Derby County boss Phillip Cocu has this week revealed to RamsTV that he thinks Fulham are the best team in the Championship.
It came after his side suffered a disappointing 3-0 defeat at Craven Cottage, the goals coming from Bobby Reid, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Tom Cairney.
He praised their talent in possession following Tuesday’s defeat and admitted his team struggled to compete with the west London side.
Cocu said: “Today we have to accept that Fulham were better than us. They played a really good game, especially the first half. It was difficult to stop them. What I saw until now in the league, on the ball when they have possession, they are the best team. They can play from the back. They have speedy wingers and they have a striker who can keep the ball and be clever. Our defence struggled a lot.
“It was difficult to stop them. They have an excellent striker in Mitrovic and our defence struggled a lot with him, but again the goals have come from set pieces.
“I think the first goal we could avoid and after six minutes they had exactly what they wanted. They had the lead by a mistake from us in the set piece.
“We didn’t get back in the game and they played with even more confidence after the goal. The second goal was also disappointing.
“In the second half we improved a lot, we pushed them back and got into better positions in front of the goal.
“We saw some crosses go into the box but maybe only in the last 10 minutes were they good that the strikers had the opportunity to get a shot in on goal.
“Before that, even in the first-half and especially in transition, we got in good positions across but the delivery was not good enough.
“The third goal is a mistake, but we had to try to get back in the game. We took more chances.
“We couldn’t get it back to 2-1. If we had done it could have been a point there for us in the game because they would have perhaps got a little bit nervous in that period. With the 3-0 it was done.”
Plenty of clubs will be looking at Fulham’s squad with envy especially as it consists of Aleksandar Mitrovic, Ivan Cavaleiro, Anthony Knockaert, Bobby Reid and Aboubakar Kamara, who are claimed to be worth £60 million worth of attacking talent. Plus they have Tom Cairney and Stefan Johansen who are proving hard to handle when facing their opposition.
Scott Parker’s side are up to third in the Championship table with Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion currently occupying the top two spots.
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