Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic admitted his side face a race against time to adapt to the top flight after another defeat which suggests a relegation struggle could be on the cards.
The Whites went down 3-0 against Everton at Goodison Park, where they were brushed aside with relative ease in the second half.
Jokanovic said: “They (Everton) didn’t do something fantastic or the perfect game from their point of view but with a bit more skill and power they easily scored three goals.
“We must understand where we are and that we could pay a really expensive price if we don’t adapt ourselves to this.
“We are a seven games-old Premier League team and we showed some quality – we were brave and tried to follow our style.
“I can find both positives and negatives from today’s game. We are in a kind of growing-up process. There is big room for improvement and we need to be more brave and more consistent and do everything to find a faster improvement.”
To add to Jokanovic’s woes, he revealed midfielder Joe Bryan is likely to be ruled out for a number of weeks after picking up a hamstring strain, while Timothy Fosu-Mensah faces tests on a shoulder injury which forced him off.
Jokanovic added: “Joe has a hamstring problem and will probably be a few weeks outside the squad. Tim has some kind of shoulder problem but we haven’t assessed him yet.”