Marco Silva feels Fulham are far stronger than when the Whites last faced Tottenham Hotspur as he prepares for another London derby at Craven Cottage on Monday night.
The Fulham boss believes that his side can put together a far better performance than the 2-1 defeat in the reverse fixture in September, which saw Willian and Carlos Vinicius make their debuts off the substitutes’ bench. Silva told his pre-match press conference at Motspur Park this afternoon:
“I think we are, right now, a much better team than that game. It wasn’t at all our best performance. In some aspects of the game we didn’t perform at our best level. Even so, we felt until the end of the match that we could get a good result, even if I have to say that they played better than us that afternoon and they deserved three points.
[Monday] will be a different game, we hope. Playing at home at the Cottage with the fans behind us is always tough for the opposition sides to come. It’s a good sign if you are in this position right now. It shows how we have been growing as a team.
We’ve managed in a different way some moments of the games as well, even if last game wasn’t the case because we conceded a late goal, but I think we are in a better position right now in terms of performance, the compactness of our team as well, our block. n every moment of the game I think we’re in a better moment now and I hope we can show that in the next one.”
Silva says that concentrating merely on Harry Kane would be a disaster – as Tottenham have a number of different attacking threats.
“We know how he can link really well the game when he drops and how he can be strong after with the moves from Son, Richarlison or Kulusevski, it doesn’t matter who’s going to play out wide. Sometimes Kane needs just one touch, but the way he can hold the ball as well, he shows the capacity to make the right passes in the right moment as well.
Of course, it’s something that we are aware of and is something that we have to try to block in some moments of the game with our central defence, sometimes with the other players, to cover that space because it’s something where they’re really strong.”
The Portuguese head coach wouldn’t be drawn about whether Aleksandar Mitrovic would remain Fulham’s penalty taker after the drama at St. James’ Park last Sunday – but insisted he has a number of options to choose from should he decide to make a change.
“It’s always a decision that I am taking before the matches. The players know normally during the week who will be the taker. Right now, I don’t see the reasons to take this decision. Let’s see, we have more days to prepare for the match, more days to prepare penalties as well, and all these situations. If it will be Mitro again, we have all the confidence in him. If it will be Andreas Pereira, Willian, we have enough good takers. We have Harry Wilson, Tom Cairney, and Bobby [Decordova-Reid]. They are the takers. It’s a decision for me to take on the matchday, but I have full confidence if Mitro has to go again.”
