Marco Silva refused to blame the referee for Fulham’s last-gasp defeat at Brighton and Hove Albion this afternoon having watched his side surrender a lead given to them by a superb Raul Jimenez strike.
The Fulham boss was disappointed that Brighton equalised from a set-play through Jan Paul van Hecke within six minutes of Jimenez putting them in front and then blamed poor game management after Joao Pedro fell over Harrison Reed’s leg after the five minutes of added time had been played.
Silva told his post-match press conference at the AMEX Stadium:
“It was a difficult one to take. It’s very hard to lose a game like we did this afternoon. But that is the reality and that is football. We gave them those two moments. I really believe in the first half we were at a very good level. The second half we were not.
In the first half we were able to settle into our game. They normally like to come and press man on man but the way we set up we were able to calm down the game, to set or game and to play with our identity and stick to our plan. It was a great offensive transition for us for the first goal. When the game was really quiet and completely under control for us, we conceded a goal from a wide free-kick. It was a good ball, a good header but it was completely our fault. If you concede goals today like we did today at this level, you will be punished by that.
Our second half was not at our best level. We gave the ball away many times and we lost momentum in the game. It’s clearly our fault the way the game went this afternoon. I will not complain about the penalty, a clever striker touched the ball and felt the contact there. We had to keep calm in that moment.”
I think we were rubbish our passing was terrible and our defence were bad especially Diop who kept giving the ball away and doesn’t look comfortable receiving the ball, Iwobi was the only one who had a good game,Smith Roe might just as well not have been on the pitch for all he did, and Robinson has gone right off.
Silva is kind of right in his summary; we DID “give the ball away many times”. My question is: why didn’t he DO something about it?
In fact, I believe his team selection was a major part of our abject performance today.
As soon as I saw both Pereira AND Smith Rowe starting, I knew that poor old Berge would have to be doing a lot of heavy lifting on his own. To give him his due, Pereira, once again, ran himself into the ground but without actually achieving much.
But Smith Rowe, with his casual, strolling game and tippy tappy passing, often when we are trying to break quickly, is a luxury we just can’t afford. And I mean that LITERALLY after the amount of money we forked out for him. That’s two games on the trot where he showed us that he can’t even shoot. He has had three or four chances yet can’t seem to hit a ball with any venom. I’ve said it before but I will say it again: BAD SIGNING! Arsenal must be laughing all the way to the bank. He has the quality to give us, maybe, half a dozen decent performances per season but that’s it.
Elsewhere, Antonee Robinson seems to be doing his absolute best to ensure that nobody comes in for him in the summer. I can’t think of another reason for his awful performances of late. When Silva refers to us giving the ball away, Robinson was, by far, the worst culprit. Time after time, he gifted Brighton the ball.
He is going through a serious crisis of form but Silva continues to select him and, even worse, makes him our captain.
Surely, Sessegnon deserves the opportunity to have a go in his CORRECT position instead of getting a few minutes as a right winger?
I get that Robinson, all things considered, is probably the better left back but NOT if he plays the way he has been playing for weeks.
Hurzeler got it spot on when he said that Brighton were the only team trying to win the game but they were huffing and puffing without any serious threat until that very fortunate penalty.
We looked solid at the back until Leno did what every Fulham fan knows he should never do -put Diop under pressure with a stupid pass out. From that moment, Diop’s game fell to pieces and Castagne gave him no assistance, several times being caught out with balls in behind him.
But I’m saving my biggest criticism for Marco Silva. Yet again, he showed his inability to use substitutes to our best advantage. Swapping the two strikers makes no sense if you are incapable of providing service to either.
Smith Rowe should have been removed, at least, twenty minutes before he eventually was. While Brighton were making changes all over the pitch, Silva did nothing but watch on as we struggled to keep hold of the ball. Then he sends on two players, giving each detailed instructions on what he expects, in the hope that they will make a difference?
It’s just not good enough and he should take a long, hard look at himself. In the meantime, we remain mid-table though, inevitably, a good win against Spurs will, once again, have fans
dreaming of Europe. Nuts!
Oh dear hear we go again we take two paces forward and then three paces back we seem to shoot ourselves in the foot deliberately Firstly has Charles has rightly pointed out Diop still has that accident waiting to happen time in him after most of us wanted him to get a start Defensively we were Ok Andersen and Bassey etc Robinson is a shadow of himself recently maybe it’s the captains armband weighing him down who knows Sander Berge who I think IMO has been good since we signed him has Lukic alongside him normally but Berge just could not get going Perreira who ran all the game did not create much And the same with Iwobi who done great making the goal for Raul my biggest Moan and I think Silva should address comes in two issues firstly ESR yet again totally inept performance right from the first whistle at the start of the season great expectations for hoped for from this player yet still with eleven games left nothing to tell your grandchildren about can Silva not see this
When we signed Andersen Berge Seesignon and Cuenca they have had dips of form and come back but ESR we were told is something special by Silva if Silva is a good man manager when are we going to see this with ESR or have we been sold a pup Arsenal must be laughing all the way to the bank secondly the captains role we need to appoint a new permanent captain for next season and stick with that player forget the loyalty to Cairney who knows it will be his last season also the tackle by Reed that led to the dubious penalty I can understand a young defender perhaps doing it but how silly and unnecessary to do that Both him and Andersen should have known better with a referee who again was anti Fulham and could not wait to get his ego up and point to the spot
I think it’s a bit harsh to blame Reed for giving away the penalty. I think it was a genuine attempt to either clear the ball into touch or put it out for a corner. Joao Pedro managed to jump in front of him so that the contact was with him rather than the ball. It was ‘clever’ play by Pedro, who has form when it comes to buying/contriving penalties. Just ask the Brighton supporters.
Not sure the return to a back 3 did us any favours. I guess it was prompted by the absence of Lukic. It will be interesting to see what formation we play against Spurs.
Not a fan of 3 at the back. 2nd half Robinson and Castagne were pushed back so we were playing with a back 5. This left us short in midfield with Berger doing his usual exceptional job. Alongside him was Pereira who can’t tackle and ESR who won’t tackle. Iwobi constantly giving the ball away and Raul covering every blade of grass with no service. The midfield was really shown up without Lukic. Dreadful 1st goal from Brighton, nobody within 5 yards of the scorer even though we had 3 centre backs.
Lets hope for the usual bounce back against Spurs
When will Leno stop doing suicidal passes to our defenders. He puts them in all sorts of trouble.
Playing out from the back is all well and good when there is no pressure, but if there is, then clear the ball as far away as possible. Your correct DC, Leno passes the ball regardless and creates unnecessary problems and panic.