When Marco Silva previewed Monday’s trip to Tottenham at his press conference on Friday, he spent much of his time discussing who could fill in at right centre-back.
The Fulham manager was clearly concerned that Issa Diop’s absence through injury could cause his side problems, and so it came to pass.
Calvin Bassey, the left-footed £18.5million summer signing from Ajax, made his second Premier League start as Silva was also without Tosin Adarabioyo.
Bassey was sent off at the Emirates against Arsenal on his first start back in August, but he managed to produce an even more disastrous display at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Once in the first half and once in the second, Bassey passed the ball straight to a Spurs player and Fulham were punished.
First through Heung-min Son and then James Maddison. Bassey lost the ball again as Spurs so nearly added a late third.
It was a dreadful individual display from Bassey, who showed at both Rangers and Ajax that he can be a brilliant defender but has made a shaky start at Fulham.
Fulham will now be sweating on the fitness of Diop. The Frenchman faces a race to be fit for Sunday’s trip to Brighton and Silva must surely now be reluctant to start Bassey again.
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou said Fulham had been “very well-organised, particularly defensively”, and that felt a fair assessment overall.
Without Bassey’s lax passes, Silva’s side may well have prevented Spurs from going top.
“Tottenham pressed really strongly on Calvin”, said Silva, “knowing that we were playing with a left-footed centre-back [on the right]. We were punished twice for the same type of goal.”
Already this month, good performances against Chelsea and now Spurs have counted for nothing, and Fulham will keep dropping points if their defensive lapses continue.
