Marco Silva felt his Fulham side were not aggressive enough as Chelsea eased to victory in the SW6 derby tonight.
The Blues scored their first Premier League goals since August as Mykhailo Mudryk and Armando Broja scored twice in the space of a minute to seal a comfortable win to ease any pressure on Mauricio Pochettino but Silva told his post-match press conference that his side were well below the standards they had set last season.
“Our first half was not aggressive enough on and off the ball, too flat in some moments, too passive in some moments as well. Even so, the game was balanced until the moment they scored the first goal. We were too passive in the way we reacted to that cross from (Levi) Colwill in that situation and after that we were punished by another mistake from ourselves. The quality they have on the ball, of course they were much more confident from that moment.
Our second half was better. We have created two clear chances and we have to score on one of those. The chance from Alex Iwobi and then a massive one from Saša Luki? in the six-yard box to make it 2-1, boost the crowd and go for the game again. We had much more of the ball, the biggest difference was most of the time they decided well and created the chances. So many times in certain areas our decision was not the best.”
Sorry Silva but that’s only the half of it. Too predictable with all our attacks or release balls going down the wing. They used an aggressive midfield and ours was totally nullified, we didn’t have a clue. Iwobi should have come on after around 20 mins and partnered with Raul, the writing on the wall was that obvious. We need to do things differently when the same old way doesn’t work. I’m sure Silva thinks that Mitro is still here. Both our strikers prefer the ball so they can run onto!!!! I’m afraid for Captain America – he has passed to the opposition more then to his own team this season (slight exaggeration but you get the picture). Time for a change.
i know it was only one game but prehaps its time to give iwobi bassy and possibly vini a start and change the system a little
When will Silva realise that Reed is not an attacking midfielder, he’s wasted up there. The system is broken and change is needed. MS must be ruthless and change the personnel and Ream must be dropped. Hopefully Tete will return, move Tim C to LFB and replace Wilson with Robbo, Periera with Cairney, Jimenez with Reid, Ream for Bassey and HR with Lukic . What’s there to lose? only 3 points. If we go on the field with the same lethargic approach on Saturday, Shef. U will win.
I agree with all of Martin’s suggestions. Team that finished the game should have started. I can see the argument for BDR or Vinny up front.
Pereira, Jiminez, Ream and Reed are not what we need. Pereira for me tailed off long before his injury. Ream is looking leggy and HR works his little pants off but the truth is he isn’t big and atheltic or technical enough. I mean Jimenez does the occasional nice lay off but at 30 games without a goal you can no longer call yourself a forward.
Such a shame. Marco is class and will keep us up but TK you need a good look in the mirror. How on earth do you expect us to play in this league without a striker. We needed another forward before Mitro left. Now we are utterly desperate. Personally I’d try Stansfield and get him back. He won’t go 30 games without scoring. We’ll he can’t do any worse that’s for sure.
Good points by Gary and Mick . I think Silva totally underestimated the speed and hunger of this Chelsea Team . It’s time for Bassey and Iwobi for sure … Willian and Ream need to be played with less youthful teams ! What about Traoré ? Assume he is injured … Time for him to replace Willian
Iwobi hasn’t been paired with Jiminez yet. With Cairney in as well we need to thread passes through the middle – food and drink for Jiminez. I don’t think we are being fair to him by not playing to his strengths and having the right people around him. We are still playing the Mitro way and our strikers are not that. Vinny is definately not that – we had a few crosses in last night that Mitro would have gobbled up – he would have lost his defender and got in front and attacked the ball. Vinny just waits for it to hit his head – he is not the answer. MS – just pick the right team, the answers are there.
I agree that the key point is that we don’t seem to have adapted to life without Mitro. TK did a miserable job of finding a replacement and at the moment we are relying on ‘occasional’ goals from the rest of the outfielders. A few have not reached the form they showed last season – sorry Ream and Willian in particular – and MS has to take a more imaginative approach.
Go and get Jay Stanfield he is young and hungry and more importantly he works hard and scores goals.
Diop is too slow and shy to distribute we need a quick and vocal centre back somebody who can motivate
Marco has got to make a lot of changes for our next game he can’t keep playing the same old players for sentimental reasons, drop Ream for Bassey bring in Iwobi and Cairney Tete if fit and bring back Stansfield from his loan spell until we get a proven striker which TK failed to do. We will have to show more fight and Leno needs to kick more balls up field as we are too predictable when he rolls the ball out to a player 10 yards away it only puts pressure on us.