Although Fulham's second-half performance in their 3-2 defeat against Everton may be a positive for some fans, it should not gloss over what was an awful display from midfielder Mario Lemina.

The 27-year-old, who joined on loan from Southampton. in the summer transfer window and is earning £40,000-a-week at Craven Cottage according to Spotrac, struggled throughout the game against the Toffees.

Scott Parker opted to bring both Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Andre-Zambo Anguissa off the bench, and both were able to have much more of an impression on the game than Lemina did in the 69 minutes he was on the pitch.

As per SofaScore, the Gabonese international lost possession 13 times during the game against Carlo Ancelotti's side and posted a solid, if unspectacular, pass accuracy rate of 84%, with 32 out of 38 of his passes finding their mark.

However, it was defensively where he struggled most, as Everton were able to cut through the Fulham midfield on a number of occasions, with Lemina regularly losing out to the more energetic Toffees players.

Of the 10 ground duels he was involved in, he was able to win just three, with the Everton players perhaps wanting the ball more than he did, which culminated in SofaScore awarding him a match rating of 6.1 - ranking him as the worst player on the pitch.

It was no surprise, therefore, that he was replaced with around 20 minutes of the game remaining and after he went off, Fulham looked much more dangerous and were able to win the ball back on a number of occasions.

It was perhaps a surprise that the loanee was given a start by Parker, considering in the five Premier League games he has featured in so far this season, he has registered a very poor average rating of 6.4/10 (per WhoScored).

Both of Loftus-Cheek and Anguissa have scored better across the season so far, so it would not be a surprise to see one of them replace Lemina in Fulham's next fixture, which sees them take on Leicester City away from home in the Premier League.