Player Ratings: Fulham 3-1 Burnley

Sammy reviews all the Fulham team after that important win against the Clarets

Not a fantastic performance, but ultimately it’s the result that counts. Here are some individual player scores after Fulham’s 3-1 win over Burnley on Saturday.

Bernd Leno

Bernd Leno has come in for some deserved criticism in the past couple of months, but he looked back to his best with some smart stops throughout the game - particularly Zian Fleming’s header in the first half, which was straight at him, but he still had to deal with it.

The real crowd pleaser though was the save from Quilindschy Hartman (who looked brilliant for what it’s worth) in the 80th minute, which took a deflection on its way through and Bernd still got a big glove to tip it around the post.

It was a match-winning save from the German and he deserves a high score as a result. 8/10

Timothy Castagne

I feared the worst when Timothy Castagne was selected in place of the injured Kenny Tete, but actually to give credit to Timmy, I thought he did really well.

He was solid enough defensively against the in-form Jaidon Anthony and he got forward well. Rodrigo Muniz really should have buried his pin-point cross in the second half that was floated straight on to the Brazillian’s forehead.

It’s been a tough season for Castagne, but on Saturday he showed his Premier League pedigree. 7/10

Joachim Andersen

I thought Andersen was poor again today and I don’t really understand why Issa Diop was dropped for him. He lost Zian Fleming for the goal and he just generally didn’t seem particularly commanding. 5.5/10

Calvin Bassey

Similar to Joachim, it wasn’t a particularly strong game for Calvin. Lost Fleming for the header from Hartman’s cross in the first half that really should have been a goal.

The handball wasn’t a handball because it was his supporting arm. I know the handball laws are a mess, but that one is pretty easy to understand. Burnley fans should take a look at Matty Cash’s handball against us earlier in the season if they’d like to see a real travesty. 6/10

Antonee Robinson

Another difficult outing for our American left back who is really struggling for form since his return from injury. His rash tackle on Kyle Walker could have easily been a red if it was slightly closer to the goal and he was out of position for the goal they scored.

He just doesn’t look like he’s at full steam no matter how hard Marco and the back-room staff try and give him the minutes he needs. Sadly, Antonee doesn’t really have the game that suits playing in second gear. 5/10

Sander Berge

Great performance from Sander in the middle against his former club. The Norwegian was composed, brought the ball out of defence well and his passing was crisp and accurate all afternoon.

His assist for Josh King had a slice of fortune, but he put the ball in a dangerous area that gave Dubravka an issue. 7.5/10

Alex Iwobi

Sometimes it all clicks for Alex, sometimes it doesn’t. Saturday was one of those games where the radar just wasn’t quite as finely tuned as normal as there was a notable amount of misplaced passes. In all honesty, I don’t mind it, because we want Alex to have the confidence to be creative, it just wasn’t his day. 5.5/10

Josh King

How could Josh not be MOTM after a goal and an assist? Wonderful moment for JK to finally grab a Premier League goal and whilst it is a keeper mistake, the finish is not a simple one on the turn.

Moments before his goal, his slalom-like run should have resulted in a goal for Muniz and then his brilliant forward pass to Harry Wilson was exactly what the Welsh wizard craves.

Here’s hoping that a goal unlocks the next level in Josh’s talent that we all know is waiting to shine. 8.5/10 MOTM

Harry Wilson

Good performance from Harry with the obvious highlight being the goal that was so well taken despite being closed down by multiple Burnley defenders. In a drab first half, he looked like the only one capable of making something happen.

I understand why Fulham are reluctant to pay him the wages he wants, but you can’t deny that he is a game-changer. I imagine those stinkers against West Ham and Southampton might have been different had he not been injured. 7.5/10

Oscar Bobb

Tough day for Oscar, who is having a mixed time of late. He probably shouldn’t be playing as much as he is, but he’s being forced to with Kevin’s injury.

I’ve been impressed with his touch and close control in previous games, but this game just passed him by. At one point in the first half I actually forgot he was on the pitch. 5/10

Rodrigo Muniz

This is a tricky one to judge, because I felt like his hold up play and ability to bring in others into the attack looked good.

However, he really struggled in front of goal and he showed no conviction with any of his chances such as the header from Castagne’s cross, or the fairly easy chance after Josh King’s mazy run. There was also a moment in the second half after Dubravka saved from Oscar Bobb where Muniz was caught flat-footed and a potential tap-in passed him by.

I am confident that the finishing touch will return and his all-round play was good, but ultimately he’s there to score goals and I never felt like he was going to find the back of the net. 5.5/10

Subs & Manager

Ryan Sessegnon

Didn’t make a huge impact, but the left side did look more comfortable after he came on, which possibly says more about who he replaced. 6/10

Samu Chukwueze

Looked a bit like the Samu of old with his tenacity and sheer drive to carve out chances. Lovely pass to Raul which led to the penalty. He had two great chances in the dying minutes to make it 4-1, which he probably should have done better with, not that it hugely mattered (although we could do with improving our goal difference). It’s really important that Samu starts getting back to form during the run-in. 7/10

Raul Jimenez

What a man. Clearly struggling after the death of his father, he has shown huge character to still even be present on the field in the last couple of weeks.

Great run to win the penalty and of course he dispatched it comfortably. I enjoyed that the Burnley players don’t understand the laws of the game when it comes to taking a penalty. You can pause during your run-up, you just can’t stop once you plant your foot to strike the ball.

Raul encountered a huge emotional release after he scored which is so understandable given what he’s gone through.

That’s now 28 PL goals in 92 appearances, for comparison Aleksandar Mitrovic scored the same in 89, and he’s viewed as one of our greatest ever forwards. Best £5m Fulham have ever spent? 7.5/10

Harrison Reed and Emile Smith Rowe didn’t really feature enough to warrant a score.

Marco Silva

After saying this game was a “cup final”, I was a bit surprised to see such a passive first half. Marco needs to find a way to lift the energy of the group for the run-in if he wants to achieve European spot or at the very least break last season’s points tally.

The easiest way he could galvanise the entire club is by signing a contract during this upcoming three week break. Maybe the fact Shahid Khan was in town for Saturday’s match is a sign that something might be on the horizon?

Tactically, I think Marco got most things spot on and I think all the subs made sense. Hard to be too critical when ultimately we got the job done, but I wish we’d have come out the traps a bit more intensly. 6.5/10