Marco Silva was bitterly disappointed after a rampant Wolves came from behind to thrash Fulham at a wet Craven Cottage this afternoon.
The Portuguese head coach was particularly disappointed with the way that the Whites conceded an equaliser to Matheus Cunha after Alex Iwobi had curled in a splendid opening goal.
Silva told his post-match press conference after the 4-1 defeat.
Not just one thing went wrong today. Of course, if you just look at the result it’s a difficult one to take, but in my opinion the score doesn’t reflect what happened throughout the game. It was a strange game in the way it went and, of course, the big moment that made us play with ten men – [Joachim] Andersen’s injury after we made all of our changes.
“I think we started the game like we should, on the front foot, trying to command like we normally do. We created some chances even before the great goal we scored. The way we conceded the first goal made a big impact on the game because we were controlling. Three passes and great movement from Cunha, who is a great, great player, but we should have defended much better.
We started the second half with two chances but we conceded, and after Joachim had to come off it was much more difficult for us and they scored two more.”
The Fulham boss felt he could have been less adventurous with his substitutions after Andersen’s injury meant his side played the final quarter of the contest with ten men – and were duly punished in the closing stages. He told Match of the Day:
“I wanted to bring fresh players, with Kenny Tete on a yellow card. I probably should have kept that one in my pocket, but the yellow card probably rushed my decision to bring on Timo [Castagne] as well.”
No excuses néed a number 9 and play Harry 90 minutes he knows where the goal is.
I think Marco that’s an understatement even when Andersen went off we were underperforming Did ESR play today because I never saw him Iwobis goal was brilliant but it seemed to galvanise Wolves does anybody know where Berge was why he was not in the squad Abysmal display not acceptable especiaiily the ones who went missing very worrying
Oh dear! It doesn’t take much for the wheels to come off, does it?
Just a couple of days ago, we were dreaming and talking of Europe.
If United beat Ipswich, we could end the weekend in 11th spot.
Leaving aside the fact that, like it or not, these stupid International breaks, for a meaningless Nations League tournament, have totally messed up the Premiership because very few teams are able to come together again cohesively when most of their teammates have been away with their national teams. It takes a game or two to get back in the groove.
The travel that some players have to undertake cannot help but that does not excuse the lacklustre form of those who did not travel. Players like Smith-Rowe and Nelson let us down badly today. Compare these players to the likes of Jedi who, arguably, had one of the furthest trips yet still managed lung busting runs for 90 minutes, and it’s really hard to understand.
However, I maintain that, despite a promising start to the season, we have TWO huge flaws in Silva’s setup.
Firstly, we lack an outfield captain; somebody who can see where things are going wrong and make the necessary adjustments. Somebody who barks orders, offers encouragement; the embodiment of the manager -only ON the pitch.
Instead, for some unfathomable reason, Marco Silva persists in Bernd Leno as our skipper. Why? Before a game, he high fives the mascots. Brilliant! He shows his character – that of a nice guy. I have NEVER -not even once -seen him geeing players up before a game or during the match. Even at defensive set pieces, it is Andersen and Bassey who control our box. Further forward, what influence does Leno have on our midfield and attack? None!
Yet Marco Silva seems not to understand the importance of the captain’s role.
Even worse is flaw number two: the continued lionisation of Andreas Pereira. Before the Palace game, even the most diehard Pereira fans were calling for him to be dropped and my voice was the loudest of all. Yet, at Selhurst Park, he had a half decent game and I was the first to say so. But, against Wolves, he was back to his bewildering worst:-mis-hit passes, poor first touch etc. What the hell does Silva see in this guy?
We are the ONLY team in the Premiership not to have scored from a set piece. Yet, game after game, he is our designated set piece taker. When will the penny drop with Silva that this guy is not actually very good -at anything?
Until we fix these fundamental flaws in our makeup, we may well flatter to deceive and flirt with higher positions, yo-yoing the table, but we will never truly achieve anything.