Sessegnon: ‘We need to stick together’

Ryan Sessegnon has pleaded with Fulham fans for patience and insisted the players need to ‘stick together.’

Sessegnon scored to put the Cottagers into the lead against Ipswich on Saturday with a phenomenal strike from outside the box.

And it looked for all money like it was going to be enough for Fulham to finally earn their first win of the season and begin to ease away from the relegation zone.

Unfortunately though, a familiar failing struck for Fulham and Alvaro Arbeloa, with Ipswich scoring in the 88th minute through Abdoul Ouattara and then again in the 92nd minute when Dara O’Shea struck with a header.

That saw Fulham concede result-changing goals beyond the 75th minute for the fourth time this season, only not doing so when losing 3-2 to Chelsea and picking up a plucky point against Liverpool at Anfield.

Fulham sitting in 20th in the Premier League table, with just two points from six matches, has understandably led to a sense of doom and gloom around Craven Cottage.

But, ahead of a home clash against Hull, Sessegnon has insisted that there needs to be a sense of togetherness from all involved with the Cottagers.

“We need to demand more from ourselves, try to improve and then just stick together and keep going,” he said.

“Everyone’s a bit down at the moment, understandably, but we need to keep fighting hard to get that first win.”

Fulham’s poor form before the international break was partly explained by the nature of their challenging fixtures, with the Cottagers taking on Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United in their opening five games.

But after the break, Fulham had the unique opportunity of facing three consecutive newly-promoted teams, and there was some hope that results would change as a result.

Defeat to Ipswich has led to anger from many corners of the Cottagers’ fan base, and there have been accusations of ineptitude directed at Arbeloa for his decisions to take of Fulham’s most threatening attacking players.

But, with two of the three matches against newly-promoted sides still to come for Fulham, against Hull and then Coventry, Sessegnon insisted the players need to take responsibility and that all the blame cannot be attributed to the manager.

“We need more togetherness, demand more from each other, set higher standards for ourselves, because it’s going to be a hard season, so we need to stick together,” he said.

“Obviously, we’re very frustrated, disappointed, and we need to take a hard look at ourselves.”

There have already been managers linked with the Fulham job, with reports suggesting that anything less than four points from the next two matches will not be enough for Arbeloa to stay in a job.

Eddie Howe, Kieran McKenna and Thomas Frank have all been linked, while there are also calls from Vitor Pereira to potentially become Fulham’s latest manager.