Marco Silva has said that Fulham failed to qualify for Europe because they were too predictable in the final third in the closing weeks of the season.
In an interview at Motspur Park with DAZN Portugal, the Fulham boss is asked why things went wrong for the Whites towards the end of a campaign where they were in contention for the European places both through the Premier League and the FA Cup, where they lost to the eventual winners Crystal Palace in the quarter finals. Silva offered a frank answer:
‘Fulham in the last two years have been rewarded for the adventurous way we played, both at home and away, but the attacking way that we played meant that some teams approached games a little differently against us [this year]. It is part of the success [of the first two days] and the way of playing that we have adopted. Naturally, our opponents have prepared more and adapted to try and respect us more.
When we are playing against teams at the bottom of the table, they naturally play in a different way and there is no hiding that lacked decisiveness in the final third of the pitch. We have been patient, as we like to be, but then at the moment when we needed to make the right decision, accelerate, create space or quicken things up, we were too slow and too predictable.”
Silva is seeking to refresh his squad over the summer months and it is clear that the Whites will need more options in their strike force having relied on 34 year-old Raul Jimenez and Rodrigo Muniz as the main attacking options over the past two years. It remains to be seen whether the Fulham head coach will also look to add greater creativity in the midfield to help break down sides who put men behind the ball at Craven Cottage.
We all know that’s true and it’s gratifying that Marco knows it too and recognises that that’s the major issue that needs to be addressed.
I agree with Silva comments but also believe, when we couldn’t break teams down we gave silly goals away. Who ever we sign were still have games when we can’t break sides down. Good sides how ever boring stay strong and at least get a point we lost to many of them games
If you know it you should naturally change it. Worrying in a way, there rarely seemed to be a Plan B and game management and substitutions was very strange on more than one occasion. Teams learnt to play us, we didn’t learn to play them. Need to be more flexible and adaptive.
Hope we can attract those additions to the squad that most agree are needed.
In total agreement with David C comment.
How many points have we squandered from winning positions. Do we sit back too much
And how many points have we won from losing positions. Not much different I would bet.
@David C – “there rarely seemed to be a Plan B and game management and substitutions was very strange ”
** Fulham scored more goals off the bench than any other team, maybe they were strange to you, but based on that statistic, they worked extremely well.
Also Fulham won 6 games from losing positions. The joint best in the Premiership.
Having just watched the CLF and the speed PSG….it makes all the comments about right. With one or two exceptions we lack speed (and although Tarore got speed he can’t finish).No plan B and two many goals conceded. Does this coinside with our ageing squad ? Josh King at the Bees was much faster than the team when he came on. Our u21s finished a fine 2nd in the league to MC. Surely we must blood more of that squad obviously not all together but 1 or 2 at a time.
CB, we don’t play rugby, we compete in the Premier League.