For the second Premier League game in a row, Fulham found themselves on the wrong end of a tight, tense, one-goal defeat decided by the finest of margins.
It was Aleksandr Mitrovic’s scuffed penalty which cost Marco Silva and co at Newcastle while, following Monday’s narrow defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur, the regrets centred around a superb first-half performance during which the hosts failed to turn their dominance into goals.
But the fact that Fulham are in a position where they can feel frustrated at having not bloodied the noses of two top-five clubs – while failing to extend their already-14-point lead over the relegation zone – is testament to the excellent work Marco Silva is doing in West London.
Tim Ream, Kenny Tete, Harrison Reed and Bobby Decordova-Reid are playing the best football of their careers. Summer signings Bernd Leno, Joao Palhinha and Andreas Perreira are going from strength to strength.
What’s more, Silva appears to be succeeding where successive West Ham United managers failed; coaxing consistent and ever-improving performances out of one of the division’s most enigmatic talents. A man who’s vast potential looked destined to always go unfulfilled.
Well, until now, anyway.
West Ham United sold Issa Diop to London rivals Fulham
Issa Diop, against Newcastle and Tottenham, did not deserve to be on the losing side.
In both games, the former Toulouse skipper showcased the awareness, the poise and the strength that marked him out as a potential £60 million talent early on at West Ham. He’s starting to put those lapses in concentration behind him too.
In fact, Diop’s form has been so impressive that Fulham may now cash in on Tosin Adarabioyo (Fabrizio Romano).
“I am pleased for him,” Silva says; demanding even more from a man who has clean sheets in five of his last 10 Fulham starts (Irish News). “But I have to say that he is going to improve more and more.
“He has the capacity to do it. I just want him to believe more in himself because he is a very good defender, first of all. I just want him to believe more in himself, in his abilities and his capacities. Because the room to improve is there.
“He is already important for our football club. But I believe, in the future, he has to be much more important. I believe in him.”
‘He’s very good’
With former employers West Ham suffering their fair share of defensive headaches this season – Craig Dawson leaving for Wolves, Thilo Kehrer out-of-sorts, Kurt Zouma, Angelo Ogbonna and Nayef Aguerd struggling for fitness – questions may soon be asked about the logic of selling Diop to a London and top-flight rival.
Diop is proving, a few miles down the road at Craven Cottage, just how imperious he can be under a coach who trusts him, believes in him and, most importantly of all, starts him on a regular basis.
“He was a target from the moment we started planning for this season,” Marco Silva said on Diop’s first day as a Fulham player in August.
“He can play on both sides of our defence. That is really important for us, and that experience, that quality (he has).”
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