Pundit Jamie O’Hara was far from impressed with Fulham forward Raul Jimenez after his performance against Brighton & Hove Albion.
O’Hara was covering the match for Sky Sports as Marco Silva’s side rescued a point at the Amex yesterday.
It was very much a match of two halves for the Whites with Fulham arguably lucky to only be a goal behind at half-time.
A fantastic strike from Evan Ferguson gave the hosts the lead after Bernd Leno had bailed out his teammates on several occasions.
The young Irish striker is one of the most exciting talents in the Premier League and took advantage of one moment when Tim Ream and Calvin Bassey couldn’t close him down in time.
Fulham looked off the pace in the first half and never looked like threatening Jason Steele.
Marco Silva gave Raul Jimenez the nod over Carlos Vinicius who wasn’t in the matchday squad yesterday.
However, Jimenez once again extended his goalless streak in the Premier League against Brighton and Jamie O’Hara admitted he was unimpressed with the Mexican international.
It says an awful lot about his performance that the game changed always immediately after he was substituted.
His replacement Rodrigo Muniz didn’t get on the score sheet either but did make a difference with his relentless energy.
When Fulham are in need, it’s no surprise that Joao Palhinha is the man to pop up with a vital goal.
O’Hara unimpressed with Jimenez against Brighton
Speaking about the 32-year-old, O’Hara said: “Yeah, they haven’t got a goalscorer, a striker really. [Raul] Jimenez, I really like him but he’s just not the same player anymore.
“He doesn’t seem like he knows how to score a goal or be in the right place to score a goal.
“[Aleksandar] Mitrovic is a huge loss, they’re good in midfield, they’re organised, they made some changes and they had a bit more energy in the second half.
“They took more risks in terms of trying to press Brighton, but they’re lacking a goalscorer as simple as that.”
Plenty of Fulham fans will agree with O’Hara that Jimenez isn’t the replacement for Aleksandar Mitrovic that the club needed.
Their profiles are very similar but Jimenez is so low on confidence and out of form that he doesn’t look like the long-term solution to replace the Serbian.
Rodrigo Muniz now looks like a serious option to start in the Carabao Cup against Ipswich in midweek.
Considering he was out of favour at Championship side Middlesbrough last season, the young Brazilian may now be required to make a big step up.