Marco Silva was pleased with Fulham’s professional performance as the Whites avoided being bundled out of the FA Cup by a spirited Hull City side yesterday afternoon.
The Premier League outfit won their fourth game in a row since the resumption of domestic football after the World Cup thanks to goals from Layvin Kurzawa and Dan James. Silva, who fielded a stronger side that many expected on his return to the club that gave him his first chance in English football, told his post-match press conference at the MKM Stadium:
“Job done, a professional win as well. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, it’s always difficult to play these types of games. First half, they started on the front foot but the goal gave us a little bit more calmness which we needed in that moment. Second half, we controlled the game but we were not the team that we normally are, that tries to go and score goals. We controlled the ball but not with a clear aim to punish them.”
The Fulham head coach was pleased with how cohesive his side were after making a number of changes from the side that won at Leicester, with Thursday’s SW6 derby in mind.
“Sometimes it’s not easy to create the connections that I like to see on the pitch when you change so many players, but it was a moment for them to pop up and show their quality. At the same time, we had a strong bench and we want to have all the players involved because it’s an important competition for us and we have to keep our momentum. We had some young lads on the bench as well. Luke [Harris] is young but he’s more than ready, and Callum [McFarlane] as well. I was prepared to bring them on but the way the game went in the last minutes, I tried to keep more balance in our team.”
Silva was delighted to see Layvin Kurzawa grab his first goal for Fulham after Matt Ingram had palmed out a curling effort from Harry Wilson.
“On the ball he’s a top, top player. Where he’s played before in his career speaks for itself. The last two seasons have been difficult for him but he’s a very good player. He has quality on the ball and he always gives us something different in attack.”
