Marco Silva heaped praise upon Harry Wilson after the Welsh winger scored a stunning winner to complete another fantastic Fulham comeback against Brentford.
The Fulham boss introduced Wilson, who had stunned the Bees with two stoppage-time goals to win the previous meeting between the two sides this season at Craven Cottage in November, as a second half substitute with his team 2-1 down in Hounslow. Two minutes after Tom Cairney’s header levelled the scores, Wilson struck a superb winning goal from long range that swerved past Mark Flekken into the corner of the net.
Silva told the press after Fulham had delivered a derby double over the Bees for the first time in 77 years:
“He’s an important player and a very good player for us. Of course, the feeling for him against Brentford is fantastic and he’s probably thinking right now, ‘why don’t I play against Brentford every week?’ We knew we could do it today in a special game and in a derby. Their frontline has nearly 50 goals in the Premier League. We knew we had to be strong to be in control of the situation.”
The Portuguese head coach also insisted his players deserved more credit after surpassing Fulham’s previous highest points tally in a Premier League season.
“It’s something this group must be proud of, it was one of our goals of the season. It’s something we wanted to achieve two seasons ago when we were close, we have different goals but that was one of the main ones because we knew that if we broke the record then we would be in a position to fight for things.”
If only we had gotten a result against Everton, we would be on the verge of European football next season.
And the other many points dropped. But getting the most points in our Premier League history is a real achievement.
We have had a really exciting season, with real moments of exhilaration and joy and, of course, disappointment. It has been baffling how we lost so many games due to lack of concentration but overall it’s been great. As for next season what do we want? Marco to extend contract; fresh legs in midfield and on the wings; a set piece coach; some of the younger players used more. The board seem to understand that they need to reduce prices for some games in order that youngsters can attend more games. Next season could be harder with the possible resurgence of Man Utd, Spurs, West Ham, let’s hope Not. Hoping we get some additions to the squad.
Sorry to see some of the players go. Wish them all well. 2024/25
Overall 8/10
Harry Wilson is a good player. He COULD be a great player but he is one-dimensional. Everybody knows that he tends to cut in on his left foot and I was surprised that Brentford allowed it. If he focused his efforts, in training, on taking defenders on -on the outside, he would be some player. He’s got the pace.
Ditto Antonee Robinson. His lung busting runs often end in poor quality crosses.
I’m not saying that either don’t practice their craft but, if they do, from everything we have seen, they don’t seem to have mastered it.
A good coach would insist on it. Why have a half finished product in your squad when, with a lot more hard work, and individual drills, you could have something very special?
It seems, with both Wilson’s and Traore’s contracts being extended, that there is no intention of signing a right winger in the summer.
Personally, I believe our style is too restrictive. Many fans have commented on the fact that we don’t have a Plan B, other than to throw on a number of subs-which, usually, ends up in a higgledy-piggledy mess.
Maybe, and it’s just a thought, we should look at playing with a two pronged threat-with Muniz and Jiminez combining. From what we have seen to date, when they have both been on the pitch at the same time, usually when things are desperate, it looks a bit of a joke. But, once again, training drills and hard work could make this viable.
Jiminez covers an immense amount of ground and his defensive duties are often overlooked. Muniz doesn’t.
We definitely need a left-sided player and, to accomodate the double striker proposition, I believe we should prioritise the signing of a creative player who is equally adept at playing deeper or going wide as required.
Just thoughts but it would see us signing just ONE key player in the summer but giving us better balance and making us a more potent attacking threat.
Fulham need a good striker, a15/20 goals a season, we need to keep Tom Carney, Harry Wilson, get a strong marshalled centre half, there’s not much wrong with the squad with good players coming through like josh king