Felix Magath’s position as manager of Fulham looks more fragile than ever after his side collapsed to a 5-3 defeat at Nottingham Forest in the Championship on Wednesday.
Fulham recovered from two goals down to lead 3-2 at the City Ground thanks to a brace from £11 million (Dh65.9m) summer signing Ross McCormack either side of a strike by Hugo Rodallega.
However, Michail Antonio equalised with 13 minutes left before Britt Assombalonga completed his hat-trick and Jamie Paterson completed the turnaround for Forest, who go back to the top of the table and remain unbeaten.
Fulham, in contrast, remain rooted to the foot of the table with just one point to their name seven games into the season.
German manager Magath was heckled by Fulham fans after their 3-0 defeat to Reading at the weekend and the latest loss leaves the former Bayern Munich coach in an increasingly difficult position.
The Fulham manager sat motionless by the dugout as chants of “Magath out” rang out from the small pocket of Cottagers supporters during Wednesday’s game.
Despite the result, Magath said: “I am completely confident in my job.
“I don’t think about my position. I just work with my team. They played very well and scored three times. We were very unlucky.
“I understand the fans’ frustrations. I’m very sad we are bottom with one point. It is terrible for the players, myself and the supporters.”
Meanwhile, Blackburn’s spirited late fightback almost denied Derby County their first away league win of the season, a result that Steve McClaren claims would have been a “travesty”.
Derby were two goals ahead with 12 minutes to go after Jamie Ward’s double sandwiched Will Hughes’ sumptuous left-foot strike.
However, Rovers, who had taken the lead after just 51 seconds through Ben Marshall’s deflected opener, pulled one back through Rudy Gestede and poured men forward in search of an equaliser.
They came close on several occasions, with Gestede’s stoppage-time header flicked on to the crossbar by substitute Omar Mascarell in a final act of defiance in Derby’s 3-2 victory.
It left McClaren praising his men’s character as they continued an impressive first few weeks following May’s play-off final disappointment at Wembley.
“That is always evident – they showed it on Sunday (against Nottingham Forest) and we had to show it again but in a different way,” said the former England manager.
“I think we deserved the result; it would have been a travesty if they had equalised. Last year we drew this game against Birmingham 3-3 when 3-1 up but we’ve hung on and got the point and it’s a big win.”
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