Player ratings: Fulham 1-4 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Fulham’s worst performance of the season came on a wet and windy Saturday afternoon at Craven Cottage as Gary O’Neil’s relegation-threatened Wolves took all three points back to the Midlands. A capitulation in the final stages once down to ten men may exaggerate the gap between the sides in the scoreline, but make no mistake, this was a deserved victory for Wolves and a game which should teach Fulham many lessons about adaptability and outright fighting spirit. Strap in ladies and gentleman…

Bernd Leno

Made a decent start to the game, comfortably saving a fierce strike from outside the box from the boot of Joao Gomes. Analysing Leno’s efforts from that point on is difficult, especially in a game where we conceded four. You wouldn’t say he was terrible for any of the four, but nor would you say he came particularly close to bringing out an impressive save for any either. Also, a lack of leadership was evident at times in the second half and, as designated captain, he might take some flack for that. 5.5/10.

Kenny Tete

Fairly decent showing. Another that started strongly, bringing the ball into Wolves’ half multiple times, making fairly standard tackles in his own half and looking comfortable in and out of possession. An assist for Iwobi will look good on the statistics too. Bit of a silly challenge to get booked, which probably led to his substitution, but I’m not sure the game would have been any different had he stayed on the pitch. 6/10.

Joachim Andersen

One of the Dane’s worst days in the black and white. Even if we ignore Andersen’s late injury which left Fulham with ten men and at the mercy of Wolves on the counter, it was an uncharacteristically lacklustre performance from Joa. He looked hesitant on the ball all day, frequently hoofing it out of panic rather than resorting to his normal calmness and precision in possession, and it was this type of error which gave Wolves possession back for their second. Andersen was also suspect for the first, spending  far too much time staring at the flight of Lemina’s long pass to notice that Matheus Cunha had snuck in behind him to control and finish. 4/10.

Calvin Bassey

Cut out an early Nelson Semedo cross after Wolves’ right back had beaten Jedi for pace down the left and looked to have put a ball on a plate for Strand Larsen if it were not for the interference of Bassey in his own box. Good on the ball and defended well in general bar a rash challenge near the halfway line just before half time. A tad unlucky to be left alone in defence as he was in the final stages so we won’t apportion too much blame to the Nigerian there. 6/10

Antonee Robinson

Comfortably our greatest attacking threat throughout the game. Even when Fulham resorted to playing a back three with ten men, Robinson was bursting forward to provide an attacking output and then sprinting back into defence when Wolves won the ball back. Two of his crosses should have led to first half goals had Jimenez not missed an open goal from three yards or had Ait Nouri not managed to inadvertently deflect another wide of his own goal. 7/10 – Man of the match (In a Fulham shirt anyway, the real award would obviously go to Matheus Cunha)

Sasa Lukic

One of the only positives of the day has to be the return of Sasa Lukic to the side after recovering from the collarbone injury that had kept him out for a month. There was no rust here at all, especially in the first half when the Serb seemed to cover every blade of grass between the two boxes. His positivity on the ball so frequently showed that there was no lack of confidence in his game upon his return. Lots of positives to take forward on a personal level. 7/10.

Andreas Pereira

Really poor again. Every time you thought something positive was coming from the foot of Andreas because of winning the ball back or beating a man deep in midfield, the final ball would frequently be nothing short of rubbish. Fulham had an abundance of set piece opportunities in the first 45 whether it be from corners or wide free kick deliveries. Pereira spurned the lot, further proof of why we are the only Premier League side without a goal directly from a set piece. He continues to perform below par despite being picked on a weekly basis. 4.5/10

Emile Smith Rowe

Our record signing has shown in bursts recently that when he’s on his game he can light up any pitch he plays on. Unfortunately, for every good performance this season, Smith Rowe seemingly has one of these in him too. Despite a fairly infrequent press that would rarely see Fulham win the ball back in midfield due to the England international’s slightly lightweight nature, Smith Rowe was borderline anonymous for 99% of the time before he was subbed off. 5/10.

Alex Iwobi

Along with Lukic and Robinson, one of the only starting players to come away with any particular credit from this defeat. Not least for his outstanding strike to put Fulham ahead. 20 odd yards out, right side of the box, left footed, top left corner. It was a finish that reminded me of the Tom Cairney days in the Championship. His dribbles and deliveries frequently looked dangerous but as Fulham got poorer and made changes to his position, he saw less of the ball. 6.5/10.

Reiss Nelson

Considering the clamour to see Nelson starting games for Fulham following a number of promising cameos, I think it’s slightly fair to say his starting berths since coming into the side have been sometimes underwhelming. Didn’t see much of the ball whilst he was on the pitch but when he did he flattered to deceive. The especially frustrating part of his game is when he beats his man then runs the ball out of play instead of releasing the ball in good time, which seems to happen at least once a game. 5.5/10.

Raul Jimenez

Really should have added to his recent goal tally 17 minutes into the game. Antonee Robinson put an absolute sitter on a plate for the Mexican, but from three yards out with an empty goal at his mercy, Raul crashed his effort against the woodwork. Made up for it slightly just minutes later by winning the ball back on the corner of Wolves’ box which led to our goal. Bar some fairly hardworking pressing after that, he rarely caused danger in the final third. 6/10.

Substitutes

Tom Cairney (59’ for Pereira)

Added some control to proceedings when we needed it most but sadly failed to create anything of note. That was probably mostly a result of Fulham’s inability to get the ball towards Wolves’ box in the second half more than anything. 6/10.

Harry Wilson (59’ for Smith Rowe)

Nearly continued his fine run of form with a beautifully curled effort from distance that glanced onto Jose Sa’s crossbar. That was as good as it got for Wilson, for similar reasons as mentioned above with Cairney. 6/10.

Rodrigo Muniz (70’ for Jimenez)

Tried to get into dangerous positions in between the Wolves defenders that Jimenez had struggled to get into, but often instead took the ball off the toes of other players in better positions to shoot than himself, which was very frustrating. 6/10.

Adama Traore (70’ for Nelson)

I think if most opposition fans were to write a description of Adama Traore as a player, this 20-25 minute cameo would epitomise it. Rarely struggled to get into a good crossing position, never looked to find his man with his crosses. Ridiculously frustrating. 5.5/10.

Timothy Castagne

Belgium’s captain came into an almost impossible situation. Tete hadn’t even played badly so it’s not like the performance in that position needed improving, but the back three Fulham ended in pushed Castagne back into an awkward position where he was hardly able to thrive. 6/10.

Manager

Marco Silva

In a recent article about Silva, I mentioned that despite his genius status, he is still prone to making mistakes and is beyond perfect. His obvious stubbornness showed in this game, showing no particular sign of a plan B when Wolves hit the front foot. Another issue mentioned in that article was an inability to fire his Fulham teams up at half time. Fulham had struggled after going ahead and Wolves were in the ascendancy going into the break at 1-1 and Silva surely would have looked to make changes to change that. Instead it took until we’d gone behind within minutes of the second half kicking off for those changes to come. As I’ve said previously, he’s an amazing manager but seems unable to adapt to his weaknesses as a leader, which was on show more than ever at the Cottage today. 4/10.