Fulham boss Felix Magath sees his youngsters turn on class

 
Left for dead: Emerson Hyndman beats Ola Aina to put Fulham into the lead against Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup final
Jack Pitt-Brooke29 April 2014

If Felix Magath is looking for some inspiration, or for some dangerous players, ahead of Fulham’s crucial last two Premier League games — and he probably is — he could take great heart from the performance of his teenage side in last night’s FA Youth Cup Final first leg.

Fulham have already given debuts to 10 academy players this season and two of those — Moussa Dembele and Patrick Roberts — were excellent at Craven Cottage against their neighbours, but so were Emerson Hyndman and George Williams, who have not featured in the senior side yet.

Dembele, the 17-year-old French striker, has already started in the League this season but showed again that he has the talent and confidence that are prerequisites for scoring goals at the top level. His attempted ‘Panenka’ penalty in the first half, which hit the bar, showed almost too much nerve but he did not let it affect him. He continued to lead the line with strength and intelligence, heading in the equaliser which started the three-goal, 10-minute blitz which put the hosts in control.

Roberts, playing just behind Dembele, was a constant threat with his delicacy and imagination, and his run into the box earned Fulham’s first-half penalty. The first-team midfield is not exactly overburdened by pace and wit and Magath, watching alongside chief executive Alistair Mackintosh, can only have been impressed with Roberts and midfielders Hyndman and Williams. Hyndman, from Texas, ran powerfully from midfield to score the second while Williams, who played first-team football for MK Dons before joining Fulham, gave Chelsea right-back Isak Ssewankambo a difficult evening with his burst of pace and close control.

Chelsea did well to come into the game through Charly Musonda’s late goal but they will be disappointed that Fulham wrested control of a game which Chelsea had under control for the first hour. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the England Under-19 international, gave them presence and authority in midfield but their most exciting player was Jay Dasilva. Signed from Luton Town at the age of 13, he played on the left-wing with intelligence and confidence, repeatedly beating his man and scoring the game’s first goal early in the second half with a powerful shot into the far bottom corner.

Dasilva, Dominic Solanke and Charlie Colkett could have won the game for Chelsea early on but they did not, and the defence struggled when Fulham raised their tempo. Highly rated centre-back Andreas Christensen made one excellent early tackle on Dembele but struggled in the second half, losing his man for the equaliser before turning his back on Hyndman’s shot to deflect it past his goalkeeper to give Fulham the advantage. The two teams meet again in the second leg next Monday.

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