Marco Silva savoured the match-winning impact of his substitutes after goals from Rodrigo Muniz and Ryan Sessegnon saw off struggling Tottenham Hotspur at Craven Cottage this afternoon.
The Fulham head coach said:
“This is the reason why you make changes, always looking to try to improve something or to give different things to the team. I felt that the second half, Tottenham started well, we needed a reaction in that moment. First half, we were able to beat well the pressure and show our defensive organisation. I believe that even first half, we deserved much more from the game – apart from the first 10 minutes, we controlled all the first half, playing in our offensive half.
“As I said, good reaction at the start of the second half from Tottenham, and of course the reaction from our team was good. The impact from the bench was really good. Of course, knowing the capacity of Rodrigo most of the time to have an impact in the game. Tottenham was pressing us really high in that moment. Great impact from Rodrigo, and the other players after.
Adama gave us a little bit more threat in the right hand side, as well. Tom Cairney had moments, giving us the peace on the ball that we know that he normally does, and two goals from two players that came from the bench. A well deserved three points. And I really believe that we were the better team on the pitch.”
Just wonder why he didn’t do this against Brighton???
Despite poor performances all over the pitch, only Muniz was introduced “early” if the 70th minute can be counted as early. The other three subs were not brought on until the game was almost over: Reed and Willian with 8 minutes to go and Sessegnon with just 1 minute left.
The subs worked this time, against Spurs, but, in general, Marco Silva’s use of substitutes leaves a lot to be desired.
We came good today but let’s not pretend that we played well. Apart from a 20 minute spell in the second half, we were bloody awful with no fluency. Thankfully, Spurs, especially in the first half, were worse.
Iwobi’s loss of form is a concern and Smith Rowe’s inability to raise his game is even more worrying. Hopefully, Lukic will come in and push Smith Rowe out of the team but, we saw, first hand, a couple of weeks ago, how Palace shut us down and made us ineffective with not a single effort on goal.
We need a plan B and genuine wide players might be the solution to get around the Palace defence. So I’m advocating for Willian AND Traore to start that game in place of Iwobi who used to be a winger ten years ago but is no longer effective in that position.