Marco Silva apologised to the travelling Fulham fans after his side surrendered an early lead to lose 4-1 at Coventry this afternoon.
The Fulham head coach was furious with his side’s lack of application in the second half having warned the Whites that a home response was coming after Kyle McFadzean’s own goal had put the Londoners a goal to the good at the break. The Sky Blues scored four goals in the space of fifteen minutes to record a sixth straight win at home.
Speaking after the final whistle, Silva told FFCTV:
“First, I have to apologise to our fans. They came here in good numbers again, they tried to support us, at least to see us trying to win the game. In the second half, everything we did was wrong. It was a balanced game in the first half. They started well like we expected, but after we scored I think we controlled the game with some good moments.
“We spoke at half time to start in a different way in the second half because we expected a reaction from them. After that, we gave everything to them. We have to be clear in analysing the game and look deeper to analyse some things about the way the players reacted. Even if it is not a penalty, we have to show our own character and our own personality. You can work on the right mindset, but you have to show it on the pitch as well. It is something that we missed this afternoon. Our second half was really, really bad.
The Fulham boss rejected any suggestion that a hectic Championship schedule could have had anything to do with Fulham’s performance, pointing out that Coventry also played on Wednesday.
“I’m not the guy to try to find excuses for everything. We even tried to put some fresh legs in the side because we expected a tough game. We changed three players to put in some fresh legs – it is not because of that. It is not an excuse. It is not worth taking about.”
At least he is honest never a pen inamilloin years
Completely agree with Silva’s comments, but how did it happen? Of the 14 players that had a go on the field, 9 were nowhere near good enough. Only Mitro, Reed, Odoi, Mawson and Seri were up to standard. Gaz made a good save but othwise was absent.
Hiw could Luton beatvthem 5-0? Looks like Luton did their homework and Fulham didn’t. And how can 9 of the players stroll around making sloppy passes and half-hearted challenges? Absolutely amazing.
Silva needs to shake them up. I would leave all of those 9 out of the starting 11 vs QPR.
We were belief all over the field and played like scared schoolkids. Absolutely shocking display. Some of these players should hang their heads in shame
A Complete disaster. Mid field except Harrison Reed was not existent. Seri should have started. Our defence was shambolic and please can we have Rodak in Goal. Was there really a need to change the team as there is a break after this match for internationals. It seems in most matches we control the first half but generally under perform in the second half.
IMHO – Keep same side that beat Swansea except PLAY RODAK !!!!!! PLAY RODAK !!!!! PLAY RODAK !!!!!
Playing the game as a TV Viewer lManager, I would sugest that Silva needs to change his system to play Mitro and Muniz up front.
One hopes that we can have Fabio C back in service asap
I dont know what they put on the team at half time but it constantly has a negative affect. I agree keep the same side as against Swansea except consider Mawson. However must play Rodak in goal Gazzaniga is probably a league two player.we completely lacked any fight many players strolling around and not getting stuck in. Today’s match identified Onamah really should not be considered he has an very occasional good game the rest of the time he is rubbish. I hope Silva is not going to turn into another Tinkerman!!. Keep a winning team we needed Seri and Toshin today.
Utter crap and don’t bother apologising Silva you picked the wrong players and I don’t think you know who the good players are,why is Onomah, B Reid, Gazzinega Robinson Caveleiro playing I would rather play some of our youngsters, that team today had no fight and couldn’t pass the ball to our own players it was utter crap and I hope you don’t play them again because you are now on borrowed time.
There are numerous words you could use Shambolic,disgraceful,disastrous,crap or just not good enough we will not finish maybe even sixth with displays like this what has Joe Bryan got to do to get in this side. Roadkill surely in goal and Mawson at centre back we look a different team team without Tete and Carvalho loyalties to certain players has to stop Ream Odoi Gazziniga and of course Cavaleiro why is this man getting game time and still at this club Muniz needs to. Start also what’s happened to Stansfield
Sorry meant Rodaki in goal also forgot to mention most of the players disappeared down the tunnel totally not acceptable
Gazzinega and Onamah out for good. Ream had a nightmare and should be given a break. The rest of the non performers deserve one more chance but must show a lot more fight. Rodak and Seri must start
Silva was right to apologise because his team selection was so flawed. Why did Bryan not play if he was fit enough to make the bench?
Why change a winning team in the first place? Okay, Mawson had a decent game but why replace Tosin of all people?
If you leave Seri out, surely you delegate his role – protecting the defence and linking defence and midfield -to somebody else? Harrison Reed would have suited this role well.
Instead, you played Decordova Reid in a forward role, basically, leaving just two players to cope in the middle of the park -Reed and Onomah and, no matter what Silva says about us being in command in the first half, it simply isn’t true. We were constantly outrun by Coventry with both Harrison and Onomah having very poor games. Fortunately, they lacked a cutting edge in the first 45 minutes.
I have said it for a long time but I will repeat it again: when Decordova Reid plays, we are a player down from the start. Sure, he is versatile and can play in a variety of positions but what’s the point when he is not very good in any of them. Sure, he has his moments and the odd decent game but it’s just not good enough.
Add to that the fact that Onomah was even worse than against Bristol City and we were crying out for another decisive decision from Silva at half time but, probably because he didn’t want to hurt Onomah’s feelings by yanking him at halftime again, the change wasn’t made and, within five minutes, we were behind. Silva then yanked him -thereby admitting his error, further destroying any residual confidence that Onomah might have and brought on Seri to slip into his normal defensive midfield role -when we needed some attacking options instead. Too little, too late!
Silva has to accept that the basic error of selecting Onomah in the first place; then not pulling him at half time was crucial in our defeat.
Robinson is really starting to annoy me. His play is so erratic, his ball control hit and miss and his crosses, generally, so poor that I would much prefer Joe Bryan. Having Kebano as an out and out left winger is a waste of time with Robinson in the side as he rarely gets the service with Robinson preferring to do his own marauding. Kebano was absolutely obsolete yesterday.
On the other flank, Wilson had yet another poor game and, simply by preventing him from cutting inside, teams nullify his threat because he is unable to go on the outside.
Thankfully, Harrison Reed came to life in the second half but had no support whatsoever.
At the back, our captain had a nightmare to add to the disastrous afternoon.
Here’s another note for Marco Silva: if you think that the introduction of Cavaleiro -at any time- will change things for the better, you are kidding yourself. I defy the most hard core Cavaleiro fan (if there is such a thing) to show me even one single thing that he did right. With his very first touch he created mayhem in our defence.
Ditto Muniz. What’s the point of bringing him on when we have shown zero creativity all game?
We just can’t keep a clean sheet-which points to something basic being wrong at the back. I would suggest that it stems from our keeper as witnessed by Mawson’s reaction when he was caught in possession first half and asked Gazzaniga why he hadn’t shouted “man on”.
His distribution is poor – as witnessed again yesterday. His handling of crosses is abysmal-as witnessed again yesterday. He is a good shot stopper but, IMO, that’s nowhere near enough. We have a proven replacement in Rodak. Time to change, Silva!
My final comment on yesterday’s performance is that, all too often, our play resembled Parkerball rather than the fast, incisive attacking play that Silva has introduced. What the hell happened?
Bottom line, this wasn’t a defeat-it was an utter thrashing. All the warning signs have been there for a while: dire performances at Blackpool and Bristol. Our squad is large but is woefully lacking in quality but, until January at least, we are stuck with it. We have two weeks to get our act together. Carvalho and Tete could both be back after the break. Nothing less than a great performance against QPR will suffice to convince me that Silva is really the man to take us back up.
What REALLY gets up my nose is when, after a shockingly bad performance, they trot out a player or two to tell is that we just have to put it behind us, bad day at the office etc.
After the Blackpool no show it was Decordova Reid who seemed to, very easily, be able to put the fiasco into a filing cabinet with his glib phrases.
This week it’s Odoi -who had a terrible afternoon -not just defensively but because he can’t contribute offensively -telling us we just have to regroup and reassess. Jeez!
We, the fans, have already reassessed Denis. You and half your team mates are just not up to it.
You are all getting paid absolute fortunes and you need to earn that money over the entire season -which is short enough as it is -not just play well in the odd game.
Let’s hear from a player telling us: ” Today, we were absolute crap and it’s just not acceptable. I have to make 100% sure that I never play as badly again this season”.
Something along those lines would be more palatable!
Totally agree with Charles last comment. Standard football phrases inspire nobody. If I performed as poorly ‘at the office’ I’d be on a disciplinary. If I was Cavaleiro I’d have been fired years ago. BDR, if my job was to score or create goals, I’d have been demoted. I want to see Fulham play with the passion and togetherness of other championship sides I’ve watched this season like Reading or Blackpool. That’s the minimum we expect before we get to ability.
My first game was 12th December 1959 and have seen many poor displays, however yesterday’s totally lack of respect for the shirt the travelling support was the lowest point in 61 years of following my beloved FFC.
As for answer to the problem play the U23 side and drop that pile of crap who played yesterday.
Also will the club be giving a refund to the travelling support???
Gosh – I have to absolutely agree with all of Charles’, Dave and David Bell’s comments.
Big, big wake-up call required!