Player Ratings: West Ham United 3-2 Fulham

It was disappointment again for Fulham, who fell to another poor result in a game where they would have felt there was more on the table. For all the positive talk about this side’s ability and its potential to challenge for Europe, the mentality continues to be lacking and leaves us with just three wins in the last ten, far less than it should be. Leicester away awaits the Whites, in a game where Silva and co simply must bounce back with a win.

Bernd Leno

Potentially the German’s worst game in a Fulham shirt? Won’t be too scathing on the ‘keeper who, let’s face it, has a hell of a lot of credit in the bank, but let’s not sugar coat how mistake-prone this performance was. It’s a hospital pass into Andreas for the first West Ham goal. Soucek’s second bounces over an outstretched arm after he goes low early. And the third, the crowning glory moment, losing the ball so cheaply to Danny Ings, leaving an empty net behind him, rounded off a shocking showing. A brutal rating that Leno won’t have received from me before, but probably a deserved one with that level of mistake-making. 2.5/10.

Timothy Castagne

Quite a quiet game. Not necessarily a bad performance but it frustrates me how often Castagne offers so little threat in the final third, something you notice us missing without Tete on the pitch, who is sadly out for multiple months through injury. Zero accurate crosses and zero accurate dribbles from Castagne show just how ineffective he can be in the opposition half sometimes. There seems to be no cohesion with Wilson down the right and the triangles Silva loves to play with rarely exist on Castagne’s side when he plays, as was the case again here. 5/10.

Joachim Andersen

I still love Andersen, he’s a centre half full of ability who has proven his worth in the black and white and we know what he offers in terms of his range of passing and defensive prowess. However, based on this season’s showings, it’s brutal that once again the superb Issa Diop has had to make way for the Dane in the starting XI. Andersen looked weak in his duels and lost out to a header from Paqueta in the build up for the second goal, before reacting too slowly to prevent the Soler cross that created it. 4.5/10.

Calvin Bassey

Considering the mess that was our defence at times in this game, Bassey did fine really. He at least showed some composure in his own defensive third and did well in his occasional aerial duels. On the ball, he was encouragingly positive and helped push Fulham forward in periods when they needed to turn the tide of momentum coming at them. Not sensational here, but far better than most around him. 6/10.

Antonee Robinson

Genuinely quite hilarious that I’ll bump up his rating here (just as Fulham will bump up their asking price for him) based on the easiest two assists you’ll ever get in your life, taking him to an impressive nine this season in the Premier League, bettered only by Bukayo Saka and Mo Salah. Two simple passes to Iwobi which ended up being cross-come-shots that got Fulham back into the game, we love that from you Jedi. Defensively kept Kudus mostly quiet which is actually really impressive, to be fair. 6.5/10.

Sasa Lukic

Covered an immense amount of ground, as he always has to do in a double pivot with Andreas Pereira (more on him soon). Only bettered in number of interceptions and clearances by Robinson  and miles above any player in black and white for successful tackles. Must be said, however, that he also mistimed many tackles too, reaching duels a tad late on a few occasions. Should have equalised in added time, failing to put away a chance created beautifully by King from point-blank range, frustratingly. 6/10.

Andreas Pereira

I mean, sometimes I actually feel a tad sorry for Andreas because of the persistence by Silva to play the Brazilian in this number eight position which, to everyone with eyes other than the manager, can see it simply does not work. Pereira does not do the disciplined defensive work needed in that position week after week, and continues to rarely create from open play. Zero key passes, zero accurate crosses, zero dribbles completed and zero shots on target. That’s ridiculous for someone with his perceived ‘talent’. To top that off, an appallingly bad hospital pass across his own penalty box which gave West Ham a lead out of absolutely nowhere and set the tone for the remainder of the game. If you’re not going to rotate Pereira or play him further forward, take the £20m from Palmeiras and run. 3/10.

Emile Smith Rowe

Took a lot of criticism online, especially in the first half, from large areas of the fanbase, which I thought was relatively harsh. Looked relatively sharp on the ball, pressed high and got into decent areas. Ultimately though, Smith Rowe just didn’t use the ball well enough in the West Ham half and as per usual, he looked quite weak in his one-on-one duels. Some warranted critiques, it must be said, can come from his lack of tracking back and desire to help with the ‘hard graft’ that is needed in the Premier League. 5.5/10.

Harry Wilson

Hit the bar just five minutes into the game, and ultimately some will say he should have kept it down, especially in the form he’s in. Always looked dangerous coming inside on his left foot but was allowed very little space to get shots away with West Ham’s rigid midfield five and back four hounding out any space around the edge of their box. Whether or not Wilson got a touch on our second goal, his run and intent caused the chaos that allowed Fabianski to miss it. 6/10.

Alex Iwobi

Quite possibly the funniest brace the Premier League has ever seen, considering both were definitely unintentional. However, praise has to surely be given, for neither goal would have come had the crosses not been perfectly weighted into the perfect area to cause danger in the six yard box right in front of Fabianski, who got nowhere near either delivery. Played okay in open play other than that, with not much else to critique or praise. 7/10 – Man of the match.

Raul Jimenez

Another that pressed aggressively for the most part and had a real spring in his step before we went behind. After going 2-0 down, he presented a more frustrated figure, especially after hitting the bar himself from a header at the back post just after we’d conceded our second. Similarly to Wilson, he may not have touched an Iwobi cross into the net himself, but the movement and presence of Jimenez alone contributed to Fabianski missing it. 6/10.

Substitutes

Adama Traore (68’ for Smith Rowe)

Struggled to get straight into the game off the bench and rarely offered width until the dying stages. From there he put in one or two dangerous crosses. Gutted to see Lukic’s added time shot that ricochets to Adama fly over the bar, but in his defence with the bodies in front of him, he had to blast it, just not that high ideally. 5/10.

Tom Cairney (68’ for Pereira)

Certainly added balance to the team, dropping deeper to collect the ball and offering control to Fulham’s midfield play that Pereira simply wasn’t before he came off the pitch. Never really threatened the final third or looked to create too much though, unfortunately. 5.5 /10.

Josh King (86’ for Wilson) and Rodrigo Muniz (86’ for Iwobi) came on too late to be fairly assessed. However, it has to be said, I loved King’s majestic run into the box in added time to create the goalscoring opportunities for Lukic and Adama.

Manager

Marco Silva

Team selection baffled me from the off. The stubbornness of playing Pereira in the number eight role when he just cannot do it continues to annoy me and has led me to sympathise for Pereira at times. Playing Andersen over Diop, in my opinion, sets a terrible precedent considering the comparative performances of the two centre-backs this season specifically. Personally think decisions were made too late throughout the game, whether that be with substitutions, or in adapting to the narrowness of West Ham’s formation in play. With Silva admitting it was ‘our’ fault we lost this game, that also has to include him. 3.5/10.