Player Ratings: Fulham 1-0 Nottingham Forest

Scores after our narrow win at the Cottage

Never has an uglier win been so beautiful to witness. After learning that football is a cruel mistress up in Newcastle, I was delighted to grind out three points that will make that Turkey and Cranberry Sauce taste all the sweeter on the big day.

As ever, here’s some scores on tonight’s players…

Bernd Leno

Did what he had to do tonight, but was never truly tested by Forest. Seems to have an air of confidence about him that he didn’t a few weeks ago, which makes his omission in the cup all the more baffling. 6/10

Kenny Tete

Immense performance tonight from Kenny up against the tricky Calum Hudson-Odoi. Great in the tackle and showed some fantastic skill going forward. 7.5/10

Jorge Cuenca

What I love about Jorge is that you don’t really notice him too much in a match. Gets on with his job, passes the ball neatly, and progresses into midfield when given the space. Whilst Iwobi and Chukwueze have been a clear miss, the Spaniard has slipped into Calvin Bassey’s position with complete ease. Sort of enjoyed him squaring up to Nikola Milenković towards the end of the match, he plays the game with passion which is nice to see. 7/10

Joachim Andersen

Great shift from Joachim tonight, particularly with that dislocated finger that looked nasty. Might find Igor Jesus in his pocket when he gets home later, he gave the Brazilian absolutely nothing to work with. Some nice diags as per usual too. 8/10 MOTM

Antonee Robinson

It’s fantastic to have Antonee back, whilst Sessegnon has been excellent, there’s just no comparison in terms of what they provide going forward. This whole team just works infinitely better when Antonee’s bombing down the left wing giving some width. 7.5/10

Sasa Lukic

Thought Sasa looked good in the middle of the park tonight, it was the kind of match which suited him. Got a bit lucky to avoid a yellow card in the first half and after this it gave him licence to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Should have done better with his chance in the first half that he dragged wide, but otherwise it was a positive display by the Serbian. 7.5/10

Sander Berge

I really like Berge, but he’s not as good without Alex Iwobi alongside him. Took a necessary tactical booking for a foul on Morgan Gibbs White that meant he had to be hooked for Tom Cairney. Fulham actually improved a lot when TC came on, which marks Sander down slightly. 6/10

Harry Wilson

H is the man on form, but he just didn’t get going at all for Fulham on Monday evening. Whereas against Burnley everything he touched turned to gold, against Forest he just didn’t really touch the ball at all. Not a big deal, not every week is going to be a Harry masterclass. Hope that knock he picked up isn’t anything serious. 5.5/10

Emile Smith Rowe

Thought ESR had another good game tonight. Received the ball well in tight spaces and floated all over the pitch in the way I imagined he would when we signed him. He didn’t quite make 90 minutes, but 85 is still a significant step up in minutes for Emile. You’d imagine that ‘10’ spot in the team is now firmly his to lose, and Josh may have to settle for cameo appearances on the wing. 7/10

Kevin

Oh boy, that was another tough evening for Kevin. I saw that the BBC match report said he “shone” in front of Brazil’s assistant coach Paul Clement, but I’m not sure that would be my description. The ball seems to just get stuck in his feet like he’s playing football on sand, whether that’s trying to beat a man out wide or when he gets played through. Clearly we know from his early impact that there is a player in there, but Marco needs to find a way to give him a confidence boost.

The saving grace though is that he did win the penalty, and that was a very smart bit of play from Kevin, just getting his foot ahead of Douglas Luiz. That saves his score, because without that, I genuinely think this was no more than a 4/10, but ultimately, that moment won us the game. 5/10

Raul Jimenez

Another fitness defying performance from our Mexican striker who genuinely covered every single blade of grass. I’m not sure if Marco has told Raul to try and conserve his energy, but if he has, Raul did not listen. He was everywhere tonight, winning headers, taking throw-ins, even trying to stop throw-ins being taken.

He took his penalty very well, especially given the protracted delay before taking it, and Raul probably should have got 1-2 more goals had his near-post headers been a tad more accurate. 7.5/10

Tom Cairney (subbed on 66 minutes)

This sub made me extremely nervous, but it actually turned out to be a brilliant move from Silva. Before TC came on, Fulham could not keep the ball for love nor money, but Tom just calmed everyone down. I know he’s not getting any younger, and it’s a bit of a luxury to have, but he’s worth his weight in gold when he comes off the bench and shows that little bit of TC class. 7/10

Other Subs: King, Kusi-Asare and Diop all came on too late to fairly judge.

Marco Silva

Think you’ve got to say that Marco got things pretty spot on tonight. In fairness, with the AFCON absentees the starting XI sort of picks itself, but the set-up of the game was good - giving Forest very few chances to assert themselves on the counter.

The second half game management was also exquisite, things were running away from us until the 66th minute when that TC sub made all the difference. The fact that Forest made almost no meaningful efforts on goal in the second half is down to our tactics to stifle the game, and that all comes from Silva and his team. 8/10