Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic offered a frank assessment of his side’s failings after they were relegated from the top flight on Monday night, admitting: “We didn’t deserve to stay up.”
The Cottagers had their fate confirmed by a 2-0 home defeat to Burnley, with Mitrovic suggesting they had “cracked under the pressure” of the must-win game as they went out with something of a whimper.
Ashley Westwood and Chris Wood were on target before the break to ensure Scott Parker’s side drop straight back down to the Championship following last season’s promotion via the playoffs.
“It is a tough time, but we failed today and we failed this season,” Mitrovic told Sky Sports.
“Our performance this season wasn’t good enough, we didn’t deserve it. I’ve played football long enough to know it’s a really honest game.
“You always finish where you deserve to be, we didn’t deserve to stay up this season and everything we showed this season was not enough.
“We felt tonight we didn’t show the big characters and the big mentality and we cracked under the pressure a little bit.
“We tried, we fight, we worked hard, but we missed the quality at both ends. In leagues like this you get punished, and we got punished today and this season.”
