Player Ratings: Fulham 1-3 Everton

Anyone else getting a sense of déjà vu? Yeah me too. This team’s inability to hold onto leads or show any sign of professional resilience is utterly depressing. Any hopes of Europe are basically over and Marco Silva only has himself and his players to blame.

Bernd Leno

Had absolutely nothing to do for 47 minutes of the first half and yet we go into the half time break at 1-1, that’s basically this team summed up. Admittedly you can’t fault Leno for a deflected effort going past him, but his ‘attempt’ to punch the original long throw into the box was borderline pathetic. His distribution was largely erratic during the second half when we needed to get back into the game, and while the second goal was nothing to do with Leno, to let the third from Beto go straight through his body to kill the game was shocking goalkeeping. 4/10.

Kenny Tete

Had very little to do in the first half with Charly Alcaraz struggling to find much joy in an unfamiliar wider position. Played the ball down the line well throughout the game which led to Wilson getting lots of attempts on goals away. Made a good block from an Alcaraz effort straight after half time but later on lost a duel on the halfway line with Doucoure which allowed Beto the freedom of the left side to run into and eventually score Everton’s third. 5.5/10.

Joachim Andersen

Thought Andersen was comfortably our best defender for most of the game. His 12 clearances dwarfed that of anyone else on the pitch despite Everton’s lack of attacking threat for much of the first half. He was dominant in the air defending our box, winning more aerials than any other Fulham player. Sadly too slow tracking back to prevent Beto adding a third for Everton. 6.5/10.

Calvin Bassey

Not much to comment on defensively here. Not to blame for any of the three goals but equally didn’t really contribute to much defensively either, and quite frankly struggled a bit with Beto’s presence up front. Bassey was positive on the ball, as you’d expect at this point, and had the best pass completion rate of any Fulham player. 6/10.

Ryan Sessegnon

Bought a really good creative threat from left-back in the first half which resulted in him playing a cute ball through to Smith Rowe in the build up to the Fulham goal. Jack Harrison felt relatively non-existent in the final third which generally means Sessegnon did well to keep him quiet. Had a good effort saved by Pickford early on in the second half which unfortunately represented the end of Fulham’s attempts to win the game. 6.5/10.

Sander Berge

Thought the Norweigan really struggled. Berge got constantly doubled up on in midfield and really struggled to keep the ball as a result, losing possession uncharacteristically often in the centre circle. As a result, he found it even harder to progress the game from the middle of the park and offered Fulham little control in midfield in general. The fact he failed to complete a single successful tackle sums his day up. 4.5/10.

Andreas Pereira

For most of the first few months of the season, Pereira struggled to adapt to playing a deeper position in midfield, and that happened again today as Silva, infinite wisdom, tried that system again. He struggled to get on the ball deeper in midfield and as a result offered zero creative threat. Defensively he struggled too, turning his back on the first goal which he deflected in, and losing his man, the goalscoring Michael Keane, for the second goal from a deep Everton corner. Can we please stop trying to play him in a double pivot? 3.5/10.

Harry Wilson

We simply need more Harry Wilsons. Players that want to take their man on. Players that want to shoot and score goals. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Apparently not. Eight shots is frankly insane but it’s so exciting to have at least one player that actually shows some bloody intent in the final third constantly. The pick of his efforts was an outrageous lobbed effort from the right hand side which forced an equally brilliant save from England’s number one, Jordan Pickford. 7/10. – Man of the match.

Emile Smith Rowe

Actually thought Smith Rowe had one of his better games this season playing from the off. Picked up some really good spaces in the first half especially, frequently drifting into some nice positions on the left hand side, including for our goal, in which he assisted Jimenez with a delicately chipped cross into a dangerous area. So of course, with all that noted down, Silva subbed him off before any of his teammates. 6.5/10.

Alex Iwobi

A complete non-event, which is sadly a description of Iwobi’s game quite often in 2025, in complete contrast to his form for the first half of this Premier League season. While he roamed into space in the first half to create space for others, he didn’t actually put his foot on the ball and create anything himself. His only chance came just before half time in the penalty area, which he ballooned over the bar. 5/10.

Raul Jimenez

Scored a brilliant opening goal, dominating two Everton defenders in the air to force home Smith Rowe’s floated cross into the box. Unfortunately, that was the only chance presented to the Mexican across the 90 minutes, due to our severe lack of creative threat for most of the game. While Keane wasn’t his man for the second, Jimenez simply watches the ball loop over his head at the back post into a dangerous area which provided Keane with the space to score. 6/10.

Substitutes

Adama Traore (63’ for Smith Rowe)

Offered nothing compared to the man he replaced. Never really got on the ball on the right hand side and alas never caused Mykolenko any problems on the right wing, despite having pace and energy to burn. 5/10.

Tom Cairney (74’ for Pereira)

Got his foot on the ball fairly well and completed each of his 20 passes off the bench. Unfortunately, rarely were those passes in the final third or of any substance, in a time where we desperately needed some form of creative threat. 6/10.

Willian (74’ for Wilson)

Maybe I’d completely given up on Fulham’s attacking style of play after we’d gone behind by two goals, but I have zero recollection of Willian having any impact in the final third either. Need better, more youthful options off the bench next year. 5.5/10.

Josh King and Martial Godo (84’ for Berge and Sessegnon) subbed on too late to be fairly assessed but should never have been thrown into that game situation really.

Manager

Marco Silva

Where do you start? Silva sitting in the stands serving his customary ban for accumulating a number of yellow cards, is no excuse for the same mistakes creeping into our game time after time without fail. Once again, his subs failed. Smith Rowe looks as creative as anyone and is replaced at 1-1 by a completely different player in Traore. We go behind and he decides to take off Wilson, a man who had as many shots as the rest of our starting XI combined. After not playing a player under the age of 40 for months (satire, maybe), he brings on King and Godo for a generous seven regular minutes in a lost cause of a Premier League fixture. Where do you even start with the mentality too? Give the blame to individuals all you like, but dropping 28 points from winning positions, the same as Southampton (quite literally as bad a Premier League side as I maybe have ever seen), is completely unforgivable and is a reflection of the way the team is managed and (poorly) motivated. Every time we take a lead, we just seem to stop playing. We won multiple games 5-0 last year. This season we haven’t won a game by more than two goals, it’s complete tactical naivety. Just because he didn’t sat in the dugout, doesn’t mean he won’t face the frustration of a fanbase that is becoming increasingly fed up with the same unrelenting issues of Silva’s stubborn management. 1/10 feels generous at this point.