Simon Davies is desperate to put the record straight tonight after Swansea’s performance in the original 1-1 draw at the Liberty Stadium left him with egg on his face.
The Fulham winger grew up just an hour away from Swansea and was a City fan as a boy. He had been really looking forward to the game, where his family and friends were in attendance, and had been texting his friends to let them know Fulham were up for it.
Before the game, I was texting them saying ‘we’ll be giving you a roasting’ – and I got egg on my face on that one. I hope there’s a few things we can put right.
I’ve got a few friends who are [Swansea fans], and a lot of friends went to the game. That’s why it was frustrating. It was my local team, and they were saying ‘My God, Fulham were lucky, you were crap’.
It’s a game I’m really looking forward to. If we play like we did yesterday [on Sunday against West Brom] we’re confident we’ll get the result.
If Davies can turn in the kind of performance he did against West Brom, then we could be well on our way to the quarter finals. He has underperformed this season, which is frustrating as he was Fulham’s standout performer in our battle against relegation last season.
The Welsh international has also backed Bobby Zamora to be banging them in after ending a barren run with the opener against the Baggies.
We’re buzzing for him. He’s been unlucky on a few chances and more important for us is what he brings to the team. He has a presence up there.
When he’s playing well he gives us a new dimension, we play off him and he can get defenders around him to allow space for other players, as Andy Johnson has already found this season. For him to get that goal is great and hopefully they’ll flow now.
You can see he’s been down a bit. We keep telling him he’s such an important part of the team. Obviously strikers get judged on goals, but he’s something we didn’t have last year when Brian McBride was injured.
It makes such a big difference to a footballing team like we try to be as when you have a big man up there who can get hold of the ball it brings the midfielders into play, we can get up there and play like we did today.
We are hoping it could open the floodgates for him. He’s probably scored the easiest chance he’s had and he’s missed some good chances but today he was right there. I’m sure strikers go on confidence and hopefully he can go on now.
Perhaps someone should tell the Telegraph that another evergreen midfielder is actually our captain.
