For a club whose European perspectives seem limited to the league of the conference, Fulham is doing excellent job when stumbleding with those with larger plans.
After taking points from Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle, they moved to a perfect six of six against Nottingham Forest here. Doing it was once impressive; Throwing it twice shows that the first was no accident.
That was told in the history of the party. It was not a success and grip and it was not an accident: this was a meticulous and intelligent cancellation of the main booth of the season.
While Nuno Espirito Santo has been an insoluble riddle for many in this campaign, Marco Silva had answers for everything. When Nuno went out with five on the back, Fulham killed them on the flanks. When the forest turned to a four, Silva crushed them with a higher press, repeatedly demonstrating that a large side counterattack will only be as strong as the mistakes in which they have to jump.
In a nutshell, Fulham did almost none.
Its most striking component was Adama Traore. It was excellent, an excessive muscle ball and an unlimited rhythm, which shattered Neco Williams over and over again. The left forest began the game in a protective mask and left for a long lie.
Emile Smith Rowe clung to a wonderful cross of Adama Traore to open Fulham's score against Nottingham Forest
Chris Wood hid to match his goal 18 of the League for visitors
It was Traore who put the first game on a plate for Emile Smith Rowe and Calvin Bassey won the second after Chris Wood had leveled with his number 18 of the season. If the score was close, the game patterns would be better illustrated by other statistics, namely that Fulham beat the forest from 24 to eight. With some luck, Raúl Jiménez could have had a hat-trick.
Silva said: 'It was a great performance from the first minute to the last. We controlled the game and were the best team in the field. They expect mistakes to punish you, but our reaction every time we lost the ball was upper level. We were dominant.
“It is a game that we should have scored more goals of the possibilities we create.”
All that would be difficult to dispute. Forest remains in the top three, but this loss will be rotten on paper, especially with Newcastle, Arsenal and Manchester City as his next three league tasks.
“There are so many things that I would do differently now,” said Nuno. “Now it's about looking at the game and preparing for the next one.”
Nuno had taken into account of using the same XI that demolished Brighton 7-0 and Fulham did not change from the side that beat Newcastle. Neither of the two men will have been excited for the first 10 minutes, which was monotonous, but then Traore began its assault on Williams. Extreme right versus left back, it was a sustained kick.
Only in the first half hour, those acts of intimidation were good for three Fulham opportunities. The first and third followed the traore pattern that made its way around Williams and picked up its place with crosses for Jiménez.
The headers only caused moderate difficulties for Matz Sels, but the delivery in the middle, an off -fierce tractor after pulling Williams out of balance, was so precise that it was worth more than standard assistance. The ball fell into a small pocket of space behind Morato in the distant post and Smith Rowe headed 1-0.
The 62 -minute header from Calvin Bassey showed the difference, sealing the victory for the hosts
Europe that Chasing Forest has now lost two of its last three games in the Premier League
Jiménez lost a couple of opportunities for a second before the coup d'etat of the forest equalizer. Wood, isolated all afternoon, folded an excellent ending around Bernd Leno, but had benefited from the friendliest rebounds when Morgan Gibbs-White's trimmed on the top Cañada on the back of his right leg. Instead of shooting a safe place, he stopped and invited the strike.
In such moments, a game can turn. He did not do it.
Instead, Fulham continued to accumulate minor possibilities before Bassey scored for 2-1.
The routine was an old but Goldie: Sasas Lukic played to the near post, Jiménez passed through the finish line and Wood could not collect Bassey's career on his blind side. Sels could not approach the header, which almost summed up the dynamics between Fulham and Forest throughout the afternoon.