Marco Silva said losing Anthony Robinson would be a “huge waste” for Fulham after the USMNT international picked up an ankle injury during the 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur.
Robinson, who has started every Premier League game for Fulham this season, left the field in the 29th minute after injuring his right ankle while trying to cross the ball. The left-back was replaced by summer arrival Kevin Mbabo, who is usually the right-back.
Robinson, 25, played a key role in Fulham’s move to the Premier League last season and with international matches on the horizon, coach Silva could not immediately put a time frame on how long he could remain on the sidelines.
“We have to see tomorrow,” he said. “Day by day let’s see how he (Robinson) is. Let’s see. Let’s hope it isn’t really dangerous. Let’s hope he’s ready for next week (against Chelsea). But now it’s too early to talk about that.”
Mbabo played the rest of the match in an unfamiliar position as Fulham suffered their second defeat of the season at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur.
Robinson has started the season impressively for Fulham.
The West London club on Friday signed another new left-back, Levin Kurzawa, on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, to provide competition for Robinson. However, he was not part of Saturday’s lineup for fitness reasons. The France international did not play for PSG last season and will need time to adapt.
“He (Robinson) made a big mistake, this evening is a good example of that,” Silva added. “The player who came (Mbabu) was not at the level he should have been (there) at that moment. Of course it was an adaptation and it was difficult for him to play on the left side.
“Kurzawa is not at his best yet. When you sign these kind of players late in the market, of course they haven’t finished pre-season with the team, as he was part of the group at PSG. He needs more time to be ready. For the quality and the quality that the Premier League demands of him.”
About the defeat, Silva said: “It definitely wasn’t our best performance ever. We didn’t reach our standards. The first half wasn’t good enough with the ball.
“Unfortunately for us Robinson had an injury that caused another problem for us. We had to adapt a player on the left side.
“In the second half I saw more courage from my team to play and to match them.”
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