Player rating Fulham 1-0 Luton Town
The Whites returned to Premier League duty with a comfortable home win over Rob Edwards’ Luton.
Despite the narrow margin of victory, Fulham’s 78% possession was a club record in the Premier League era and we always felt as though all three points would be ours.
On the day Cottage paid tribute to the recently deceased Mohamed Al-Fayed, the players on the field and fans in the stands made this great man proud, who knows how far we will go to what extent without him.
Sometimes goalkeepers have games like this that are difficult to evaluate because they hardly have to do anything.
With the exception of Amari’I Bell’s save early in the second half that left the German with little to challenge, Leno had one of the quietest games a Fulham goalkeeper could wish for.
It really is a goalkeeper position where you can do nothing and not be criticized, it really is the most unique and sometimes loneliest position on the field.
6/10.
Kenny Tete
Tete was the closest Fulham player came to opening the scoring in the first half, Kaminski’s header from a corner going over the crossbar.
Throughout the match, Tete seemed reluctant to cross the ball early on, perhaps due to the lack of a certain Serbian striker, perhaps because each of our strikers was surrounded by two or three opponents from Luton.
There wasn’t much to do defensively so overall it was a pretty solid performance, nothing special.
6.
5/10.
Tim Ream
Ream, on the other hand, is much more assured.
Some thought he was slow on the ball in the first half, but against a Luton side that defended very tightly, he had to patiently play from the back.
138 completed passes out of a possible 145, 20 before the final third, showed the importance the Americans placed on building from the back.
Coherent, calm, this is our captain.
7/10.
Timothy Castagne
A very pr
omising start for the Belgian, who showed off his famous versatility by replacing the muscle-injured Antonee Robinson at left-back.
omising start for the Belgian, who showed off his famous versatility by replacing the muscle-injured Antonee Robinson at left-back.Castagne was not afraid to move into promising attacking positions and was constantly involved in our attacking play on the left, often providing more than just the overlap that Jedi seemed to possess.
There were no real flaws defensively and it was pleasing to see a player adapt immediately to the system.
8/10 – Man of the match.
Joao Palhinha
Vacuum the Bayern Munich fan page or any other Bayern Munich fan on social media, Palhinha is here and he is here to stay, in his house.
It was not the performance of a player who would sulk for months to take a hit.
His recovery challenge with the pacey Brown early on was the first big sign that, on the field, some things never change with Joao Palhinha.
He continuously showed off the ball as Fulham dominated possession and his long angled passes were on target, including a late beauty on the right that almost led to a goal for Fulham .
8/10.
A key aspect of Reed’s play since playing one of Marco Silva’s eight positions is the space he enters.
I have always maintained that when playing with Tete and Wilson on the right wing, that is when Reed brings out the best in such traits.
Everyone at the club must be delighted that ‘Ginger Iniesta’ has signed a new contract, for all the Palhinhas in the world you need a Harrison Reed.
7/10.
Andreas Pereira
An anonymous and annoying broadcast.
When you have all the ball against a team with ten men behind the ball, you rely on your creator to get the ball out and do something with it.
Pereira didn’t do that either and there were times when his presence on the field went unnoticed.
He presses the ball well, he takes a wicked free-kick, but rarely does he take the game by the throat and make it his own, which we will need more of as our main talisman we are no more.
5/10.
Harry Wilson
Honestly, just a little meh again.
I don’t think Wilson has started the season terribly, but there were high expectations for his strong finishing last season and he has yet to deliver on that this season.
I’m sure it will happen, but he’s not effective with the ball at all.
He rarely makes that killer pass or cuts inside and shoots with his left foot.
Again, Luton’s defensive set-up needs to be mentioned here, but it was still disappointing not to see Wilson at his best.
5,5/10.
Willian
Another striker has yet to start this year.
Maybe this should be a broader concern, who knows?
Especially in the first 45 minutes, the Brazilian rarely had to face the pace of Luton’s full-backs and for the first time in a Fulham shirt, he seemed to be starting to show his age.
Luckily, he chose a quality performance to score the only goal of the match.
As for Wilson, I’m sure the best is yet to come for Willian this year.
6/10.
Raul Jimenez
This will probably feel like a broken record here, but again it was disappointing to see a striker struggle to make a difference in the final third when Fulham held too much shadow.
It’s not particularly feasible for a striker to work his way up every week into a potential goal-scoring effort during the season, but Jimenez did deliver another overhead kick this weekend, the closest most he has scored all things considered.
Vinicius’ goal could threaten Raul’s position in the team.
6/10.
Alex Iwobi
Substituted in the 62nd minute for Harrison Reed
His energy added huge impetus to Fulham’s attacks and he showed his pace on several occasions in the final third to help Fulham create chances when gaps began to form in the final third.
Luton backline.
Another promising all-round debut.
7/10.
Carlos Vinicius
.
Replaced Raul Jimenez in the 62nd minute
Who would have thought that a striker who was fluent in the system and had many excellent appearances last season could score the decisive goal?
Vinicius’ lack of minutes so far this year is laughable and a slight slap in the face for his efforts over the past 12 months, it’s nice to see him on the scoresheet Here, he is like a breath of fresh air.
7/10
Tom Cairney
Substitute in the 81st minute for Andreas Pereira
After the international break left Cairney with possible injury problems and a £900 bill for a new windscreen, it was good to see the skipper fit and ready to play.
6/10.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid
Substitute in the 81st minute for Harry Wilson
Created more than Wilson in 80 minutes in about 10 minutes, mainly thanks to Luton’s equalizer.
However, a positive impact came from the bench.
6.
5/10.
Calvin Bassey, substituted in the 90th minute +1 for Willian, came on for Willian too late to be noticed
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