Marco Silva hailed matchwinner Alex Iwobi’s ‘outstanding’ contribution after the Nigerian international bagged a brace to beat in-form Brighton and Hove Albion at Craven Cottage this evening.
Silva told the BBC after the final whistle:
“Alex has been outstanding from the first day of pre-season. He is in a happy place and he is a fantastic footballer. Last season was his best season in the Premier League and one or two months ago I said he would be even better in this one. He is really versatile and I can use him in many different positions. He’s a top player with the way he can assist and score goals more than ever. What a game for him and he deserved all the credit.”
The Fulham head coach felt Fulham got their rewards for a strong second half display as the Whites had to recover from the setback of conceding a superb equaliser to Brighton’s Carlos Baleba.
“A really tough team to play against. Top quality – individually and collectively as well. They have not been losing games easily. They were fifth in the table, last Friday when they played against Southampton they finished that game in second position in the table, too. That shows the quality they have, and how they have had a great start. We knew that it was going to be tough. We started the game the best way possible with a goal in the first minutes. Okay, mistake from the goalkeeper or not, but the reality is that we believed in that moment.
But first half was really difficult for us, was tough. Even if we were leading the score, it was really tough. It was difficult for us to find the right moments to press. We had more problems than normal to press and to start to be more aggressive in our first press, and when you don’t have the ball for some longer times, it’s more difficult for us. Rodrigo and Emile, they worked really hard first half, but we didn’t get the right timings to press and to win the ball. We wanted to create some dangerous moments for them, but it was not as often as we like to do it, and it was difficult.
They had some chances to equalise, we had our moments too – two great headers from Rodrigo, probably should have scored in that situation. But I have to say that, first half, even if we are leading the score at half-time, they were the better team. Second half was completely different. We adjusted some things at half-time, we adjusted our pressure. It was important for us to don’t lose Rodrigo and Emile always in the first pressure, because after they are going to play behind that first pressure. And we did much better second half.
Even when they equalised, in that moment of the game we were already the best team on the pitch. We reacted well. Even with 1-1, I think our reaction was good. We scored from a set-piece. It was in an important moment of the game that we scored, and after that, we controlled all the game.
It was a moment that I decided already to change, to put Raúl and Josh King in to help our first pressure. And from that moment we started to press higher, better, and we didn’t give many chances for them after the 2-1. It was a difficult one, but big three points for us against tough opposition. Much better second half than the first, looking overall to the game. Of course, credit to Brighton, the way they played first half, but I think, overall, we probably deserved the three points.”
Um! Slightly biased viewpoint from the manager, IMO.
Firstly, a GREAT 3 points but, when you only have two shots on target in the entire game, the stats tell the real tale.
Brighton dominated, especially in the first half, and our midfield was, pretty much, non-existent, allowing them possession time after time.
I understand that conditions were awful and made things extremely difficult but, once again, Smith Rowe, despite the occasional, classy touch, seemed to shrink inside of himself and became a virtual passenger at times.
Nelson slipped over with his first touch and was still slipping and sliding before his injury, never really getting into the game. Unfortunately, almost certainly, he will miss the Arsenal game now.
Muniz, IMO, was up against one of the hardest centre backs in the Premiership in Dunk, no easy task, but acquitted himself really well and was very unfortunate not to score with one of his headers.
Wilson, alas, after some great cameos off the bench, reminded us why he was on the bench in the first place, never really getting into his stride.
All of this meant that Brighton were allowed to dominate and Bernd Leno kept us in the game.
Enter the villain: Andreas Pereira. No escaping the boos, he had a point to prove come the first corner. I thought he handled the pressure well, took a deep breath, concentrated his focus and hit his intended target: Matt O’Reilly’s bum!
Oh well, it gave us the lead and we now have a goal from a set piece to our name.
Iwobi’s clincher was really well taken.
They talk about fine margins but, when you think that, pre-match, we were 12th and, now, we are 6th, it really brings home the importance of 3 points as opposed to 1 (or none) and, therefore, the need to take our chances -no matter how few, which we did do here.
Great to see Josh King get time and he looks a quality player. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait until next season’s Carabao Cup before we glimpse him again.
Calvin Bassey is on four yellows -so needs to watch himself as he came perilously close to a 5th tonight.
Big game next and let’s hope we can raise our performance levels and give the Gunners a real game.
Nice to see the boot on the other foot. The number of games we have dominated and come away with nothing. The football gods were smiling on us last night
3 brilliant points… Iwobi-one-kenobi !!
PS – One more Jedi in our ranks!! 🙂
Iwobi was once again our best player by a mile ESR needs to start earning his place in the team as he has been a real letdown,so too Periera we really need a new centre forward in January.