Claudio’s band of brothers show survival spirit

RYAN SESSEGNON says Claudio Ranieri is already transforming Fulham from a bunch of strangers into a band of brothers.

Ranieri won on his debut in the Craven Cottage dugout as Fulham stopped the rot after seven straight defeats with this five-goal thriller.

What stood out was the way they came from a goal down before finding the strength of character to grab a winner and hold on.

Stuart Armstrong opened the scoring and then hit an equaliser after Aleksandar Mitrovic and Andre Schurrle had struck for Fulham.

Mitrovic grabbed the decider and Sessegnon put the victory down to the work Ranieri has done in bringing together a squad fractured by so many summer arrivals.

Bonded

Sessegnon said: “He’s changed a lot of things. We eat together, we leave together now. Before we used to come up to the canteen and eat and then just go.

“Now you can’t leave until everyone’s finished. It’s about keeping the team bonded, everyone together.

“The warm-ups in training are all together too, literally. We all have to follow each other in a pattern. Little things like that help on the pitch. He wants us to defend as a team.

“Twelve new players came in and it was hard for us to gel all together.

“The team that got us promoted was a good team. For new players to gel with the players here before is really difficult.” Fulham spent more