Fulham got only their 3rd away win of the season against Birmingham City at the weekend, as Scott Parker’s side go within two points of 6th-placed Bristol City.
Aleksandar Mitrovic’s 12th Championship goal of the season was the difference on the day.
Scott Parker’s side were always going to be in for a difficult afternoon at St Andrew's, against a valiant Birmingham side and coming off the back of their worst defeat of the season at Hull the weekend prior.
The game was a fairly open one until Mitrovic’s goal on 52-minutes and after that, it was a case of Fulham defending the Birmingham barrage.
They did so efficiently and held out for the win and a clean sheet, and here we take a look at three things we’ve learned about Fulham after the weekend:
Defensive standards
It was Fulham’s fifth clean sheet of the season on Saturday, and arguably their best defensive performance to date under Parker.
The back-four was dealt an early blow when Maxime Le Marchland was forced off after half-an-hour, but Cyrus Christie took his place and ended up playing a part in the goal.
Birmingham had 16 shots on the day, but Fulham had the better possession and the better chances in-front of goal - the home side didn’t have a real sight of goal until Lukas Jutkiewitcz hit the crossbar deep into the second-half.
A complete away performance from Fulham, who set the defensive standards with the win.
Marek Rodak - one to watch?
Behind every great defence is a great keeper, and Marek Rodak was that on Saturday.
The Slovakian stopper returned to the first-team after missing the Hull defeat through suspension, and his presence at the back was an instant boost for the squad.
He made a number of saves to keep Birmingham out, and had an overall commanding performance between the sticks.
Fulham need more leaders like Rodak in the starting eleven - his presence and confidence in goal allowed his defenders to play with more confidence themselves, knowing they have a reliable keeper to fall back on.
Utilise the overlap more
For the goal, Christie was picked out on the right-wing after making a good overlapping run, before putting the ball in the box for Mitrovic to eventually finish.
Fulham have missed that this season. They play such a modern-style of football under Parker but their full-backs aren’t direct enough.
Christie made his first appearance since August on Saturday, and has a good shout of finding himself in the starting line-up more often for his attacking attributes.
Parker will be pleased that his side goes into the international with a win and only two points and one place off the play-offs - they resume their campaign against QPR in two weeks, in what will be an exciting game between two play-off chasing teams.
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