Slavisa Jokanovic Admits His Side Must 'Be More Clinical' as Fulham Allow Promising Display to Slip
Slavisa Jokanovic admits his side need to start taking advantage of their ascendency if they are to survive in the Premier League. Fulham had the best chances of a contentious first half at Goodison Park but couldn’t make them count.
Jokanovic then watched as Everton came out and hit three goals in the second half to complete a comfortable victory. Things could have been very different for Fulham and the turning point in the game largely rests on two key chances.
First Ryan Sessegnon performed a wonderful cutback to find himself free on the left-hand side of the box. The 18-year-old showed composure beyond his years to look up and expertly pick out Andre Schurrle in the centre.
The German has already found the net twice from three appearances for Fulham and looked certain to score but blazed his shot high over the bar. It was the creator Sessegnon who was at fault for the second opportunity as Jean Michael Seri carved the Everton backline open with an excellent through ball.
Sessegnon, who was having a good game, met the ball in yards of space in the area with time to look up and pick his shot. Opting for power, he cannoned hit shot against the crossbar - wasting probably the best chance of the game from open play for either side.
"We must be more clinical in important moments in this competition. We had one clear chance from Schurrle, and also Sessegnon hit the crossbar, but we didn't score and they fought harder and scored three easy goals,” Jokanovic told BBC Sport.
Gylfi Sigurdsson missed a penalty early in the second half but went on to make amends by scoring a brace either side of substitute Cenk Tosun's goal. 3-0 certainly didn’t look on the cards in the first half for Fulham and Jokanovic will no doubt be disappointed the game went that way.
He questioned his team's focus throughout the 90 minutes adding: "We must show more solidarity and fight like it's the last second in our life. In one moment we give up and trust that we can change the situation and this is not acceptable.”
Jokanovic didn’t dwell on the issues that cost his side though, assuring the fans they will learn their lessons and improve as the season goes on.
"I cannot be frustrated, I must open my mind and find the solution. We need to improve many things and we must believe in ourselves and find the way for improvement," he added.