Pundit Clinton Morrison has admitted that he doesn’t think Fulham midfielder Andreas Pereira is the same player as last season.
Morrison was covering the match for Sky Sports News as Fulham fell to another disappointing away defeat.
Marco Silva only made a couple of changes from the heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to Manchester United last weekend.
He was forced to bring in a replacement for the injured Rodrigo Muniz and Raul Jimenez was the chosen man.
The other change saw Bobby De Cordova-Reid come in for Harry Wilson although Silva reversed that change at half-time.
Aston Villa’s first goal was equal parts unlucky and sloppy as Antonee Robinson ended up scoring his second own goal of the season.
John McGinn doubled the home side’s lead before Ollie Watkins put the game to bed.
Fulham have been nowhere near as prolific in attack as they were last season and Andreas Pereira will be disappointed with his output this season.
He has just a single goal and assist to his name so far in this campaign and looks like he’s desperately missing Aleksandar Mitrovic in attack.
Instead, he’s joined by new signing Raul Jimenez who finally ended his long run without a league goal.
Pereira not the same for Fulham this season
When the score line was 2-0, Fulham were in the ascendancy and Morrison commented on one particular attack that, as has been the case so often this season, fizzled out to nothing: “They’ve been good Fulham, they’re getting in a few times.
“They nearly got in again but VAR checked it and he was offside, Harry Wilson couldn’t get his shot away.
“Villa play such a high line, but I’ll tell you who can do better and isn’t the same player this season, [Andreas] Pereira in that number ten role.
“And now he’s starting to get on the ball and makes things happen and they are causing problems.”
Pereira was brought in for £10m by Fulham last season and was fantastic during his first campaign with the club.
Unfortunately, Silva hasn’t found a way to get his side playing at the same level as they did while Mitrovic was in the side.
Jimenez, Muniz and Carlos Vinicius aren’t at the same level as the Serbian and it’s having a knock-on effect on the rest of the squad.
The January transfer window can’t come soon enough and the Whites are already looking at potential options in that position.