Fulham defender Tosin Adarabioyo has described the ended English Championship season as magical, but not without challenges. Securing promotion early, which wasn’t the case in 2020 when Fulham went up under Scott Parker via the play-offs, was due to the classy performances of some of their players, among them leggy Tosin, whose parents are from Nigeria. Adarabioyo, who has established himself as a mainstay in the heart of defence helped them secure promotion with four games to spare and finish top of the table. He says Fulham’s ability to stay focus earned them both.
“We needed to get to the top of the table and returned quickly to the EPL. We were focused. Many of our games were definitely high-pressure ones and everyone wanted the points.
“We thought we would pull through against Forest to secure the title with two games to go but they pushed harder going for playoff.
“We didn’t play our best game but obviously we had a chance to bounce back beating Luton Town 7-0.”
“I think all season whenever we don’t get a result our way, we manage to bounce back and we manage to focus.
“We do very well to focus on the next game and that’s what we’re doing now.”
The 24-year-old has enjoyed a dominant season in the centre of defence and was named in the EFL Championship Team of the Season.
“I was very proud. I’ve had a good season and to be acknowledged as one of the best centre-backs in the league is very good.
“There were four of us in Team of the Year and it could have been more, so it was good.”
MISSION TO KEEP
With calls coming for Adarabioyo from clubs, Fulham are, however, confident they will keep hold of him this summer.
Adarabioyo has been scouted by Premier League clubs including Newcastle while still in the Championship.
Fulham had been fearful they could lose the 24-year-old this summer if big bids came in and they had failed to seal an instant return to the top-flight.
However, they achieved that feat against Preston and wrapped up the Championship title on last day beating Bournemouth to the title by two points.
A delighted Adarabioyo was also named in the English Football League Championship Team of the Season for 2021-2022.
The former England youth international of Nigerian descent stared 40 of the 44 matches contested by the Cottagers in the Championship.
Adarabioyo was one of three Super Eagles-eligible players honoured with a place in the division’s best XI, the others being Bournemouth duo Philip Billing and Dominic Solanke. He helped Fulham post fourteen shutouts this season and got his name on the scoresheet twice while providing two assists in 3,595 minutes of action.
Adarabioyo wasn’t the only Nigerian representative in the divisional XI comprising the top performers, as Rotherham United centre-back Michael Ihiekwe was selected in the League One Team of the Season.
MAN CITY HOMECOMING
Though the season wasn’t without its challenges, especially in the last weeks, Adarabioyo noted that one of his finest moments in the season was the FA Cup homecoming against Man City.
Though, City won 4-1 to eliminate Fulham in the match, it was special for the over six footer.
“It was a special time going to play Man City and how we played. We keep our identity. We know its Manchester City, and they generally have so much of the ball, but we tried and played our game also.”
Adarabioyo is a boyhood City fan who was born in Manchester and spent 18 years at the club from the age of five. It was only in 2020 that Tosin left the Etihad, a highly sought-after product of their youth system who had made Pep Guardiola’s first team. It could be quite an emotional situation for a lot of players, all the more since it’s an FA Cup tie, but Tosin didn’t feel it when going back and doesn’t really feel it now.
“Nah, it’s not strange,” Tosin said. “It’s just another game, a big game. It’ll be nice to go back and see everyone there but it is just a game.”
“It’s a whole team job, though. Everyone has to get across the whole pitch, to make sure you don’t get overloaded.”
Tosin witnessed Pep Guardiola’s transformation directly.
“You first noticed it when the facilities started to get better, they started to do up the changing room, started to do up the gym. There were small signs quite early on, but the big difference came about seven years with the academy.
“You went from average facilities to world-class facilities. It was amazing.” And to world-class coaching, it was just another area where City insisted on “best in class”, to use the term often said around the club like a mantra.
“It was the education the coaches have, their knowledge of the game. A lot played the game too, so they were able to pass down their experience and give advice. Playing out from the back as a centre-half was something we knew well and that I enjoyed.”
It all meant he instantly fit at Fulham on going to Craven Cottage at the start of the 2020-21 seasons, after loans at West Brom and Blackburn Rovers.
Former Fulham manager Scott Parker put Tosin straight into the team alongside Danish international Joachim Andersen, and he very quickly impressed in superb defensive performances against a series of big-six clubs. The 1-1 draw at home to Liverpool and 1-0 win away undeniably stood out. Tosin offered defensive command and technical poise.
He was one of a few reasons Fulham earned a lot of respect under Parker, despite getting relegated. That wasn’t due to the defence, since there were six teams that conceded more goals.
“We played good football, which was why it was a shame to go down. We’re a good team.”
Tosin credited the instant resurgence to the focus of new manager Marco Silva as much as his tactics.
Silva was completely clear with the players when he first came in. “He told us the goal was to win the league. We were all on the same page, him and his staff.”
Fulham were in symphony over January, as they beat Reading 7-0, and both Bristol City and Birmingham City 6-2 in consecutive games. Tosin described it as one of those rare periods when everything just comes together for a team. He himself even hit the fifth goal of his career against Reading. It wasn’t just something subconscious or automatic, though. It was a lot of hard work and planning, of preparation paying off.
“It all just clicked. We’re a team enjoying our football, and those results are a consequence of that. The manager loves offensive football, that’s how he wants to play, to go out and attack and show what we can do.
“Our preparation didn’t change much for this game, really. It’s a knock-out picture, so we had to practice penalties,” added Adarabioyo.
BIGGER GOALS
That may seem ambitious, but that’s been Fulham this season. It has led to Tosin looking to bigger goals of his own, too.
Although a former England underage international right up until under-19, he is eligible to play for Nigeria. Both of his parents moved over from Nigeria, before he and his two brothers were born in Manchester. Tosin is naturally considering Qatar World Cup on the card of England.
“The World Cup is coming up this year. It’s definitely something I need to have a think about.”
He would have almost certainly been in the Three Lions season had it not been for his club’s relegation to the Championship last season.
It is testament to him that he put his England ambitions on hold for a season to turn in consistently superb performances to help the West Londoners make a rapid return to the top flight.
When he was playing in the Premier League last season, only John Stones and Harry Maguire had better defensive stats than him, out of all English central defenders.
He says: “To be up there with Stones and Maguire was amazing, because they are the two England centre-halves right now. Stones is one of the best players in the world.
“I’ve definitely got the quality to be in the England squad. Every player’s concentration has to be on getting to the World Cup this winter — and that’s my goal.
“I knew, because I was playing in the Championship, that it wasn’t going to be possible to get a call-up but it’s definitely possible now.
“My ambition this season was to play every week for Fulham and get them back into the Premier League.”
The real work now begins on plotting a way to try to stay in the top division.
Next season will be the sixth in a row where Fulham have switched between the two tiers.
He said: “We weren’t getting the ball into the back of the net when we needed to.
“We’re going to have to see if we can be successful in staying in the Premier League. Most of the squad know more about what is required. We have experienced the feeling of getting relegated and it’s not one we want again.”
Despite spending a season outside the top-flight, Tosin believed he is an even better player now, adding: “I’ve matured as a defender.
“I’ve learned from my mistakes. But I am not the type who dwells on mistakes too long. I just get on with it.
“I remember I made one against Aston Villa last season but you watch the game back and put it right the next time you play.”
Tosin has enjoyed working for Silva, loving his attacking style having come through the ranks at Manchester City.
He said: “He’s added a really good philosophy and we’ve all implemented that into our games.
Next season Adarabioyo will be able to show Premier League fans what he’s made of. I love the football we play but, of course, my main job is to defend first.”
