Blackburn Rovers 0 Fulham 2: Graeme Souness accused his team of "mugging themselves" yesterday and his irritation must have been all the more intense because of the culpability of Barry Ferguson and, in particular, Lorenzo Amoruso.

Recruited from Rangers at what now seems a ludicrous combined cost of £8.9 million, they have done little in their first few weeks but show the gulf between the top tiers of English and Scottish football.

Souness had claimed Ferguson was in the class of Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira but the reigning Scottish player of the year was anonymous in a wretched performance and was substituted before the hour. Amoruso again made inexplicable errors. He was partly to blame for Luis Boa Morte's close-range finish when, along with Brad Friedel, he failed to cut out Steed Malbranque's centre. Later, as the last man, he misjudged the run of the ball and Louis Saha brutally exposed his lack of pace.

Amoruso's shortcomings epitomised the fragility of his side, who have already conceded nine goals at Ewood Park and, after defeats by Manchester City and Liverpool, have lost as many home matches in the opening six weeks as all last campaign.

After finishing sixth last season the home fans booed off the players and must fear their team have taken a step backwards. Inspired by Malbranque, Fulham out-thought and finally out-fought their opponents.

"We've lost because we gave them two very sloppy goals," said an angry Souness. "I'm not going to criticise individuals but we keep giving away poor goals and it's costing us dearly."

The suspicion is Mohamed Al Fayed has given up trying to establish Fulham as the "Manchester United of the south," or even the Manchester City of the south. But if Fayed is not as committed as he was, the same could not be said of the players. Fulham played with pace and purpose and, given that Edwin van der Sar made only one noteworthy save, beating away Brett Emerton's second-half volley, they fully deserved their second away win.

"I still think Blackburn are a top-six side, so it's a great scalp for us," said manager Chris Coleman.

It will not have escaped Souness's attention how Malbranque and Junichi Inamoto eclipsed Ferguson. A thigh strain putting Marcus Babbel out for six weeks compounded a miserable Blackburn day.