Fulham 3 – 0 Charlton Athletic
Slaviša Jokanović accepted full blame for Fulham’s under-par first half performance in their win at Craven Cottage.
The Cottagers came under pressure in an end-to-end first 45 minutes – which they ended 1-0 up – but a change of tactics saw them cruise to victory in the London derby.
Tom Cairney netted twice while Michael Madl scored his first goal since joining the club on loan at the end of January.
The home side initially lined up with a 4-4-2 formation but Jokanovic switched to 3-5-2 at the break and introduced Chris Baird and Madl.
The Fulham boss said: “In the first 45 minutes we found many difficulties and Charlton troubled us many times. It’s probably my mistake; we tried to play from the middle.
“I killed Ryan Fredericks and Luke Garbutt and didn’t find the right position for them. We scored the goal in the first 45 minutes but I wasn’t so happy so decided to switch the structure and we played better football in the second 45 minutes.
“After winning 3-0, after getting a clean sheet, after scoring a set-piece goal, we can be satisfied with our performance.”
Victory saw Fulham ease their relegation fears by moving nine points clear of the drop zone following two wins in their past three games – despite only winning once in 16 games befre that.
Jokanovic’s side beat fellow west Londoners QPR 3-1 last weekend but were comfortably beaten by Blackburn Rovers in midweek.
The Serbian manager immediately turned his attention to Tuesday’s night trip to Leeds and is hoping for more of the same from his team.
He said: “We can be satisfied, we can be happy with what we offered for our supporters in our stadium on Saturday.
“It’s over and the new test is on Tuesday. Our obligation is to try and be in this level, and Tuesday night is a new chance for us.
“At the end of this strange week we’ve won two London derbies and had one very poor performance at Blackburn.
“We have to try to play with more confidence, generally I believe we are a good group of footballers and we can still be a better team than what we actually are right now.
“To make important things you need to win games in a row. If you win one game but after you lose three then this is the wrong direction for us.”
Feature image courtesy of Fulham FC, via Youtube, with thanks
