Marco Silva rued Fulham’s slack spell just before half time as the Whites slipped to a second successive Premier League defeat against Tottenham last night.
The home side had dominated most of the first half but paid the penalty for allowing Harry Kane too much space from the edge of the box as the England captain’s club-record equalling 266th Spurs goal clinched a precious three points for Antonio Conte.
The Fulham head coach told his post-match press conference:
“Our first 40 minutes was very good, I have to say. A very good level, high intensity, a lot of energy from ourselves, a good dynamic as well. We were clearly the best team for 40-42 minutes, the most dominant team, the team that created the most dangerous moments around their box.
I think we had two very good chances – one with Harrison Reed, another with João from a free-kick. But even without many, many chances, I think we were clearly the best team on the pitch until the last five minutes. I think we lost a little bit of control of the game, without reason to be honest, in the last five minutes of the half.
“Some moments when we won the ball, we lost the ball too quickly again, and after a fast corner kick came that goal from Kane. Of course it was decided by a great footballer, but if you are in a good position then that moment will not happen, for sure. We lost the control in that three minutes and we were punished by that, from a great finish from him, but we were punished by that.”
Silva admitted that Fulham found it difficult to break down Spurs’ disciplined defence in the second period.
“Second half, I think we lost a bit of the energy, also a little bit of the dynamic. The setback is always difficult. Nine players were always behind the ball in their own half and we didn’t find the spaces, we didn’t find the gaps to create chances to equalise the game. It was a tough second half for us. Even if we were the dominant team, we didn’t create enough.”
