Claudio Ranieri’s reign at Fulham has been less “new manager bounce”, more the dull thud of the reality that he has inherited a squad not suited to the Premier League. The Italian pronounced this the best performance of that short reign but his statistical read-out of the game pinpointed where West Ham had won the match. West Ham saw out the second 45 minutes with ease, bar one hurried clearance from Fabián Balbuena after Tom Cairney had escaped to the byline. “When we started the season so bad I never felt any negative reaction,” he said, in reference to West Ham losing their first four matches. “It was important for him to learn what the Premier League is,” said the Chilean.

Source: The Guardian December 15, 2018 19:33 UTC