Mitrovic says he wants to cry after wasting gift-wrapped chances

NO WONDER Claudio Ranieri is hunting for a new striker this January.

The Fulham boss was denied the perfect Christmas present when Wolves’ Romain Saiss struck five minutes from time to cancel out a 74th-minute strike from substitute Ryan Sessegnon.

Instead, Ranieri experienced the trouble with Fulham in 90 frustrating minutes.

They still can’t defend – they have now conceded in all but one of their last 23 Premier League fixtures.

Nor can they rely on striker Aleksandar Mitrovic to shoot them out of relegation trouble.

The Serb had seven shots on goal here during the first half – no other striker has had more during an opening 45 minutes this season.

Yet he couldn’t score with any of them. Late in the first half, he sent two defenders to nearby Waitrose with his skill before finding Wolves keeper Rui Patricio a bridge too far.

In second-half added time, he was denied an even bigger chance when he had a shot cleared off the line by Conor Coady.

“I’m disappointed, angry.

Iwant to cry, trust me.” Mitrovic said. “You have these days, but you just need to keep going.

“If I hit it 100 more times, the ball wouldn’t go in. I don’t know, I did everything right.”

The trouble is, Ranieri can’t afford to deal in hard-luck stories. They cost his predecessor Slavisa Jokanovic his job.

That’s why the Fulham head coach is among the many managers tracking the likes of 21-year-old Frankfurt striker Luka Jovic, who has netted 17 goals in all competitions this season. It is also why Ranieri is keen on the Bournemouth 22-year-old Lys Mousset.

“We need to find a solution,” said the former Leicester boss.

“If you lose hope, you lose everything. For this reason, I believe in my players and that we can do something good this year.”

That belief, however, can only stretch so far. Fulham’s big summer spend – to the tune of £100million – is welldocumented. But their squad is weak. They have no option but to go again in January to have even a chance of staying up.

As for Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo, he, too, will dip into the January transfer market when the window opens.

After a brief revival with three wins on the spin, Wanderers lost to Liverpool and have been held at a place where they should have won.

Nuno said: “We must decide on the right moment. We still have games to play and the transfer window lasts throughout January.”