How did the players fare in Middlesbrough's 1-0 defeat at Fulham?


FULHAM (4-2-3-1):

Rodak 6; Odoi 6, Hector 7, Ream 7, Bryan 8; Onomah 7 (Arter 79), McDonald 6; KNOCKAERT 8 (Mawson 90), Cairney 6 (Johansen 67, 6), Cavaleiro 7; Reid 6.

Subs (not used): Bettinelli (gk), Christie, de la Torre, Stansfield.


MIDDLESBROUGH (3-4-2-1):

6 Pears: Didn’t have a chance with the goal, and made a couple of decent saves as Fulham dominated early on

6 Howson: Struggled to get to grips with things in the first half but improved significantly after the interval

6 McNair: Gradually got on top of his personal battle with Reid and continues to give his all at the heart of Boro’s three centre-halves

6 Fry: The pick of Boro’s defenders for most of the night, making a series of important interventions

5 Spence: Should have got closer to Bryan as he crossed for Fulham’s goal and had one of his tougher evenings

4 Clayton: Was bypassed far too regularly at the heart of midfield and couldn’t match the pace of Fulham’s play in the first half

5 Saville: Not one of the Northern Irishman’s most effective games as he struggled to deal with Fulham’s midfield creativity

6 Coulson: Might have got closer to Knockaert for Fulham’s goal, but attacked effectively and hit the bar with a deflected cross

6 Roberts: Made some useful breaks towards the Fulham box but wasn’t really able to come up with an end product

7 TAVERNIER: Was one of the few Boro players threatening to create anything before he was surprisingly replaced on the hour mark

5 Gestede: Didn’t have the same impact he had at Preston – although he suffered from a lack of service into the box


Subs:

5 Wing (for Tavernier, 60): Wasn’t able to influence the course of the game after coming on for the final half-hour

Fletcher (for Saville, 80)

Nmecha (for Clayton, 80)

(not used): Mejias (gk), Wood, Liddle, Johnson.


Man Of The Match: ANTHONY KNOCKAERT – The Fulham winger put Boro to the sword in the opening half-hour as he repeatedly cut in from the right-hand side.