Fulham hope Monday’s defeat to Chelsea was simply a blip.
The Cottagers were undone by defensive lapses as they went down 2-0 at Craven Cottage.
Fulham had 56 per cent possession and were the first team this season to have more of the ball than Chelsea, but individual errors cost them.
A mistimed jump by Issa Diop allowed Mudryk to open the scoring, and captain Tim Ream gave the ball away on the edge of his own area before Broja’s goal.
Fulham did improve after the break, but the damage had already been done.
Ream proved a lot of people wrong last season when he put in consistently confident performances to help Marco Silva’s team finish tenth.
On Monday, however, he really struggled: Chelsea’s high-octane attackers attacked him.
“Disappointing result for us,” said coach Silva. “At certain times also in terms of performance. “They won some individual challenges that gave them the boost they needed at the time.”
Much of Fulham’s improvement after the break was due to Silva’s substitutions.
Carlos Vinicius, Sasa Lukic, Tom Cairney and Alex Iwobi injected Fulham with a vitality that was missing in the first half.
Iwobi, in particular, took risks, beat the players and kept going.
Just as he did by scoring in the Carabao Cup win over Norwich last Wednesday, Iwobi showed why many Fulham fans want Silva to start him.
“I feel like I added a little energy to the game,” Iwobi said. “That’s what the coach told me: be dynamic when we have the ball, with much more movement.
“I’m working to try to start, but there are many quality players on the team who deserve to start. When my time comes, I will try to take advantage of my opportunity.”
