The Tanner Report: Fulham 3 Newcastle 1

Newcastle came to Craven Cottage unbeaten with the aspiration that that their third successive defeat of Fulham away in the Premiership would take them top.

Conversely, Fulham had a poor week as we were unlucky just to draw with West Ham and lost in a  marathon penalty shoot out (16-15) to Preston in the Carabou Cup.

So the scene was set – at my first game of the season – at Craven Cottage for a Newcastle win but it was not to be.

Raul Jimenez chested down a cross, swivelled and rifled the ball past Nick Pope. It was a well-taken centre forward’s goal but possibly Newcastle’s Fabian Schar gave Jimenez too much room.

Emile Smith Rowe, who slickly scored the second, was the dominant force: he combines awareness and intelligence with talent and runs effectively between the  lines.

His weakness is his application.

After 70 minutes he was once again subbed, his effectiveness diminished.

Two-nil down at half time, Newcastle caught Fulham cold at the start of the second half with Harvey Barnes scoring. Newcastle looked sterile – especially England international Anthony Gordon who was subbed.

Schar  missed a sitter when Fulham keeper Bernd Leno presented him with the ball and, in injury time, Reiss Nelson made it 3-1 after an awful cross pass across the penalty area by Guimares.

Sitting behind the goal in the Putney End, we were well-positioned for 3 of the 4 goals scored that end and also to witness how well the Fulham defence was organised by Joachim Andersen.

The real improvement has been the depth of the squad and bench – and the replacement of Tim Ream and Willian (both in their mid 30s) and Bobby Decordova-Reed – by younger players. We have Manchester City and Aston Villa coming up  so I doubt if we will hang onto our top ten position.

Whereas last season we had a core of Portuguese-speaking Brazilian players and a Portuguese coach and countryman Joao Pahlinha, the bulk of the team is now drawn from the Arsenal academy (Iwobi, Smitj Toew and Reiss Nelson) and ex-Gunners  keeper Benrd Leno, so London accents now  predominate.

And what of the match day experience?

Tickets are now downloaded onto your mobile but these did not function on the turnstile. When I asked the operator to admit us anyway – as the fault lay their end – he refused, which ended in a row. This seems to reflect a disdain for the senior fan who is less comfortable with the all-pervasive mobile phone culture.

The average age of supporter around us was 25-30 and I did nor see much evidence of old family fans. Despite the disturbing allegations about the predatory and controlling behaviour of Mohammed al Fayed to young female employees at Harrods, I did not hear any criticism – nor indeed at a lunch of a Fulham supporters I attended on Friday – just gratitude for his rôle in transforming the club.

A Newcastle goal was allowed after a lengthy VAR analysis to which we fans there were not privy. Fans frequently stood up to obstruct vision. For these reasons my attendance at future home games is doubtful.