Player Ratings: Fulham 0-3 Crystal Palace

With a Wembley semi-final on the horizon, Fulham crashed and burned at Craven Cottage in a borderline disgrace of a performance. Despite a promising opening half an hour, once Palace took the lead, they never looked like relinquishing it. A huge opportunity missed in a season that may end up feeling like a wasted opportunity as a whole unless we find some consistent league form over the next six weeks.

Bernd Leno

Personally thought there were times both before and after going behind that Leno continuously slowed possession down too often and lost us some momentum. Can’t put too much blame on him for Palace’s goal in the main, but two going past him at his front post, including the third through his legs, won’t sit well with the standards he has set. 5.5/10.

Timothy Castagne

Thought his recent form had been on the up and that potentially, with Tete coming back into the fold in the coming weeks, it would push him into a big performance on the big occasion. However, that was not the case. Like so often, he offered so little going forward but it was his defensive issues that were a bigger worry. Eze is talented but the way he gave Castagne the run around all game long was borderline embarrassing, especially with Eze producing the magic for the opening two goals in the game. 3.5/10.

Joachim Andersen

Quite slow to get out towards Eze for the opening goal, but that was probably the main critique to give him defensively. His passing was a good outlet for us when we looked dangerous playing through the thirds in the opening stages but became less effective the longer the game went on and the more Fulham chased the game. 6/10.

Calvin Bassey

From 2-0 down he was genuinely our most dangerous threat going forward at times, which is rather worrying. Even before we went behind he wanted to single-handedly push the side forward at pace and bombed down the left to create a golden opportunity for Pereira within 20 minutes. Okay defensively over the 90 minutes, but could be slightly criticized for leaving Nketiah onside for the third. 6.5/10.

Antonee Robinson

Didn’t do awfully considering he spent the international break nursing an issue which had led him to pulling out on international duty across the pond. Still felt obvious that he wasn’t 100% and he sometimes didn’t compete to his normal standards against Sarr. Linked well with Willian throughout but every final ball seemed wasted and often overhit. 5.5/10.

Sander Berge

Did okay considering the quality in Palace’s midfield and their industrious nature. Was the linchpin in Fulham playing from the back for the first half an hour. My slight gripe is that as the game went on and Fulham needed to score, his passing was far too often going from side to side rather than pushing his team forward. Sometimes worry we don’t get to see his ball progressing abilities often enough. 6/10.

Sasa Lukic

Looked rusty to me. Like Berge, didn’t see anything from him that suggested he’d bring the ball out of midfield and contribute to a big fightback. His tackling seemed so off the pace, frequently mistiming 50/50 duels against Wharton especially. After two decent enough performances for Serbia last week, it’s frustrating he wasn’t able to instantly get back up to speed following a club suspension. 5/10.

Andreas Pereira

Been full of praise for Andreas recently but today was a bit of a low-key shocker. His industrious nature looked tailor made for a game being played at such a pace but in the end he was often the reason Fulham got nowhere in the final third. Time after time he had the ball in the Palace half, but each and every time he looked to deliver, he missed the mark completely and stalled any potential opportunities of Fulham fighting back. 3.5/10.

Alex Iwobi

There’s been whispers of Iwobi needing a rest more than anyone else of late but this level he showed in this game can’t be put down to tiredness. He seemed to show a complete lack of intensity or willingness to try anything inventive at all. Barely challenged in duels against Mitchell, and if Pereira can be critiqued for a poor final ball, the same can’t be said for Iwobi, mostly because he barely even tried. Looked a completely different player to the one we’ve seen for most of the season. 4/10.

Willian

For the first ten minutes I thought there were signs of the Willian we originally signed a couple of years ago when he turned defenders like they weren’t even there and manipulated space with ease. After that though, not much on offer from the Brazilian. He was fine, combining well with Jedi and let’s have it right, there was far worse out there in the black and white, but nothing special. 6/10.

Rodrigo Muniz

Undoubtedly our most encouraging performer on the day, in my eyes anyway. His big chance came just two minutes in, with a weak footed effort drifting just round the post. However, the impressive nature in which he single handedly manipulated his body and the ball past three defenders was what was especially impressive. He continued that form throughout and bullied the Palace defence outside of the box, but sadly no further big chances came inside it. Still, you can’t fault his efforts and all round play at all. 7/10. – Man of the Match.

Substitutes

Adama Traore (63’ for Lukic)

For someone who is meant to be the big difference maker on our bench most weeks, I can’t remember a dangerous touch or final ball that sprung our attacking play into life. A disappointing cameo, he never really got up to full speed. 5/10.

Emile Smith Rowe (63’ for Pereira)

Genuinely, if Smith Rowe had more than three touches in her half hour cameo, I didn’t see them. The boy just does not offer anything nine times out of ten. I want to keep faith in him, especially with the reputation he has in the game, but he’s giving me no reason to. Potentially the least inspiring substitute cameo I’ve seen, from a player who more than most in our squad is used to a big occasion. 4/10.

Raul Jimenez (71’ for Willian)

Just cut a wildly frustrated figure for twenty odd minutes. Maybe it was being thrown into a sinking ship after the high he’d have been on following his incredible exploits for Mexico during the break. Maybe it was the lack of chances and the spaces he wanted being taken up by a strike partner. Who knows. 5.5/10.

Ryan Sessegnon (71’ for Robinson)

First and foremost, the only positive I have from today was seeing him with the armband on for ten minutes, that’s cute. Probably the most encouraging substitute cameo of the five, defending decently and passing nicely into midfield. Nothing special, though. 6/10.

Tom Cairney (83’ for Iwobi) subbed on too late to be fairly assessed.

Manager

Marco Silva

I think the biggest takeaway from the game from how insanely outdone Silva was by Oliver Glasner. Palace were better tactically, mentally and took created and executed moments that Fulham didn’t look like doing after Muniz and Pereira’s early missed attempts. For Silva to put out an almost identical approach to the one that led to a dismal home defeat in the league just weeks ago and expect a different result against arguably the country’s best side away from home at the moment, was absolutely remarkable, especially for a manager that seems so highly coveted at the moment, if you’re to believe everything you read. To leave the likes of the underperforming Pereira and Iwobi on for so long when they were proving so ineffective, and then to throw structure out of the window late on just as a final throw of the dice, leading to a third goal conceded, was crazy. Another big cup game under his management going the wrong way, which isn’t all his fault, but this feels like the one which he has to take most blame for. Tactically he was schooled and his team looked completely lacking motivation and belief for about three quarters of the game. 2.5/10.