Player Ratings: Fulham 1-2 Everton

The ratings from another late capitulation from the Whites

At half-time I was really looking forward to doing the Quick Take and writing these ratings. I thought Fulham were excellent for 45 minutes, playing with a real freedom, the front line all linked up beautifully and the midfield ran the show; Everton were on the ropes.

However, an error strewn, timid second half performance handed the Toffees the game, with us once again throwing points away in the closing minutes. Much like a bad night out, it all started so well for the Whites, beers were flowing, fun was being had, but here we are lying on the pavement covered in our own vomit, rueing our own terrible decisions.

We’ll vow to never do it again, but we said the same thing last weekend.

Bernd Leno

Bernd’s meekness at corners has been a recurring issue and today it has really cost Fulham. I do think he’s being fouled by O’Brien, but not egregiously, and so it doesn’t excuse the German’s total lack of assertion and subsequent flap. I also think Leno was guilty of handing momentum to Everton with his lackadaisical clearance being charged down by Thierno Barry, starting a seriously wobbly few minutes for us that showed Everton their route back into the game. Bad day and unfortunately not his first this season. 4/10

Timothy Castagne

Really quite irritated that I had to watch him play for that long. Every team we play specifically pinpoint him as a weakness and relentlessly target him. This couldn’t have been more evident than when Ndiaye swapped flanks in the first half so that he could get at Timo. He can’t handle wingers that isolate him one-on-one and he doesn’t make up for it by being effective with the ball. I made an argument for bringing Tete on at half time, expecting it would happen after 60 minutes, the fact it took until the 83rd is just bonkers. Even when we were flying in the first half, he really stood out as the weakest link 4/10

Joachim Andersen

Getting skinned by Mykolenko is genuinely a sackable offence. I understand that he doesn’t want to be stuck in that situation, exposed by Castagne, but it’s frankly pathetic how easy he makes it for him. Fulham needed a leader in that second half and it should have been Joa. I also believe that a player of his stature and experience needs to be our rock when defending set pieces, too passive. His game probably summed up perfectly by a woeful cross straight out of play in the dying embers. 4/10

Jorge Cuenca

I’ve seen some really conflicting opinions on social media with regards to Jorge. Personally, I thought he was largely OK, and certainly not as bad as I’ve seen some people suggest, with a couple of really notable moments in possession, getting Fulham forward both with the ball at his feet as well as some lovely line-breaking passes. Defensively I think he looked very comfortable in the first half but struggled with Everton’s direct threat in the second. I said it before this game and I think it remains true for our next game, it’s probably time for Bassey to come back into this team. 5.5/10

Ryan Sessegnon

If you’ve managed to read this far without getting so miserable that you’ve slammed your laptop shut, firstly, thank you, secondly, I finally have some positive words.

It was great to see Sess starting again and I think he proved today that he should be the incumbent at left-back for the foreseeable. He is so intelligent going forward, shown by his assist for the opener, picking up pockets of space that are so rare for a full-back. He combined with Smith Rowe and Chukwueze so effectively in that first half; it was really fun to watch. Defensively, he’s come so far and I thought he did little wrong, certainly the only player in the back line coming out with any credit today. 7.5/10 - man of the match

Sander Berge

Maybe the player who was the perfect microcosm for the team’s performance. Loved watching him in the first half, he asserted himself physically, which was refreshing to see, he carried the ball brilliantly, driving through the middle of the pitch and opening Everton up. It was a proper performance from someone who does seem to play his best football when alongside Alex Iwobi.

Then the second half all of that disappeared. Everton seemed intent on reducing his influence on the game, getting tighter to him and stopping him from running the game, but frankly, he’s a big boy and he needs to become more of a bully. So hard to rate someone who had such different halves. 6/10

Alex Iwobi

Much like his midfield partner, at our best in this game he was delightful to watch. Again, I’ve seen a lot of criticism online but I think it’s important to note how good I thought he was at times. He injected intent and creativity, played some ambitious and superb passes, and made a good forward run for the goal.

However, people aren’t wrong to criticise him, as once again, when the going got tough, Alex was certainly complicit in our downfall. Creativity is great, but sometimes you need to hold onto the ball and take the sting out of the game. A performance that exhibited all of the benefits and all of the issues with playing him that deep. 5.5/10

Harry Wilson

A largely anonymous performance, the kind that he does have in his locker. He’ll probably never forgive Raul for not rolling it into his path to put us two up, but other than that, and a wild effort that he blazed over the bar, I don’t have many memories of Harry Wilson in this game. Even though he has been recently, we can’t expect him to produce the goods in every single game. 5/10

Emile Smith Rowe

He played some magic football in that first half. He’s so unlucky that his curled effort bounces up and out off the crossbar, instead of down and in, for what would have been a goal of the season contender. I thought he caused serious problems, getting between the midfield and defence, whilst also making runs right in behind Everton, nearly scoring if it wasn’t for an onrushing Pickford. It was another strong performance from a guy who seems to finally be settling.

Another who couldn’t make it happen in the second half, although he was a core part of the move that finished with Raul unable to get on the end of a Chukwueze cross, before Stuart Atwell decided to give Everton a goal kick. He does keep fading in games and just never feels like the right guy when we aren’t in control. 6.5/10

Samuel Chukwueze

Really zippy and fun in the first half, less so in the second half. Where Harry Wilson has games where he just disappears, Samu seems intent on always being involved. I love the fact that he’ll be on the left wing and just decide that he’s going to move into the number 10 role, or even the right flank at times. He’s a player that is desperate to make things happen, which I love as a trait.

I think because of that desire, he gets a bit more leeway when things don’t come off because everything is done with really positive intentions. 6/10

Raul Jimenez

The contribution that he’ll be remembered for in this game is the chance he missed at 1-0. Should he have passed? Maybe. Should he have at least hit the target? Definitely.

It’s really poor from Raul but I think it’s harsh to exclusively focus on that one moment and look past his other contributions in this game. I thought he led the line pretty well, in what is probably the toughest physical battle in the league. He held the ball up, drew fouls and linked the play well. I think he’ll really benefit from not having to play 90 minutes every week now that Rodrigo has returned. 5.5/10

Substitutes

I can’t rate the substitutes without mentioning beforehand how they might have been the worst impact subs of all time. Not because of the individual players, simply because that on two separate occasions Fulham conceded within a minute of the subs entering the pitch. Incredible.

Rodrigo Muniz

Wonderful to have him back but let’s not get too giddy, it’s clearly going to take a bit of time for him to get going. That being said, an attempted bicycle kick from a corner was a lovely reminder of what we’ve been missing. 5/10

Kevin

I really fancied him up against O’Brien, but instead of being able to get a run at him while Everton were stretched, it was when they’d got themselves back in the game and so the full-back had defensive reinforcements. The one time he did get him 1-on-1, he skinned him. Not much to note otherwise, although I don’t think that’s his fault, he simply should have been on the pitch much earlier. 5/10

Kenny Tete didn’t have enough time on the pitch to receive a rating and that’s probably a large reason as to why we lost the game.

Oscar Bobb also can’t be fairly rated, although him tripping over and kicking the ball out of play was probably not his ideal first moment as a Fulham player.

Marco Silva

A frustratingly familiar showing from our gaffer. The team he started out with did a fantastic job, played beautifully and created heaps of chances. We should have been well clear at half time and clearly vindicates Marco’s tactical decisions.

His players then proceeded to let him down for the first 15 minutes of the second half and you could see how frustrated he was on the sideline. Fulham were getting worse and worse, playing themselves into trouble and every time I looked over Marco had his hands in the air, or on his head, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Quick question though boss: If you can see that we are playing badly, why would you not make some substitutions?

Ultimately, this is where we lost the game. I can’t understand why we waited 75 minutes before making our first sub. We had what’s got to be the strongest bench we’ve ever had under Marco and he decided he didn’t want to use it. There were clear issues in key parts of the pitch and I’m so disappointed that he was so passive.

He and his team also need to find a resolution for how pathetic we are from set pieces because it’s killing us. 3.5/10