A disappointed Marco Silva insisted Fulham should have beaten Brentford this afternoon – and was frustrated by his side’s failure to take several clear chances.
Substitute Raul Jimenez wasted the best opportunity of the game midway through the second half – skying an effort well over the bar from in front of an open goal after being picked out by Adama Traore and the Fulham head coach admitted his charges should have been much more clinical.
Silva told Sky Sports after the final whistle:
“If someone has to win this game, I think it is Fulham Football Club because I think we had more chances and more clear chances to score. I know that they had some moments in the first half on the counter-attack with Mbeumo, but apart from that we did really well to control them. We defended really well and were always in control.
But of course, we should have been more clinical and showed more composure. In the second half, we had so many moments but with more composure we could have had more moments to score. We had our moments and we clearly deserved a goal, but sometimes you have this type of afternoon. We have to keep working with the players for them to have more composure in that moment.
It is a football match and the players have to take decisions every time they have the ball. Yes, we have some lack of composure around their box, the moments we arrived there – sometimes it happens. It is not because we are fighting for something or not. It is a derby as well – we were trying to give a good feeling to our fans. We knew it was going to be a much better weekend for them with three points. We worked hard, but couldn’t score.
The clean sheet is a very good sign for ourselves – it is always a positive to take against a strong attacking line. We have prepared really well ourselves, we worked hard to defend their set pieces. We kept really calm. There were two moments in the first half, but we defended really well. We created chances to score as well, unfortunately it wasn’t our afternoon in attack.
I made all the changes with attacking players – bringing on fresh players to try and get a goal. Unfortunately for Raul and unfortunately for us, he missed that chance. Of course, it isn’t that we didn’t create. I think both teams tried to win the game – but it was a goalless game unfortunately.”
The Fulham boss reiterated his delight at his squad’s achievement this term.
“I don’t want to correct you because it is your opinion, but we cannot look on this season as a positive. We have to look at this season as a very good season – that is clear for me. When we were preparing the season, the pre-season that we had, the problems that we had during that summer that everyone knows … to be able to build again a side that is so competitive, a side that is able to fight for the three points in every game has to be a positive. We are showing that. No one here is on their holidays, everyone is here to fight for the points. We have been showing that – sometimes with a good performances, other times not so good, but the fight and the commitment from the team is always there.”
OnlyGod knows how Jimenez missed that open goal !!!
Silva is right to remind us of the horrendous pre-season and start to the season that we had with losing Mitrovic, almost losing Willian -and Silva, himself.
It seems so long ago that, in the back of my mind, it could have been LAST season.
When he puts it like that, he has done amazingly well; practically pulling off a miracle to rebuild our morale as well as the team.
Our performances, at times, this season, have been brilliant. The Arsenal and Spurs wins, the back to back demolitions of Forest and West Ham-all at the Cottage. The win at Old Trafford. Great performances.
Just need that bit of quality to come in during the summer, less reliance on some players that consistently underperform, let go the ones that hanker to be elsewhere and. next season, we should do much better.
We were, IMO, head and shoulders above Brentford. Just our final pass or finish that was wayward.
Silva is keeping the club afloat almost by himself. I hope the board recognises this and gives him the backing needed this summer.
Well said Simon. Individual decisions here and there are always up for debate but there is no debate that Silva is the best thing that has happened to our club for many seasons. For once TK, get him the players he needs and a pre-season with them.
I know everyone says it’s hard and we can’t afford to compete, but, surely Silva would generate a return on that investment. To me we don’t save money by our current approach of relying on Silva to stop us getting relegated. Surely a bit of investment on installing quality players early will reap financial rewards. If nothing more Silva will appreciate the squad’s value. Pull your finger out TK
Definitely need to get rid of the dead wood and bring in some better quality players, Muniz would have scored that chance had he not been replaced by the useless Jiminez, Traore should have been on from the start as Willian never offered anything, too many bad passes and not just from him, more dropped points I’m sorry to say.