Player Ratings: Leicester City 0-2 Fulham

Fulham got what they needed at the King Power on Saturday, a comfortable win and a clean sheet against a really lacklustre Leicester City side. Second half goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Adama Traore earned the Whites all three points in a largely dull affair in the East Midlands. Let’s see how the boys performed…

Bernd Leno

After the disaster that was the London Stadium in midweek, this was a needed clean sheet for Bernd Leno at the King Power, a stadium where he has performed well in the past in a Fulham shirt. It was well earned too, especially early doors. Fulham came close on two occasions in the opening stages to conceding own goals, thankfully Leno saved both, on top of a huge reflex save from Jordan Ayew with just one minute on the clock. A quieter second half followed, with only one or two saves to make. Overall, quite comfortable on his 100^th Fulham appearance, although there did feel like a slight lack of confidence showed in the slowness in his distribution. 6.5/10.

Timothy Castagne

Don’t get me wrong, last season Castagne was solid basically every week and ultimately is often available more readily than Tete is. But some of his recent showings have really highlighted the difference in ability of our two right-back options. Castagne’s attacking impetus just isn’t even close to Tete’s offering, and this game showed it, especially in comparison to Robinson on the other flank, with five less crosses than Jedi and a pass completion 10% lower than that of the American. Defensively, Castagne just does not fill you with the confidence Tete does, especially in one-on-one duels. Mavididi and even Kristiansen had a worrying amount of joy compared to Ayew on the other side in this one. 4.5/10.

Joachim Andersen

Like Leno, was probably grateful to have a fairly solid performance free of errors after struggling quite a lot at the London Stadium. Andersen’s passing looked far more assured, with more passes than any other Fulham player and showing signs of the Andersen we remember from a few years back. He was stronger in his duels, though he did struggle to keep up with Vardy’s runs down the channels, a scenario Leicester frequently looked to expose with Andersen’s lack of pace compared to Bassey. 6/10.

Calvin Bassey

As I said regarding Andersen, that targeting of Leicester to play balls down Andersen’s side left Bassey with less to do in that regard. Jordan Ayew inverted quite frequently during this one due to Leicester’s focus on their left side, but Bassey dealt with the threat of the Ghanaian comfortably, marking him out of the game. Really positive on the ball, as you’d come to expect from Bassey, pushing Fulham forward in possession and even finding himself in a couple of decent shooting positions. 6.5/10.

Antonee Robinson

As we’ve covered, Leicester’s threat didn’t really come down this side, which gave Robinson a rather quiet day at the office in a defensive sense. Going forward, he seemed to thrive off connecting well with Smith Rowe and Iwobi in the first half and using those triangles that we saw from the start of the season in attacking areas. However, for all the promising overlapping runs, it felt like almost every cross was a pull back to the edge of the area which was intercepted by a man in blue, frustratingly. 6/10.

Sasa Lukic

Solid as a rock really. You could tell the Serb benefited massively from having a partner in a double pivot with better positional awareness and willingness to cover the hard yards. Got another yellow card, which is comedic in the way he continues the Joao Palhinha legacy, but also worrying considering that’s nine for the season now, the most in the league. Lovely assist, nodding the ball expertly into Smith Rowe’s path, and ultimately should have had another with a sublime cross for Muniz that should have been converted. 7.5/10.

Sander Berge

An utterly stunning performance, made all the more impressive after a run of games out of the side with injury. Absolutely dominant in his midfield duels, completing comfortably the most tackles of any Fulham player and thwarting any Leicester attacks through the middle of the park, frequently nullifying the threat posed by Bilal El Khannouss. Seemed to win every single second ball in the middle of the park, making the most of his astronomical 6ft5 frame. His extraordinary 95.2% pass accuracy showed just how well he recycled possession, made all the more impressive by how often his passes went forwards rather than sideways or backwards. That statistic, accompanied by him completing a joint high amount of dribbles in a Fulham shirt, showed his ball carrying abilities, alongside the previously mentioned defensive capabilities in the middle of the park. The man is an absolute machine. 8.5/10 – Man of the match.

Emile Smith Rowe

Hopefully a game that boosts his confidence. To bravely head home an important opening goal was much needed, and to receive such a lovely reception from both the away support in the corner of the King Power Stadium, as well as each of his teammates, must have been a huge relief. I still wouldn’t say it meant we saw his best game though. Whilst he grew in confidence as a result of his goal, the first half was still rather anonymous, but you would hope having Berge and Lukic behind him in games going forward would be a huge help. 6.5/10.

Harry Wilson

The more I think about this Wilson performance, the more it pleases me, because it just would not have happened at the start of the season when he was making 20 minute cameos off the bench and having no impact. This wasn’t a hugely impressive showing for the full 90, but the singular moments of quality he showed, showed us proof of the confidence he has in his game right now to pull a rabbit out of the hat. The control and pass to find Lukic to set up the first was magical, and the cross for the second for Adama was pinpoint over a box containing multiple Leicester defenders. They were two of an insane seven key passes in this one, comfortably more than anyone else on the pitch. 7.5/10.

Alex Iwobi

The poor man had to play 45 minutes with a flu (probably a really bad cold lost in translation, if we’re honest). That probably gave a good reason as to why he didn’t look as dangerous as he often would, and why he so often chose to lay the ball onto the overlapping Robinson or across to Smith Rowe instead of taking men on or trying to create something himself. He was very ‘meh’, but with an illness to contend with, we’ll not be too harsh on a guy who could definitely do with the rest. 6/10.

Raul Jimenez

Personally think this may have been a better game for Muniz, personally. Against a centre back pairing of Vestegaard and Faes who have proven to be quite feeble so often in the Premier League, having Muniz from the off may have given us a greater physical threat in the forward areas that Jimenez didn’t offer, especially in the first half. Raul just struggled to influence the game, with the least passes of anyone in black and white, no shots on target and being the only Fulham player to stray offside on multiple occasions. 5.5/10.

Substitutes

Adama (Half time for Iwobi)

Stupendously good composure for the finish for his goal, beautifully cushioning a high cross into the far bottom corner to put the game to bed. Strangely, for the rest of the half, Adama seemed quite subdued and maybe lacking confidence, choosing constantly to pass backwards towards Castagne instead of taking his man on or crossing into the box. Regardless, his biggest contribution was a vital one. 6/10.

Rodrigo Muniz (70’ for Jimenez)

As I said when writing about Raul, I think this was more of a game for Muniz with the strengths he possesses and his ability to bully a centre back pairing in duels. Alas, once he’d come on (straight after the second goal), Fulham were more in game control mode. Sadly, the one chance he did get in the closing stages was quite a poor miss from close range at the back post. 5.5/10.

Tom Cairney (78’ for Smith Rowe)

Goodness me I thought the skipper was superb in his cameo. Smith Rowe obviously got his goal but once TC came on, the level of control Fulham had in the midfield was insane thanks to Cairney. His awareness of the game situation was exemplary, slowing things down when necessary and perfectly timing passes to the flanks when Fulham looked to counter. 7.5/10.

Josh King and Issa Diop (91’ for Lukic and Wilson) subbed on too late in the day to be fairly rated.

Manager

Marco Silva

Very glad and ultimately relieved that Silva put Berge in from the start after his recent injuries. The obvious extra balance that offered in midfield was vital to Fulham winning the game, but it wasn’t a-given that that would be the selected trio of midfielders considering what Silva has gone for throughout the season so far. Having another number six available after this window could allow Silva to rotate a double pivot and the number 10 position between the deadline and the end of the season. Personally think the setup in the first half wasn’t aggressive enough against a leaky, weak Leicester defence, but we adjusted well in the second half by upping our intensity in the final third and being more effective in our attacking play. Like I said previously, I would have personally changed the striker we started and often Silva has rotated them well, but oh well. Subs worked perfectly to his credit, with Adama scoring a crucial goal and Cairney having a superb impact off the bench. A comfortable win and clean sheet was a positive, but I don’t think that meant it was a great performance, we just did the job we had to. 6/10.