Muniz to the rescue at the AmEx
Rodrigo Muniz helps us take a point in a mediocre match on the south coast.
It’s the genesis of Fulham’s 2025-26 campaign, and the magic of Muniz has saved us a repeat of last season’s opening 1-0 defeat. Brighton have been a difficult opponent for us to play in recent years - their dedication to attacking football, versatility around the pitch and preference for managers not afraid to aim for goals reflects back many of the qualities Silva instils at Fulham, and despite our relatively decent record against them in the Premier League a trip to the South Coast is hardly the easiest of starts for Fulham’s campaign, but we were very fortunate to escape with a point from that match and if there weren’t already alarm bells ringing for Fulham at the prospect of losing our Brazilian ace they should be now.
First half
The game’s opening spell was neutral - benign, even. It would be too much to call it jittery - there’s a level of technical prowess that makes both sides a joy to watch in full flow - but opening the campaign with the most lavish of moves seemed too much for the occasion, and a steady passage of possession flowed between the two sides. Fulham are always elegant under Silva, and in their brand new away kit there’s a certain satisfaction to watching the team play crisp passes to each other, but beyond aesthetics it amounted to very little, Brighton intervening effectively whenever the ball came close to their goal.
The start wasn’t completely dry. Iwobi’s all-round talents let him play an active role in proceedings, creating our best chances of the half. Jimenez, having been fed the ball by the winger, sliced a shot wide early in the game. King, entrusted with an attacking-midfield slot, fizzed around productively, riding some brutish challenges and linking nicely with Iwobi around the box - the young starlet snuck into the box numerous times, requiring quick interventions from Van Hecke to shunt his crosses away. Wilson was recipient of perhaps the best opportunity towards the end of the game, a long cross from Iwobi sailing above a distracted De Cuyper, but with time and space Wilson headed the ball considerably over.
It would have been fortunate for Wilson to have taken the lead, in truth. Brighton, though timid at first, were the ascendent team by the end of the half, controlling the shape of the game with their tactics and testing the Fulham defence with repeated menace. Bassey, deputising for Robinson at LB, was set upon by Minteh, charging down our left throughout the half - though he won more battles than he lost, a booking for pulling Minteh down on a counter-attack gave Brighton even greater incentive to menace our defender. With Mitoma battling away at Tete on our right, and the Baleba-Ayari duo commanding the midfield far more than Berge and Lukic, we found ourselves stuck watching our opponents orchestrate the game.
Some solace can be taken in the fact Andersen and Cuenca were alert - though chances started to pour into the box, Brighton too struggled to turn chance into serious opportunity. Rutter’s physical threat and decent technical skills were managed well, keeping him far from goal - a low shot from distance, his closest effort, was stopped comfortably by Leno. Whilst the pace out wide was dangerous the crosses were scuttled away, and despite corners and set-pieces starting to seep into the box from the inventive De Cuyper towards the end Brighton couldn’t quite make the killer strike - headers from Wieffer and Mitoma were comfortably caught or sailed harmlessly over.
Second half
Goalless at half-time - hardly a tragedy, but with Brighton looking more likely to score Fulham needed a firm response to re-energise the game. In fairness, they started well, advancing up the gears to try and hold court in Brighton’s half. Andersen won a free-kick (that was duly wasted) and the effervescent King combined again with Iwobi to dart into the box behind Wieffer - some sharp work from Van Hecke stood between King feeding the ball for Jimenez to tap in.
Then… the doldrums. Brighton’s athletic abilities had been made clear to us across the first half and the lesson wasn’t learnt. Mitoma fed Rutter, who carried himself through our midfield and into the box, felled by a clumsy challenge from a trailing Sander Berge - O’Riley duly converted the penalty, driving his effort nicely to the left of Leno for the opener. Going a goal down might have motivated some sides into action - it invited a difficult period of the game for Fulham, who were left mustering passes together, half-appealing for soft penalty calls and watching time tick away without much of a plan.
This is the frustration of this Fulham team - without Brighton feeling impenetrable, we churned through a large portion of the second-half, despite the goal deficit and all five substitutes used at one stage. Our forwards couldn’t touch the ball in Brighton’s half, typified by Iwobi cutting inside to try and fashion a pass, realising no one had made a run or eluded their defender and blasting an effort over the bar. Set-pieces were dire in the first half and almost cost goals in the second - a poor corner let Verbruggen launch a quick goal kick, Minteh and Rutter combining to put Mitoma through on goal against a scrambled Fulham defence. Only Minteh’s panic-laden swipe stopped Brighton doubling the lead, punting his effort over the goal.
Things started devolving as the half went on. Ayari, still burning with energy, bolted through our midfield and planted a shot from outside the box at Leno - what should have been a fairly comfortable stop bobbled upwards upon contact, almost finding its way in. Rare attacks with promise broke down through pitiful mistakes - Wilson ruining a fine attacking run from King by scuffing his cross into a defender, and substitute Smith-Rowe smacking a pass straight out of play in a hideous unforced error. Crosses were smacked into the box and challenged no one, with Brighton sitting back, waiting for the ball to be lost and springing into their own counter-attack - they too had made substitutes and looked ready for blood, skipping through our scrambling defence to attempt to confirm the victory. It was a poor show, and Brighton looked certain to cement their place as victors.
But, even as attacks poured into our box, Brighton committed a familiar sin - profligacy. The Premier League is a cruel division, and football is a sport in which results change in a single moment. As enchanting (or, for Fulham, painful) as watching substitutes Welbeck, Gomez and Gruda ping the ball around our ambling defence was, the palette of chances they fashioned were wasted - Gruda sliced two across the face of the goal from the wings, and Gomez wasted a chance to set a Welbeck tap-in up after stealing the ball from Leno in the air. The scoreline still read 1-0 as stoppage time began - something that can incentivise even the most zombified of sides into life.
Fulham were far from necrotic, too. Though the quality of the football was poor, the vision was still there. Silva had introduced Cairney, who in typical fashion was piecing moves together in the centre. Smith-Rowe, whilst far from his best, had the zip to finally take Fulham away from Ayari and a visibly slow Milner to attack the defence. With Castagne and Traore introduced to stretch Brighton’s wings further, the pieces were there for Fulham to get the ball back into the box, even if it had thus far resulted in half-hearted penalty appeals. It at least put the ball back in Brighton’s half, pinning Brighton closer to their goal in the process.
The clock ticked into the final minutes of the game, and the plan came to fruition. Cairney fed the ball to Smith-Rowe, who powered himself towards the box, driving a shot low at goal and deflecting off Van Hecke. Wilson, careless with the ball previously, curled a delightful corner into the box, just too high for Dunk to clear effectively with his header. It instead fell to the player no Brighton player wished it to - Rodrigo Muniz, who had outmuscled Milner to get into position, let the ball strike his stomach and bounce before quickly rifling a left-footed shot towards the goal, perfectly angling the ball through the crowd and beyond a prone Verbruggen to nestle in the net’s bottom corner. Delirium for Fulham, liberated from a dismal defeat, despair for Brighton, robbed of a fine start to the new season.
Muniz saves the day
We can be very grateful Rodrigo Muniz is still a Fulham player - his natural abilities as a forward quite literally won the point. As sublime a footballer as Jimenez is he lacks the tenacity and venom Muniz carries in his presence - even small things, like closing down Verbruggen to force a quick kick, demonstrate the danger he can take to opponents across a game. The rumours of a transfer away seem to be turning into reports, and it’s paramount that Fulham do everything they can to keep a talented player loved by the squad and fans with a clear affinity for the club together.
He’s not the only positive worth focusing on. Joshua King can be very proud of his performance - a bright spark in a dull opening hour, an immediate understanding of the sorts of runs a modern AM should be making, good chemistry with Iwobi to fashion opportunities against an athletic set of defenders and above all the fortitude to power through some fairly aggressive challenges. Iwobi clearly links well with anyone, and will be an important piece of our attack this season. I will also offer a bit of praise for Smith-Rowe - there were some rather galling moments, but it was his impetus to start being direct with his attacking plays that won us the corner Muniz scored from, and given the noise that might have been in his head over King starting ahead of him I think that counts for something.
The rest are a mixed bag, if disguised a little by the jubilation at the comeback. Wilson had a rather wasteful game and his errors on the right meant we couldn’t take advantage of full-back De Cuyper’s attacking positions. Jimenez worked hard but can he really justify his contributions across his hour? Lukic had a few nice passes but compared to how dynamic Baleba and Ayari were on and off the ball he felt a little lacklustre, not least towards the end when he was getting embarrassed by Gomez. Berge had a game to forget - far too clumsy today, without offering enough offensively.
Indeed, attacking was an issue across the game. We can attribute a lot of that to the absence of Robinson - his marauding runs from the left are critical to how we play, and though he played well Bassey was never going to be able to replicate them to the same effect. He and Tete fought valiantly against an excellent pair of wingers - Mitoma and Minteh will unpiece many a defence this season - and I think their defending, though not helped by the shape of the game, should be a reminder that the team has developed significantly under Silva. In previous years, we’d have lost that game 2 or 3-0. Leno had a few wobbles today, but he at least had solid protection from Cuenca and Andersen - the Spaniard was very cool today, and should have earnt Silva’s trust with his efforts over the afternoon.
A formidable opponent
What of Brighton, then? Before we get too pessimistic about drawing to them I think it’s worth remembering how fortunate some of our recent victories over them have been before sniffing at this draw, and beyond that consider that this is a team enjoying what we are still aspiring for - top ten finishes (higher than us in each of Silva’s three PL seasons) and even European football. This is a very good outfit, one that plays tactically astute football despite losing many of their best assets every year, and we’ve taken a point from them away from home.
It really could have been worse today. Brighton love to attack and enjoyed several pleasant moments against Fulham’s defence. The aforementioned pace of the wingers was ridiculous, and didn’t ease up as the game went on. Rutter dropped deep to free up O’Riley, who combined with Minteh quite frequently to put pressure on Bassey and Cuenca on our left. Calvin is hardly short of physical attributes but his natural talents lie centrally, and the speed of the wingplay caught him out a few times - it was good tactical awareness to start to exploit this.
I think Baleba might be one of the best midfielders in the division - there was a moment in the first half where we tried to escape from the corner, the ball rolling nicely for King to try and launch an attack, only for Baleba to storm onto it first, devouring the ball and powering Brighton back into the action. A sensational player - one that will be critical for their own European chances. Ayari is a nice partner for him too - it’s remarkable how strong the recruitment is at the club, to constantly replace players with seamless replacements.
In another game, we might have done more to target Brighton’s defensive zones - the hosts defended well, managing our threats quite comfortably for much of the game, but King demonstrated early on that gaps could be exploited along their backline. Certainly, if pacier options like Robinson and Sessegnon had been available we could have used this to target the centre-backs (Dunk is hardly Usain Bolt), or forced the full-backs further back. Instead, De Cuypers and Wieffer had more licence to attack, and their technical ability made for uncomfortable moments watching them spray passes over our defence. They will, at the very least, be irked that they couldn’t keep us out for another minute - a reminder that football is no easy task.
Still, points for both teams after round one at least guarantee there won’t be the ignominy of being in the relegation zone early on. European dreams aside, there’s a quiet comfort in knowing the squad have the talent to sail clear of the drop, especially in a season with more competent promotees than last year. We may have to wait a little longer for a win, though. I doubt it will get easier for Fulham - Manchester United and Chelsea are the league games before the international break, two sides with quite strong records against us. The performances will still have to get better - but with Marco Silva in charge, there’s no reason the spirit and determination shown at the end of the game can’t be realised for its entirety.