Leno: Look In The Mirror

Bernd Leno makes no excuses for Fulham’s defeat at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night. Callum Hudson-Odoi and Chris Wood had the Reds in control inside the opening 19 minutes, before the influential Morgan Gibbs-White made the mountain we had to climb that much higher in first half stoppage time. There was a positive response from the boys in the second half, but a Tosin header four minutes after the restart proved to be little more than a consolation. “The way we started was not good, was not right,” Leno confessed. “Forest deserved to be 3-0 up. Our body language, the intensity we played, was just not good enough, and in the Premier League they punish you for that. “Our target [in the second half] was to score an early goal. We know how quick things can change in the Premier League – a couple of weeks ago Bournemouth were 3-0 down at half-time, and they won 4-3, so in the Premier League anything can happen. “We scored an early goal, we had chances to score the second goal as well and then anything can happen, but unfortunately we couldn’t make it. In the end, it was just our fault. “After the game [Marco Silva] said the same as at half-time, that it just wasn’t good enough. “It was our fault, everyone has to look in the mirror, it was just ourselves. I think this is the right message, nobody was complaining about others, everyone has to look at himself. “There’s nothing to hide, there’s nothing good to say about the game, we just have to focus on the next game and improve many things.” It has been a strange period for the Whites of late, with victories over Manchester United, Brighton and Tottenham followed by struggles against Sheffield United and Forest. “It's very frustrating, because we know that we can beat the big teams, especially at home we can beat everyone,” Leno said. “But we also know that away from home we are struggling, we don’t have consistency in our game, we concede sloppy goals, and that’s what we have to improve. “I think we are doing really well, but if we had more consistency we could be much higher in the table, we could have much more points, and it would be even more enjoyable. And that’s where we have to improve in the last seven games.” The next opportunity to bounce back is at Craven Cottage on Saturday, when we take on Newcastle United for a third time this season. The Magpies have claimed the bragging rights on each occasion so far, but themselves have battled inconsistency throughout 2023/24. “In both games we were competing with them,” Leno stated. “The Premier League game we were one man down after 20, 25 minutes, and that’s a different game. “I think they’re a little bit like us – anything can happen. We played them in the cup and we had a good game but unfortunately we couldn’t score and they were very clinical in front of goal. “Hopefully we can turn things around, I think the team has as much motivation as possible to get a better feeling to go into the next weeks with a win. “Especially at home we are very dominant, we play our game, even against teams like Arsenal, Tottenham, Villa at home – we dominated all of them. “That’s how we’ll try to play again, and we are very confident of getting another home win.”