Fulham implode against Everton again to leave season in the balance

Sammy recaps the weekend's defeat by the Toffees

Credit: Adam Farquharson

What a sad little life, Fulham. Two years in a row you gave me false hope of European football only to throw away a lead at home to Everton.

Yes, there was a real sense of déjà vu at the weekend as once again Raul gave us the lead* against the Toffees only to self-implode in the second half.

You have to say we were magnificent in the first half. Sessegnon at left-back was inspired, Smith Rowe found more empty pockets than a new North Face jacket and Samu Chukwueze looked back to his dazzling best.

But, even more excitingly, own goal was back amongst the goals. It had been a bit of a dry spell for OG, but finally he was back and as good as ever. It wasn’t quite as breathtaking as Gabriel Gudmundsson, but the Pickord/Mykolenko pinball after Raul’s tame shot will certainly makes this season’s OG podium.

What Raul was involved in thirteen minutes later however was far less funny. Whilst all great strikers should be a little bit selfish, not squaring the ball to Harry Wilson who had a What.Three.Words code all to himself was pretty unforgivable. A two goal lead would surely have killed this game off, wouldn’t it?

The sense of foreboding at half-time amongst Fulham fans was extremely high. Fulhamish stalwart Ben Jarman, now residing in Vancouver actually messaged the WhatsApp group at half-time asking if the second half was waking up for. Please find my response below...

Ok, so it was only 2-1 and not 3-1, but regardless the result was the same. Fulham’s second half performance was a slow motion car crash, and even though it took Moyes’ team a while to grab the vital goals, nobody could say it was a smash and grab.

So many players were at fault, but the right hand side of our defence felt particularly vulnerable. Lucas Digne probably wins the award for worst defensive moment of the weekend, but Joachim Anderson’s feeble attempt to stop Mykolenko from passing him is a comfortable runner-up.

I am constantly concerned when he is partnered alongside Timmy Castagne, the latter of whom surely needs to be moved on from this summer. If Kenny Tete is going to miss half the season every season, then we need a much more competent right-back deputy.

Another player who will continue to spark debate is Bernd Leno, who was equally weak as he punched in Everton’s winner. Sadly, own goals are less funny the other way around. As much as Bernd is at fault, why is nobody protecting him?

All in all, it was a shabby half of football and Fulham could have no complaints about the scoreline. We were even humbled on social media, as Everton pulled our pants down after this ill-thought marketing tagline by the club to promote ticket sales for the match.

If there is to be an official enquiry into Saturday’s implosion, surely the main fault will lie with Marco Silva, who keeps getting it wrong against Moyes’ side.

Whilst he can’t be held to account for individual errors his failure to arrest Fulham’s second half decline was palpable. Our bench was as strong as it has been all season, yet Marco failed to play any of those aces when he needed to.

The result leaves Fulham 10th in the league. Whilst a few weeks ago we were gazing at the European spots, all of a sudden the mess below us feels a little bit near. With difficult league trips to Manchester City and Sunderland on the horizon, it feels highly likely we’ll be well into in the bottom half by the end of the month.

There is plenty more post-match debrief if you’re after that sort of self-punishment. Dan and Drew broke down Saturday’s collapse on the Quick Take, whilst Owen McDonald’s regular column bemoaned our defensive frailties coming to the fore once again.

My favourite part of Dan Cooke’s bleak Player Ratings was his line about how Marco made the “worst impact subs of all time” - never has a more accurate assessment been written on the Fulhamish website.

And then to top it all off, we’ll have another podcast today before getting set for a trip to the Etihad on Wednesday. We’ve got a good record there, right?