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“Nothing.” That was the rundown of what Scott Parker thought he could learn from league standings after watching his Fulham team claim their first win of the season.
The pure, clean air of 17th place now circulates among its players, but Parker was in no mood for jubilation or even to express much in the form of relief. A comfortable victory over West Brom was instead the opportunity to reinforce the message Parker has set for himself from the start: a fight against relegation will be difficult for Fulham; But if you are willing to learn from your mistakes, you have a chance.
“I think I’ve been pretty level this season and I’ve tried to convey that to the team,” Parker said. “We are going to have a lot of bumps on the road and I am not afraid to say that. But I have a really good team and a group open to understanding.
“There will be tough spots, but every week the guys face mistakes and are willing to learn and improve.”
Goals from Bobby Decordova-Reid and Ola Aina decided this match in a burst of five minutes around half an hour. Much of the rest of the match was essentially heavy and, in fairness to Slaven Bilic, who seemed to take the loss pretty badly, his team were relatively well-matched opponents at the time. But in the decisive moments, Fulham had the strength, the confidence and, more clearly, the plan to make a difference.
The visitors could have taken the lead in the second minute if Grady Diangana had done better with a cross from Matheus Pereira.
Less than 60 seconds later and a delivery from the other side fooled Fulham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola into the air and bounced inside his left post. First fleeting moments that later turned out to be fateful.
After a quarter of a standstill, Fulham opened the scoring with a sweeping movement. He started with a high double in Fulham midfield, the ball passed to André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, who extended the game to the left of Antonee Robinson. The left-back, signed from Wigan this summer, lifted his cross to the obvious target, Aleksandar Mitrovic, at the far post. The Serbian duly earned his header, again playing through the goal to Decordova-Reid, who got the power he needed in his jump to head the ball past Sam Johnstone.
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It was a great goal and it showed some of the attributes that have been largely hidden in this Fulham team so far this season. The second, which came just four minutes later, was all about individual ability and that of Robinson’s counterpart on the opposite flank Aina. Another summer transfer, none of Fulham’s last five were on his books last season, the former Chelsea player and current loan officer from Torino had shown his willingness to keep going at all times. This time, when the ball passed over her marker 30 meters from the goal, Aina shot out. He found Decordova-Reid with the pass that quickly shuffled the ball to Mitrovic. Once again, No. 9 did his job well, holding on to his man and shoving Aina in for a perfect left-footed shot inside the far post.
West Brom had a chance to strike back with eight minutes to go before the break, after Anguissa gave up the ball under pressure from Conor Gallagher. Karlan Grant, who scored his first goal for the club in Brighton last week, was the beneficiary of the rotation and had time and space to take his place against Areola. However, the £ 15m signing got it wrong and his overhead shot was just fine.
“I’m very frustrated because we were really looking forward to this match for a reason,” said Bilic.
“The last two games gave us confidence, form and faith. We were improving, basically growing, but after tonight… We can’t trust quality, we have to push ourselves and work hard. If we don’t do that, we have no chance. “
