Positives and Negatives: Southampton 1-2 Fulham

I was getting ready to write this article relatively negatively following points dropped against Southampton but our star boy Ryan Sessegnon’s late header ensured we left the south coast with all three points to keep European dreams alive. It wasn’t a spectacular performance from Marco Silva’s side but the most important thing is that we got the three points, on the day we could’ve been at Wembley instead we’ve picked up three points at St Marys. We’d rather be on the coast right?…. let’s get on with the article.

Positives

One of our own

It had to be him didn’t it? Ryan Sessegnon our knight in shining armour keeping Fulham scratching and clawing in the European race. What a header as well! A beautiful ball from Adama Traore but Sess’s header is truly a thing of beauty. Glancing the ball into the far corner to send the away contingent into raptures. While he was playing at left-back on Saturday our academy graduate showed once again the clinical instinct he has for goal. When he signed in the summer there was some question marks whether this was actually a smart signing rather than a nostalgic one, he’s showing his worth week in week out at the moment. Sess absolutely has a place in this squad and under Silva will continue to flourish, what a bloke.

Smith Rowe again

If there was a player who needed a performance off the bench like that it was record signing Emile Smith Rowe. The touch for his goal and strike was exquisite, yes it took a deflection but we’ll brush that under the carpet. It wasn’t just the goal though, his overall play was impressive showing a desire and urgency we’ve struggled to see over the last few months. I as well as other have been critical of Smith Rowe but you’ve got to give the boy his flowers, he was on it on Saturday. Performances like that are why Fulham spent the big bucks on him and hopefully that performance can act as a confidence booster and springboard to shine during these final stages of the campaign.

Turning the tide

The Fulham faithful made their opinions made at half-time with a plethora of boos which to be frank, were thoroughly deserved. Fulham were painfully abject in that first-half, a sloppy set-piece gave the Saints the lead and Fulham barely laid a glove on the already relegated side. There has often been criticism for Marco’s substitutions but fair play to our gaffer he got it spot on. Traore instilled pace and a dynamism we struggled to see in the first-half, I’ve already talked about the Smith Rowe performance and TC kept things ticking along. It wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination but football sometimes isn’t, we dug deep and showed a character we’ve lacked in recent weeks to keep those European hopes alive – let’s just hope Manchester United can do us a favour!

Negatives

On the beach?

I think it would remiss of me not to at least bring this conversation to the forefront, even after Saturday’s performance. I really don’t want this to come across as overly negative because ultimately won and European dreams are still alive and kicking, but I think it’s worth noting. Fulham seem to have a soft underbelly at this time of year and from March onwards in all of Fulham’s seasons under Silva we’ve only won 17/46 games which is quite insane considering where we’ve been in the Premier League during those campaigns and the fact we won the Championship at a canter. Fulham got out of jail on Saturday and our inconsistencies have been apparent over the last few weeks. We still have to go to Aston Villa & Brentford and host Manchester City so European football still looks questionable. Nevertheless Fulham give themselves a shout and hopefully Saturday can act as a motivator for the final four, come on Fulham!