Marco Silva insists his touchline behaviour must improve after he was banned from the touchline for Fulham’s FA Cup replay at Sunderland on Wednesday night having received a fourth booking of the season.

The Fulham boss was cautioned by Stuart Attwell in the closing stages of Friday’s draw at Stamford Bridge and will have to watch from the stands at the Stadium of Light. He had received bookings at Arsenal, West Ham and Newcastle prior to his caution during the SW6 derby and told his pre-match press conference this afternoon:

“Of course it’s a blow. It’s not a good thing. It will be strange. But we have to respect the moment. Actually in that moment I didn’t do anything but the fourth official saw it in a different way. I have to respect it. But everything we do will prepare in the week and we will be ready. We are a staff, not just one person. Someone will take care of it.

Of course I have to improve myself. Even if sometimes it is not fair, and in the last game it clearly was not. But of course you are talking about four yellows, not just one yellow. I’m the first one demanding for myself and the first one to know I should improve some things.

Sometimes with the emotion of the game it is not easy to do it. I respect the decisions from the officials. I have to improve myself, that’s it. To control the emotions in the game.”

The Fulham head coach would not be drawn on how much he will rotate his side with a match against Nottingham Forest at Craven Cottage on Saturday to follow.

“Let’s see how many [changes] we are going to do. As you know, we are going to play on Wednesday evening, and we have Nottingham Forest Saturday, 3pm. Of course, as always, we look for the next match as the most important one, and the FA Cup is our focus, but we have to think at the same time about the next one.

It has been a busy period, some of the players have been playing many, many games since Boxing Day, and we have to take care of it. But it will be a decision that I have to take, and the most important [game] for us will be the FA Cup right now, even if you make changes or not. The players that start the game, they will be the best players for the game.

First, we have to reach the same type of motivation, the same type of enthusiasm, know how [Sunderland] are going to play. And we have to play our game, it doesn’t matter if you make many changes or not, we have to play our game. We have to be Fulham Football Club, play to our strengths and play to win the football match. It will be difficult, like all the ties in the FA Cup. I think the game against them at home was a good example. But we have to do better than the last game.”