Fulham midfielder Tom Cairney has claimed that everything went wrong during his side's 3-0 defeat to Barnsley over the weekend, with this making it a "horrible" game to be involved in.
The Championship's third-placed side fell to a shock defeat against the Tykes on Saturday afternoon as Cauley Woodrow scored a brace against his former club, while Jacob Brown was also on target for Gerhard Struber's relegation-threatened side.
The result meant that Fulham lost ground in their pursuit of an automatic-promotion spot, with Leeds' victory over Bristol City meaning the Whites moved three points clear of Scott Parker's side in second place behind league leaders West Brom.
Speaking to the Fulham YouTube channel, Cairney slammed his side's display against the Championship's basement club, but the Cottagers' captain then went on to add that Parker's men will be looking to put things right against Derby tomorrow night.
“You could say everything went wrong (against Barnsley). Collectively and individually we didn’t turn up, show up," he said.
“There were some unforced errors and individual errors. It kind of reminded me of Hull at home. It was the same scoreline and no-one saw it coming.
“You’re not underestimating the team or players. It’s one of those games which it’s horrible to be involved in. The best thing about the Championship is another game comes soon – hopefully we can put it right."
Fulham can temporarily move back level on points with Leeds if they can seal a victory over Derby on Friday evening, with Parker's side having been successful in all five of their matches played on a Friday so far this campaign.
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The Verdict
Fulham's defeat to Barnsley certainly came out of nowhere last weekend, and it went to show that the Cottagers still need to undergo some improvement in order to seriously challenge for an automatic-promotion spot during the rest of the season.
The likes of Cairney and Aleksandar Mitrovic will now need to maximise their attacking abilities to help Fulham bounce back against the Rams, particularly seeing as they cannot really afford to drop many more points from this moment on.
The fact that individual errors were such a key reason behind the Barnsley defeat means this result may have been an anomaly, and an impressive display and victory over Derby this weekend will go some way towards making up for the Barnsley loss.