Marco Silva blamed two decisive refereeing decisions after Fulham were beaten at home by in-form Huddersfield Town this afternoon.
The Fulham head coach was furious that the Terriers were awarded a first half penalty what Tony Harrington deemed a foul by Marek Rodak on Sorba Thomas and his side were not given a spot-kick in stoppage time when Tosin Adarabioyo’s header appeared to be handled by Jonathan Russell.
Silva told his post-match press conference:
“We knew we would play against a team with good organisation in a good moment. Like every team that plays against us, they fought for every ball and did everything they can to stop us. There were no surprises from them.
Even if the result wasn’t the best, even if we’re all disappointed, my players did almost everything I asked from them. We created so many problems for them, we pushed them back. Maybe our biggest chance was before the first goal, the cross that Mitro almost scored from.
The only thing we did wrong was the first goal, and when that type of thing happens, it created a platform for them and it became more difficult for us. Then came the decisive moment of the match. That penalty is difficult for me to talk about, it’s a clear mistake from the referee.
Their player fell on Marek [Rodák], and it was too easy for him to make the decision. It was strange for me. It made a big impact on the game. It’s tough to understand. Even after our goal we had a big chance with Fabio and there was a clear handball that the referee and linesman in perfect positions didn’t see.”
Well done Marco, tell it as it is. The penalty was a terrible decision by the referee and as he said, the handball at the end was obvious to almost anyone other than the referee. Didn’t think we were outplayed by Huddersfield, just didn’t get the run of the ball on the day.
We are the best team in the Championship. Every week we have more possession and more shots than the opposition, we have better players, more quality on the ball, make stacks of chances….but in football the best team on paper doesn’t always win a game. Sometimes with a bit of luck, good defending and the odd refereeing decision the weaker side wins. We can be as scientific as we like but that’s football. In other sports the best team almost always wins. So we’ll lose the odd game when things go their way and not ours…but…we’ll win enough games to go up because we won’t miss chances and get on the wrong side of referee decisions each week.