Brentford's Brian Mbeumo scored twice as Brentford edged past Fulham. — Fulham v Brentford
Every season, every club has its dark days and Fulham fans can at least say they've had one this year. They may even take some comfort in the fact that there will not be another day in the campaign as unpleasant as this one.
For Fulham supporters, it was an event that started badly when it was revealed that Aleksandar Mitrovic, finally, he will leave for Saudi Arabia, and then it got much worse. Losing Mitrovic, a Craven Cottage fan favorite, is bad enough. To be torn apart at home by Brentford, their local rival, only adds to the pain.
There was an additional blow when Tim Rome — another of the most popular players in these parts — was shown a red card in the second half. It was Fulham's first home game of the new season, but by the end of the usual August optimism was sorely lacking.
This west London derby belonged to Brentford back then, and Thomas Frank's team taught Fulham a lesson in how to deal with the absence of a star striker. The first indication this season is that Brentford are well prepared for life without Ivan Toni and Fulham can only hope they do so well without Mitrovic.
Mitrovic's deal to Al- Hilal» was signed a long time ago. approaching and has felt inevitable since the striker made it clear this summer that he wants to leave. Fulham have at least managed to secure a sizeable fee believed to be around £45m, but they must now act quickly to replace a player who has scored 57 goals in the past two seasons.
< p>«He's going to leave the club,» Marco Silva confirmed. “Both clubs have an agreement. He made everyone leave the club, he wanted to leave. If you ask me is it ok? No. If you ask me, should footballers behave like this? No. This is a simple answer.
Judging by his game in attack, Raul Jimenez will not be able to fill the void. The 32-year-old, who came from Wolverhampton, has gone 25 Premier League games without a goal. He could play 25 hours against the Brentford defenders without finding a net.
Fulham plans to be active in the transfer market in the coming days and Silva has said he needs 'four or five' players. “The striker market is not easy. “We will do our best to find the right player to replace him [Mitrovic]. I am 100% sure that we will invest.”
At the other end of the field, Brentford had the same two scorers as in the first leg against Tottenham. Ioan Wyssa and Brian Mbeumo are taking advantage of the opportunity that Tony's suspension has provided for them, and teams far stronger than Fulham will have problems containing them this season. «Can we play with you every week?» the Brentford fans asked at the end.
Brentford earned their win, but it's also true that Fulham helped them do it. Wissa's first goal was presented to him by Issa Diop, for example, and then Rome pushed Wissa from behind a few yards from the net after the break. Possibly a soft penalty, especially as it resulted in a second yellow for Rome, but Mbeumo didn't care when he converted the penalty. “The referee is always right,” Wissa said. «What can I say?»
Silva, it's safe to say, disagreed. If only because the second goal and the red card that followed killed the whole game as a competition. Fulham tried to advance as a 10-man but ultimately left themselves open to more penalties and Mbeumo scored again after a cross from Kristoffer Ayer.
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