Cottage POV

Whenever non-Fulham supporters ask how I feel we’ve done or how the season has gone it’s usually met with “yeah, pretty good, odd season but pretty good.” It never really felt like we got a chance to settle from the first knockings of pre-season to even recently. Although the Aleksandar Mitrovic chaos met the headlines, many question marks included Marco Silva’s future with Saudi clubs offering their many millions, Willian didn’t re-join until just before pre-season, we didn’t sign Adama Traore until the evening after the first game of the season with Timothy Castagne and Alex Iwobi arriving after the draw at Arsenal before our next fixture was marred by Joao Palhinha’s nearly joining Bayern.

That all being a pretty quick overview of things, it’s a borderline Marco Silva miracle that we still have a top half finish in front of us. It’ll be a competitive race to get that 10th placed finish but to be comfortable from the drop (and a Carabao Cup semi final appearance) amidst a weird preparation of the season is superb.

A weird season has seen a team come together to do more than enough to retain their Premier League status for a coming third consecutive season; which will do more than anything else for the financial sustainability of the football club. And as we approach the dawning of the 2023/24, it’s awards consideration season. Who has been the stand out performer for Fulham?

I do wish to highlight the importance of the team this year. Phenomenal team performances took 4 points off of Arsenal and 4 from Brighton whilst deservedly getting all 3 points from dominant displays against Tottenham and away at Old Trafford. There’s certainly more than a handful of candidates to the Player of the Season award. Calvin Bassey has come on leaps and bounds after being thrown in at the deep end to Premier League football at the Emirates with his first run of starts then being on the right hand side of a back four; the Nigerian centre half has truly dispatched Tim Ream from the starting eleven. Joao Palhinha has continued to be a dominant presence in front of the back four, showing no signs of stopping being a leading ball winner in European football. Rodrigo Muniz, a striker once considered surplus by many has come back with a vengeance with a new hero of Craven Cottage being born since the turn of 2024. A shout out as well for Timothy Castagne, barely putting a foot wrong becoming another new signing to remove the previous incumbent with relative comfort. It seems cruel to even single those four out.

For me though, there’s a clear front runner for the Player of the Season and that is Antonee Robinson. ‘Jedi’ has improved year-on-year since arriving at Fulham, and in July signed a new deal until 2028. It feels apt to write this prior to Fulham taking on Liverpool given his ability to lockdown Mo Salah at Anfield in probably the stand out individual performance of the season.

In what feels like a lifetime ago, Robinson joined the club in August 2020 and thanks to the chaos caused by the Coronavirus, he went from being relegated to League One with Wigan to playing Arsenal in a 3-0 loss in the space of about six weeks; funnily enough, a game in which Willian was named Man of the Match after providing two assists and tearing Fulham apart in a way we wouldn’t see him do against an opposition again until becoming a Fulham player in 2023. Jedi became Fulham’s starting left back under Scott Parker and hasn’t looked back since. The number 3 shirt (or 33 in this case) has been secure despite numerous doubts piped up from the fanbase.

Robinson has become a true lockdown full back with demonic athleticism, pace and power that simply doesn’t grow off trees and you absolutely can’t teach. His pace allows him to gamble on passes out to his opposing wide player and turn defence to attack in a snap whilst he’s also the speed and width on Willian’s behalf allowing the Brazilian to do his best work in that inside-left position.

A career high for assists, Antonee has laid on six to his team including three to the rejuvenated Rodrigo Muniz, perhaps most importantly his fluky hook over the top at Burnley which kickstarted the second coming of O Fenômeno. 2023/24 Robinson is as dominant a player in his role that Fulham have seen in the Premier League certainly in the Khan era.

What next for Robinson is going to be fascinating to watch. He’s truly earned an opportunity to play European football, though they’ll be question marks of his technical ability, the same murmurs were said of Kyle Walker when Manchester City made him the most expensive defender in the world (a record pipped by the same club signing Benjamin Mendy a few weeks later).

Of course, it’d be superb to see Antonee Robinson continue to his career at Fulham, expanding on his near 150 club appearances and joining the 200 club but he’s played in a manner that will undoubtedly have the vultures circling, though with that long contract signed to Fulham – it should be a big, big outlay if that move comes.

An ode to Robinson would be on its way if the time comes but for now, a glass raised to an excellent campaign for a terrific footballer who has grown as his career at Fulham has progressed. By all accounts a top guy who can be proud of his contribution to the 2023-24 season.