Marco Silva’s response to immediately being asked about the award of the match-turning penalty in his post-match press conference at Anfield last night was measured.
Perhaps the Fulham head coach was wary of another disciplinary hearing after his criticism of Chris Kavanagh, but Silva first made plain his pride that Fulham had pushed another of the country’s top teams all the way four days after falling to a slender defeat at home to Manchester City.
“Let’s talk first about the whole game, and after I will give my thoughts on it. Clearly, we deserved more from the game. We knew when we came here that Liverpool were in a very good run, unbeaten last six, four wins in a row. We had some problems, and off the ball they created some problems for us. They play too many times inside our block and we planned to be a little bit more compact, we had some problems in certain areas, they arrive sometimes too easy in certain areas, that we didn’t like.
But first 25 minutes, I have to say that we did well on the ball. Every time we took the ball from the press and we attacked them. I think we created good moments and probably the chances could be even more clear if the last decision was different. Harry Wilson had two good moments – the first moment he should analyse that situation much better. Very good save from Alisson with that chance from Vinicius as well.
Of course, Liverpool had their chances, and good chances, during the first half, always dangerous moments around our box, more possession than us. But coming to half-time losing 1-0, the way they scored the goal, I have to say that it’s embarrassing. To give the penalty like that, and after the VAR didn’t [change] that penalty, I cannot understand this, it’s difficult really to understand. It’s difficult, almost impossible to understand that penalty.
To lose in that manner is really difficult for us to understand, but we cannot control that situation and I prefer to focus on what I can control. Issa told me that it’s clearly not a penalty. I can even tell you that Issa spoke with the referee during the second half, and I know what the referee said to Issa as well. For us it’s clearly not a penalty, and then VAR should not allow that decision.”
Silva was pleased with how Fulham responded to going behind with a performance that kept Liverpool on edge until the last.
“Second half [there was] a reaction from ourselves and some good moments from Liverpool as well. Middle of the second half they started to lose many, many balls in some moments and we explored some good counter attacks as well. I think we had two clear chances – great save from Alisson in that one-v-one situation with Vinicius, a good counter attack from us, and last minute the chance for Bobby. Looking overall at the game, I think we deserved much more.”
