Emile Smith was delighted to play a pivotal role in Fulham’s impressive win over Nottingham Forest at Craven Cottage yesterday.
The attacking midfielder opened the scoring with a close-range header from a fine Adama Traore cross and put together possibly his most complete performance since signing from Arsenal in the summer. The England international told FFCTV after the final whistle:
“I feel like we dominated the game. We were a bit unlucky with their goal, I think it was their first shot of the game. We’re happy with the performance and the three points. Maybe our problem at home has been that once we’ve scored one, we’ve stood off and not tried to get a second. Today, we kept working hard, we kept pushing and I feel like we deserved it.
The lads are killing me in there, to be fair. In training, I’ve missed a lot of headers. At the same time, it was a perfect cross from Adama – so all I had to do was get contact on it. He does it a lot in training. Even time he cuts in, I know where the ball is going, so I just had to make sure I was there. I’m so happy.
I’ve been working really hard in training. I haven’t been as consistent as I would have liked [since signing for Fulham], but I’ve been working very hard to get back to my highest level. I feel like today was a good performance. We showed what we are capable of today, we’ve beaten a good side twice this season. It’s really tight at the top of the table, we’ve got to keep working hard in training and keep going”.
Speaking to BBC Radio Five Live during Sports Report, Smith Rowe insisted that Marco Silva’s could still push for Europe.
“Of course, that was the ambition at the start of the season. At the same time we’ve got to keep pushing, taking every game as it comes. It’s really tight so we’ve got to stay focused.”
Really pleased for ESR. He looks great on the ball and passing. This game should boost his confidence. Ad Astra.
That ESR performance was what prompted us to break our transfer record. If past performances were hampered by fitness and confidence issues hopefully he has moved on and we can expect regular such performance levels
Very pleased for him and Adama both of whom have been slated harshly on this forum in the past. Everyone in the team seemed to perform at their top level. With performances like that we are a match for anyone. Pity their goalkeeper kept the score down. UPWARDS AND ONWARDS
He and a fact of players have steadily improved their game throughout the season. A slow steady progress definitely better than a flash in the pan performance, which disappears as quickly as it came. Definitely our best performance, I’m hoping we can maintain this level until the end of the season. April fixtures look tough, no relaxation possible there.