Marco Silva saluted Fulham’s ‘courage’ after his side went toe-to-toe with Premier League leaders Manchester City before beaten 4-1 in the FA Cup this afternoon.
The Championship leaders shocked the Etihad Stadium by taking the lead through Fabio Carvalho’s fabulously worked fourth-minute opener, but were only in front for 92 seconds. Although the Whites were comfortably beaten by the conclusion, the Fulham boss felt there were plenty of elements to approve of from his side’s display.
“I asked the players to show the courage to play at the Etihad in the same way they have been playing in all the other pitches so far. I think we did that. I’m really pleased with the we played in the first half. We matched them in all the moments in the first half. The second half showed us what we can improve.
We started the game like we planned – a strong start, showing that we were here to match them and to do our best and show desire to go through in the competition. It was the worst thing for us that after scoring they equalised straightaway. In those moments we have to show more resilience.
Of course after that they scored to make it 2-1. But our first half was really good. I was really pleased to see the way we played in the first half. We did really well.”
