Marco Silva has called for his Fulham side to be fully focused on getting all three points at Derby on Friday night as the Whites look to wrap up promotion to the Premier League.
A shock 3-1 defeat at home to Coventry City last Sunday means Silva’s side will need other results to go for them if they are to make mathematically certain of an immediate return to the top flight with a win at Derby tomorrow night, but the Portuguese head coach believes the slip-up against the Sky Blues served as a good reminder that nothing can be taken for granted.
Silva told his pre-match press conference this morning:
“My players know we don’t have just one goal in mind, we have more than one – the main thing is to get promoted, to be champions and finish at the top. But we have to keep our feet on the ground, not lose focus or concentration. The last game was a good example that we cannot lose one second of focus.
If you do, what happened last Sunday against Coventry can happen again and we don’t want that. I am not saying we were not focused on that game, but we made mistakes that are not normal at this level and the level we have been playing at this season. We have a big match coming up at Derby and we know what we have to do.”
Silva knows that the Good Friday trip to Pride Park will be far from straightforward, especially as the Rams have only lost three home league fixtures all season.
“Derby is a really tough side to play, it doesn’t matter what position they are. We know why they are in that position, the deduction of points made a big impact on Derby. It’s been a really tough season for them. It’s really tough when you are doing your job on the pitch but then you look at the table and you’re in a really tough position because of the deduction of the points.
But they have shown togetherness and team spirit. If they had the 21 points that were taken from them, they would be really comfortable in the table, they would be having a really good season. hey have a good mix between young lads who are hungry to play football, and experienced players like Curtis, [Tom] Lawrence, [Ravel] Morrison. They play with a lot of courage as well.
Wayne is doing a good job, and when they play at home it’s been tough for all the teams they’ve played so far. They have achieved good results at home and, for sure, it will be a tough game for us. Normally it’s a tough place to play because the crowd is always behind them, supporting them, even in this tough period, and it will be tough for us.”
