Fulham should take inspiration from Brentford – the Bees’ success without Ivan Toney shows how they can cope after Aleksandar Mitrovic’s departure
- Fulham struggled to score in their first two Premier League games
- The departure of Aleksandar Mitrovic has presented Marco Silva with a problem
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It’s a strange thought that Marco Silva may have taken solace on his part in succumbing to some kind of shelling from their West London rivals.
While Fulham’s toothless performance against Brentford will have added to the pain of losing Aleksandar Mitrovic to Saudi Arabia on Saturday, Silva only had to look to the team that rose up for him as proof that such a blow was not fatal. need to be.
Ivan Toney’s suspension until January was meant to hinder Brentford, but instead they’ve got off to a flying start this season.
More impressively, Thomas Frank has pulled it off with no additions for the summer, with the Bees’ aggressive and direct style making the most of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, a pair who already have five goals to their name after two goals. matches.
Three got here as Brentford strolled to victory. Wissa took advantage of a shocking mistake by Issa Diop to open the scoring, Mbeumo scoring two from the penalty spot and finishing off a clinical counter-attack.
Fulham boss Marco Silva has a goalscoring problem that needs to be solved after their first two league games
Aleksandar Mitrovic has left with a lot of money for Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal
Silva admitted that it may be a matter of making amends when it comes to replacing Mitrovic’s goals. That is worrying news for Fulham fans.
New No. 9 Raul Jimenez hasn’t scored in the league since March 2022 and it didn’t look like he would change that here.
But Silva insisted he could restore the Mexican to his former glory, just as he had done with Mitrovic.
Brentford has thrived in the absence of Ivan Toney, who is currently banned from football
The Bees have scored five goals in two games so far without investing in attacking talent
“The striker market is not easy,” he said. “I’m not sure if we’re going to find the right replacement. We will do our best, but if we fail, we will face the Premier League with the players we have here.
“When we came to this club, Mitro had scored three goals in the Premier League the season before. He was on the bench for half of that season.
‘The following season he scored 43 goals (in the championship). He had been really down at this club. What we did with him, we now have to do with the players we have in our squad.’
That task looks daunting – and it is one Silva must accomplish if Fulham are to stay out of trouble this year. But at least Brentford has proven it can be done.