Player ratings: Fulham 1-4 Newcastle United

George Rossiter rates the boys as they returned from the international break at the Cottage.

Fulham fell to a disastrous defeat on Saturday afternoon, their first loss at home this season. Playing most the game with 10 men, Marco Silva’s men fell apart in the first half, trailing by three at the half-time break alone. On a day where if anything could go wrong, it did.

Bernd Leno

We conceded four today, so for Leno to receive man of the match here shows just how bad it could have been. Without some emphatic saves from the German, Fulham could’ve been looking at a cricket score come full-time. At the very least, it’s reassuring to know the quality we have between the sticks this season. 7/10. – Man of the Match

Kevin Mbabu

No opponent is easy in the Premier League, but the Swiss international made a game against a left-hand side of Josh Murphy and Dan Burn look like a game against Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson with Evra and Ronaldo in their prime. Mbabu gave both far too much space far too often and was consistently punished for it, before being hooked in first-half stoppage time. 2/10

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Tosin

With Fulham getting exposed so badly out wide, the centre-backs didn’t really look as bad as the full-backs did. Regardless, the performance of Tosin was anonymous and it’s hard to remember any meaningful blocks or challenges the big man made. While it wouldn’t have mattered much, his missed header at the other end would’ve been a welcome consolation. 4.5/10.

Tim Ream

Similarly to Tosin, Ream wasn’t hugely to blame for many of the things that went wrong. Sometimes the American was on hand to defend crosses, more often than any of the rest of the defensive line, anyhow. 5/10

Layvin Kurzawa

Whether it be a lack of experience of how football is played in the Premier League or the two seasons without a competitive league fixture to his name, Kurzawa seriously struggled on his full Fulham debut. Almiron had a field day running rings round the ex-PSG man as he defended narrowly and stiffly, barely getting near his man. 2/10

Nathaniel Chalobah

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Seven minutes into a game where you have a rare chance to stake your claim for a more regular place in the side and you make a seriously dangerous challenge on an opponent like that. In his appearances from the start against Crawley and Newcastle, Natty Chabs has shown no quality and no discipline, the lack of midfield depth now looks slightly more worrying as a result. 0/10

Harrison Reed

Potentially did even more running that normal in the absence of a third midfielder in the middle, but this became obvious as gaps opened up and Newcastle ran through Fulham at will. Not necessarily Harrison’s fault but unfortunately it wasn’t his best performance. 5/10

Andreas Pereira

Pereira was forced to play most of the game in an unfamiliar role, dropping in deeper as a result of the red card from Chalobah. While he ran and pressed well as he usually does, his lack of defensive ability was there to see, but for sure there were many worse performances on the park than that of Andreas. 5.5/10

Bobby De-Cordova Reid

Not bad from Bobby, who played four different positions throughout the game, filling in on both wings going forward and both wing-back positions in defence. Topped off an ‘okay’ performance with a late consolation. Who knows, maybe that goal difference amendment might come in handy come May. 6/10

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Daniel James

James started the game positively even when we had 10 men, darting up and down the flanks in an attempt to help his full-back. However, when he was moved back to an unfamiliar wing-back role, it was clear it was a position he was not used to playing, looking understandably out of his depth when under attack from Newcastle’s front line. 5/10

Aleksandar Mitrovic

Mitro had no chance getting into the game. With 10 men, Fulham failed to create anything meaningful going forward for the Serb to work with. The hope will be that the early ankle injury he sustained is nothing serious, as he was forced off in the first half. 4.5/10

Substitutes

Carlos Vinicius (37’ for Aleksandar Mitrovic)

Similarly to Mitrovic, Vinicius just wasn’t given the service to prove what he can do as a viable back-up unfortunately. 5/10

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Issa Diop (45+2’ for Layvin Kurzawa)

The defence looked a little less shaky when Diop came on, but probably more to do with the change to a back five. 5/10

Tom Cairney (45+2 for Kevin Mbabu)

Came into a game we had already lost and struggled to create anything meaningful in a slightly anonymous cameo. 4.5/10

Neeskens Kebano (70’ for Daniel James)

Looked dangerous and added pace to a desperately poor attacking side for the last 20 minutes, providing the assist for Bobby’s goal. 6.5/10