It should certainly mark the end of the Denilson/Eboue midfield partnership and the more senior pairing of Toure and Gallas won't be too comfortable either.
Manuel Almunia - 2 - Despite their superiority in midfield, Fulham actually produced little to test Manuel, but they did manage to highlight the glaring weakness in his game. Our lack of height is exaggerated at set-pieces by having a goalkeeper who resolutely refuses to leave his line. The six-yard box is a keeper's domain, but no one seems to have told Almunia, and in this particularly poor example he seemed to be cowering behind two players as Hangeland strolled in to score.
Bacary Sagna - 6 - Still finding his feet this season, but showed some signs of linking up well with Theo.
Kolo Toure - 5 - Unceremoniously hauled off and may be about to lose his first-team place as we seek to address the problems at the back.
William Gallas - 5 - for his defending 0 for his captaincy A fine player but a woeful leader. With a minute or so to go in injury time, an equaliser was unlikely but you still expect a bit of fight. Where was Gallas? Head down, slowly walking back from the Fulham penalty area, 30 yards offside - fine example. He says he has learnt from his mistakes of last season. It would be nice if he proved it.
Gael Clichy - 8 - A few loose passes aside, Gael was head and shoulders above his team-mates and was less than impressed with some of them. Chased lost causes and more often than not retrieved them.
Theo Walcott - 5 - Flashes of his ability but too little in many ways.
Denilson - 4 - Many a loose pass, but in his defence he was often given only one option to pick out and Fulham were excellent in closing down both players and space.
Emmanuel Eboue - 6 - Bound to be the scapegoat for some and was never on the same wavelength as his midfield partner, but at least he ran at the centre of Fulham's defence with great conviction in the final 20 minutes leaving Fulham with little option but to bring him down and give away free kicks in dangerous areas.
Samir Nasri - 7 - The real bright spot - given that we know Clichy is class - Nasri had a very good second half with his inventive running and sharp passing. Could have dragged the game out of the fire where it not for …
Robin van Persie - 4 - Well not Robin on his own, but the front two, who are worringly not clicking. There was a lack of movement from both in the first half which was a huge contributory factor in our downfall and Robin missed a sitter just moments before Fulham scored.
Emmanuel Adebayor - 5 - Unlucky with a great header that hit the post, and was all over the place in the second half as we attempted to get back into the game.
Substitutes:
Nicklas Bendtner - 5 - Much huffing and puffing, little effect.
Alexandre Song - 6 - With our lightweight midfield being overrun, Song's entrance was inevitable but why at centre back? Did as well as he could.