THE curious case of Armando Broja makes sense when you see Rodrigo Muniz play like this.
And the Brazilian’s stellar performance must surely have extinguished Ange Postecoglou’s hitherto baffling belief that Spurs are still in the title race.
Muniz had the beating of Tottenham debutant Radu Dragusin throughout and grabbed a lovely opener three minutes before the break.
Four minutes after the interval, Sasa Lukic’s flukey finish made it 2-0.
Muniz’s poacher’s strike just after the hour KO’d Tottenham and any remote hope they had of gate-crashing their way to the Prem crown.
He came off shortly after, having been kicked by Dragusin in netting his second, to a standing ovation which included Hollywood actor Hugh Grant.
Muniz’s emergence in the last few months has been an intriguing story of its own.
And one that has come at the cost of Chelsea loanee Broja, who was not even on the bench here.
Marco Silva said it was for “tactical” reasons but it still came as a surprise.
Not least to the player himself, as SunSport understands, as there had been no issue in training.
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Leaving Broja out means Fulham will have to pay his parent club £4million – an agreed amount if he did not make ten starts during the temporary switch, which he now cannot do.
It was not a great day personally for him but an even worse one for Spurs, who are 11 points off top having now played as many games as Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City.
Postecoglou’s men looked a shadow of the side that trounced Aston Villa 4-0 last week.
That big win had seen them lose key defender Micky van de Ven to injury.
And though the Dutchman is expected to be back after the international break, they sure missed him here as Dragusin struggled on his full debut.
Spurs’ £25million summer buy from Genoa had plenty of the ball early doors.
But when it came to the 50-50 battles – supposedly one of his biggest strengths – with Muniz, there was only one winner.
The confidence flowing through Fulham’s centre-forward after five goals in six games was clear for all to see, as he pulled off audacious flicks and won aerial duels throughout.
Guglielmo Vicario was forced into action to deny Lukic at close range, minutes after another wonderful Cristian Romero block had repelled Andreas Pereira with the goal at his mercy.
Dragusin looked to have got away with one when he caught Muniz as the former Flamengo man tried to burst clear, but ref Robert Jones was unmoved.
Muniz was inches away from turning home a cutback from Antonee Robinson but somehow could not make a connection.
Spurs rode their luck on that occasion, as they did soon after when Willian, at the ripe old age of 35, raced down the pitch and fed Alex Iwobi, but Vicario again came to the rescue.
Dragusin may have been being given a torrid time at the back by Muniz, but he suddenly was presented with a great chance to open the scoring when he was played through by Romero’s header.
Yet the 22-year-old was caught between having a shot or cutting it back and eventually his effort, which looked to be more of a pass, rolled across goal and out of play.
Not being an attacker, he could be forgiven.
But James Maddison will know he should have done better when Destiny Udogie laid it back to him and he could only find the side-netting.
With three minutes to go to the break, Muniz had the goal his performance deserved.
Once again it was through a link-up with rampaging left-back Robinson, who fired a first-time delivery from out wide.
Muniz had managed to drift off Dragusin and his first touch was sublime, trapping the fizzing ball, and his second true as he fired across Vicario and into the back of the net.
Fulham quickly doubled their lead after the break when Lukic turned home a Timothy Castagne cross with his knee.
Film star Grant and his fellow spectators were in dreamland on 61 minutes when Calvin Bassey shot deflected off the post, allowing Muniz to nip in front of Dragusin and stab home.
Spurs being Spurs, at least under their attacking Aussie boss, they still had good chances to score but Brennan Johnson and sub Timo Werner missed sitters.
It left Postecoglou with much to ponder as he considers how to win the battle that his team are genuinely in – that of the race for fourth with Villa.
Meanwhile Muniz’s seventh goal in as many games had the home fans dreaming of a late European push.
It will have been tough to take, but Broja could have no complaints given he was losing out to arguably the Premier League’s most in-form striker right now.
Remind yourself how the game went with our live blog below.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
