touch and ability to hold defenders off is so impressive. The way he links play with his back to goal is vital when on the break or dominating possession. It’s also incredibly impressive how many free kicks he wins in dangerous positions and despite having the sh*t kicked out of him, just gets up and gets into his position in the box. Muniz does so much good, and the goals will inevitably come soon, and probably bring a boost of confidence with them. 7.5/10

Substitutes

Sander Berge (72’ for Smith Rowe)

Added a calming edge and stability to our midfield for the last twenty minutes which was lacking discipline for the majority of the game bar Lukic. Will be looking to stake his claim to start games alongside the Serb after the international break. 6/10

Raul Jimenez (79’ for Muniz)

Did well to create one chance for himself on the left side of the box which was eventually parried away by Muric to safety. Bar that, struggled to get anywhere near the ball or get into any other goalscoring positions. 6/10

Harrison Reed, Tom Cairney and Harry Wilson (87’ for Lukic, Pereira and Iwobi) subbed on too late on in the game to be fairly assessed.