How Muniz exceeded expectations to fill Fulham's Mitrovic void

 

When Aleksandar Mitrovic departed Fulham in the summer, Craven Cottage collectively mourned the loss of a star player. 

 

The Serbian striker hit a ludicrous 43 goals in 44 Championship starts in 2021/22, firing them to promotion, then followed that up with an exemplary 14 goals in 23 Premier League starts, helping them ease their way not only to safety, but to a top 10 finish, two spots above arch-rivals Chelsea. 

 

It felt like a true building block of a season: They scored the 10th most goals in the division (55) and conceded the 10th fewest (53); they’d assembled an energetic, physically robust side, led by the brilliant Joao Palhinha in the centre, and spearheaded by Mitrovic’s goalscoring stardust. They were firmly midtable, but with huge capacity to improve. 

 

Then the Saudis came calling, and Fulham - understandably - accepted a mega offer for their difference-maker. Between that and coming so close to losing Palhinha on deadline day too, it cast a huge shadow over what had been anticipated to be a truly bright campaign… but was threatening to take a rather different turn. 

 

Fulham’s response to losing Mitrovic was to sign Raul Jimenez, whose powers had waned following a nasty head injury; he was in the middle of a truly grim goal drought. It took him until midway through November to score his first for the Whites, sparking a mini-purple patch, but he’s sloped off again, yet to net in 2024. 

 

Fulham’s response to this was to sign Armando Broja on loan from Chelsea, on deadline day, in a curious deal that gets cheaper the more he plays. It smacked of a team rooting in the dark for answers, perhaps concerned for their Premier League safety. An immediate injury means his Craven Cottage story has barely even begun, though, and while that probably should have spelled disaster for the Whites, it has in fact opened up the most surprising of doors. 

 

Rodrigo Muniz, who was signed almost three years ago, buried in the depth chart, loaned to Middlesbrough, then shown no faith as the club signed Jimenez and Broja to play ahead of him, has inexplicably come to the rescue. No one - and we mean no one - saw this coming. 

 

But his last month (and a bit) has been as good as just about anyone’s in the Premier League, scoring five goals and adding one assist in his last five games. His WhoScored rating since the start of February is 7.87; only seven players have earned better in that time. That has helped Fulham to 10 points from a possible 15 and pushed them back up to within touching distance of the top half of the table. 

 

 

Muniz is overperforming slightly in his shooting - he’s registered 5 goals from an xG of 4.15 -  but not to a concerning degree. Even if that dropped off just a little, he still adds immense value to the team, as he barrels around the pitch, roughing up centre-backs and scrapping for every ball.  

 

Across those five games, he’s been involved in an incredible 94 duels. He only ever wins about half of them on a good day, but even when he loses out, he applies enough pressure to force a defender off balance, into a panicked clearance, or perhaps into an outright mistake. That ability to both score and occupy is reminiscent of, well, Mitrovic himself. 

 

"Great performances," manager Marco Silva cooed last week. "Rodrigo is getting better and better. He’s getting stronger, which is really difficult for defenders to deal with. If we provide for him inside the box then he’s really dangerous as well. I think there’s even more to come from him." 

 

There’s absolutely no way Fulham were counting on this. It’s wise to measure clubs by their actions, not their words, and the fact they’ve signed and fielded multiple strikers in the time Muniz has been in the background tells a distinct story.  

 

But all you need in football is one chance, and the Brazilian - still just 22 years of age - has grabbed his emphatically.

How Muniz exceeded expectations to fill Fulham's Mitrovic void