Fulham 1-2 Aston Villa - the look back
Rodrigo Muniz bagged his fourth goal in three, but it was Villa who took the three points on Saturday.
Let’s start with the positives, shall we?
Rodrigo Muniz bagged his fourth goal in three games on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to beat an Aston Villa side determined to arrest their recent dip in form and continue their challenge for European football.
There were negatives, sure. Defensively we were poor. Antonee Robinson’s throw-in to Willian that ultimately led to Ollie Watkins’ opener will haunt the Brazilian for years to come.
Issa Diop’s role in Watkins’ second was just as bad if not worse. The way he backed off the England striker was negligible.
But yes, the positive. Muniz is having a fine streak in front of goal, and though it may not last, he’s showing he’s got the ability required to be part of this Fulham squad in the Premier League. His form – and that of Raul Jimenez earlier this term – shows that a striker’s luck can always turn on a dime. And we should always keep the faith.
Anyway, back to the game at hand. A word for Lewis Smith, who has come in for a lot of criticism after he made his Premier League bow at the weekend. His inexperience shone through in the five minutes of added time as he allowed Villa to game manage the final moments with ease, booking five Fulham players to boot. I’m no one to pile on; he’ll learn and he’ll be better for it.
A loss is always frustrating, but injuries and recent dip aside, falling to this Villa side is hardly going to set off alarm bells. We go again. You Whites. Â
What they said
Marco Silva: We were punished by the mistakes we made. We cannot concede goals the way we did it. We were too sloppy, we were too open in those moments. They score and punish us.
Joao Palhinha: We tried until the last minute to fight for a different result, we deserved more from this game. Thanks again for your support cottage’s.
Cam Ramsey: Everyone’s got to cut their teeth somehow; experience isn’t gained by paddling in the shallows, but Lewis Smith was quite clearly out of his depth by at least two divisions and 10 years.
Best Twitter 3 Word Reviews
Upcoming games
Sat 24 Feb @ 3:00PM: Manchester United (A)
Sat 2 Mar @ 3:00PM: Brighton & Hove Albion (H)
Sat 9 Mar @ 3:00PM: Wolverhampton Wanderers (A)
Sat 16 Mar @ 5.30PM: Tottenham Hotspur (H)
Fulhamish content
Positives and negatives: Fulham 1-2 Aston Villa
Fulham 1-2 Aston Villa | QUICK TAKE
Why is Bobby De Cordova-Reid still underrated?
Support Fulhamish
If you enjoy this Newsletter and Fulhamish’s content, please consider supporting us financially on Levellr. Running a twice-weekly podcast, weekly YouTube shows and almost daily articles is pretty time-consuming and we also have a lot of running costs.
None of our content lives behind a paywall, which means all our podcasts, videos and articles can remain 100% free for everyone, but if you’re able to spare £4.99 a month to keep everything going, then we’d be hugely grateful.
Our supporters get access to our three Telegram chats, which are actually a pretty awesome place to chat with other Fulham and Fulhamish fans about the latest news, transfer rumours and upcoming away days.
If you’d be up for that, then please join here...
Up next: Manchester United (A)
It’s been the scene of many lows in the past, but could we bag our first win at OT in 21 years?
Please send any feedback about this newsletter to hello@fulhamish.co.uk