Marco Silva wants his Fulham side to make history by beating Everton tomorrow night and reaching the League Cup semi-finals.
The Whites have been beaten in six League Cup quarter-finals in their history but have failed to progress beyond the last eight – most recently and perhaps famously when Paul Bracewell’s side blew a 2-0 lead to lose on penalties at Leicester City. Silva has been impressed by the way his side have approached the competition, having knocked on Spurs on spot-kicks back in August, and told his pre-match press conference that his side’s progress shows the scope of Fulham’s ambition.
“It’s something that just shows what we have been doing in this football club, the staff and players, in the last two seasons. Last season we went to the quarter final of the FA Cup and we wanted to be able to go through in that competition. We already spoke about the many reasons why we didn’t and now we are one step away from the semi-finals.
We have to be proud of it, but we want more. We’re not just happy because we achieve the quarter finals, we want to play [in] the semi-finals. Of course, it’s going to be a tough one, but we have all the desire, the ambition, to go and to play this game and to be in the semi-finals.”
Silva is acutely aware of how difficult Fulham’s assignment against an Everton outfit, revitalised under Sean Dyche, having managed at Goodison Park himself for two years.
“The games are always really tough to play at Goodison. I know really well what this means. The reaction from them since the point deduction just shows their resilience. The size of the club – you can see they all click together. The fans, the team, the staff; we know when these types of things happen to a club like Everton, they are always really strong. I’m not surprised because they have very good players and a really experienced manager with a proper way to play football, knowing what he demands from his players.”
