A shattered Marco Silva bemoaned Fulham’s failure to impose themselves on their FA Cup quarter-final with Crystal Palace as the Eagles eased to a 3-0 win at Craven Cottage this afternoon.
The Fulham head coach couldn’t hide his frustration that the Whites fell to a similar defeat to the one they suffered against Oliver Glasner’s side in the Premier League meeting last month. Speaking to ITV after the final whistle, Silva said:
“It was one game in the first 25 minutes of the match. We completely dominated and we had three or four dangerous moments around their goal. We should have scored in those moments. You need to be ruthless and clinical. They are solid and compact. They set nine players around their box every single time and when we are able to create, we have to score. We didn’t and we were not strong in both ends this afternoon.”
Silva expressed some surprise that Adam Wharton escaped a second yellow card after lashing at Rodrigo Muniz when the score was 0-0.
“For me it is clear, it’s a second yellow card but we are used to these kind of situations. I prefer to say we are unlucky but it has been a long story with us. Of course VAR cannot overturn this decision but you have many eyes inside the pitch, the linesman has all the angles to see it, the fourth official.
It is a clear second yellow card, definitely. It would have a massive impact on the game but against us it is always more difficult to see. We have been unlucky in these type of situations and let’s hope it will be balanced [out] at the end of the season.”
Hard to take. Getting fed up with teams coming here and putting everyone behind the ball and catching us on the break. We don’t have an answer for it. I’m sure tip tapping 2 yard passes back an forth is not the way round it. We need to inject pace to turn them or find someone who can play a defence splitting pass, something we don’t have.
Add into the mix an incompetent ref and 2 blind linesmen it’s not surprising we lost.
2 fouls in the build up to the game changing 1st goal, Wharton allowed to stay on the pitch, handball that should have been a penalty, Palace constantly sihirt pulling and allowed to carry on doing it. 2 linesmen who didn’t realize that when the ball goes out of play off a Palace player, it’s a Fulham throw.
No urgency shown at any stage of the game and no plan B. Even when Raul came on to join Muniz up front we persisted with passing sideways and backwards even though we had 2 men who could hurt them in the air.
Feel sure we can do better Tuesday as we always seem to play well away
Very hurtful, what is the point of subbing players with 10 minutes to go? Every time Sess plays he excels, as does Traoré. Alex seems miles of the pace, Jedi suffering from the captaincy. All the fanfare at the beginning, talk the talk but the team failed to walk the walk. As I say very hurtful.
The fans should be given their money back for having to watch that pathetic performance, no fight and far too slow we have too many under performers and we have to sign better players and get shot of ESR who offers absolutely nothing.
I’m struggling to come up with something positive to take from this game but there simply isn’t anything.
Firstly, it’s totally ridiculous that, in what is/was the most important game of the season for eight teams, it had to be played just days after yet another worthless International break. I’m not sure how many of our squad were absent but it must have been around double figures. How can a team prepare properly for a game in, at best, two days?
The people running the game have ripped the soul out of the best league in the world by imposing so many of these breaks in the Premiership season.
Yet, those teams who did not manage to get as far as the quarter finals get the weekend off???
Secondly, without a doubt, Wharton should have been sent off. That was clear as mud to everybody watching -except the officials!
But why does our manager have to jump on that, and similar official lapses, in all of his post match interviews, instead of admitting the true reasons for our poor performance (s)?
Yes, Muniz could, and should, have been more “clinical” with the first chance of the game. The strength and skill shown to create the opportunity were excellent but the finish was lacking.
But did anybody in the crowd really think that Pereira was likely to score with his weak effort or Robinson, on his weaker, right foot?
We had a full dress rehearsal for this cup tie back on February 23rd; a firsthand glimpse of how Crystal Palace play away from home, how they set up, how they get everybody and his dog behind the ball at the first sign of an opposition attack. We failed miserably on that occasion, unable to create a single shot on target. But, surely, such stolid tactics would not be allowed to thwart us a second time?
As others have pointed out on this outlet, the way to break down such tactics is to break quicker than the away team can regroup, beat them on the flanks with players, wingers or fullbacks, willing to take defenders on and cross the ball or, miracle of miracles, have a creative midfielder, able to thread through some great passes.
Well, we certainly don’t have the latter. That has been obvious all season with either Pereira or Smith Rowe failing to impress. Pereira has had quite a while to show us what he’s got in his locker. I remember Harrison Reed saying, back when Pereira first joined, that he had unbelievable skill on the training pitch. The problem is that skill alone is nothing without a football brain. In his first season, at least his corners and free kicks actually found Fulham players; something that he has, miserably, been unable to do for far too long.
Smith Rowe has had less time to impress us but, somehow, in that brief period since August, has achieved the opposite. Although, being Fulham supporters, we all have an inherent streak of optimism, always hoping (and praying) that a player will come good in the end, I would wager a great deal of money that the majority of fans have given up all hope that this (very)costly investment will ever amount to anything.
For some reason that eludes me, instead of opting to give this massive game a real go and, in the process, get revenge on the humiliating defeat that Palace inflicted several weeks ago, our manager decided, once again, to select Iwobi in a wide position. He’s not a winger, something he has proved beyond any doubt, whether played right or left. He certainly cannot take defenders on. He has been suffering a serious loss of form for months, was so poor for his country against Zimbabwe that he was booed off when subbed, yet, two games away from a Wembley Cup Final, was preferred to a REAL winger. Given that our right back, Castagne, instinctively, plays backwards or sideways whenever he gets the ball, our right flank threat was non-existent from the start.
So now we had two players, in Pereira and Iwobi, starting, both incapable of contributing anything meaningful, in such an important game. It’s almost like fielding nine players. Marco Silva favours certain players, regardless of form, and it’s bloody annoying.
That left Willian and Robinson, on the left, as our best hope of breaking down the Palace stubbornness and, for 15-20 minutes, things looked promising but, unfortunately, Robinson’s crosses were abysmal, sailing over our players’ heads or failing to beat the first defender. I’m not going to dig him out because he, apparently, has been carrying an injury for a long time now.
But, come on, Oliver Glasner must have been surprised, shell shocked even, to discover that Marco Silva, the man tipped to be the next Spurs manager, praised, all week, for how he has transformed our club, been giving interview after interview about his ambitions in the lead up to this game, simply didn’t have a Plan B.
Personally, I would have selected Jiminez upfront, purely because he had scored 4 goals for his country in the last few days but I watched his interview pre-match and he looked absolutely shattered, struggling to frame his sentences, so I get that his long flights (and celebrations) would have taken a toll but it’s all academic because, Muniz or Jiminez, it makes zero difference if others can’t create the chances for our strikers.
So what does Silva do? As per usual, even though the usual suspects had, so obviously, been letting us down from minute 20 onwards, he waits until the hour mark, once again, before making changes. We finally get a real winger but we also get a game changer (not) in Smith Rowe.
How Iwobi managed to stay on that pitch is mystifying.
But hang on, our manager has another ace up his sleeve: sling on Tom Cairney for his usual cameo and, wait for it, Ryan Sessegnon, our hero against Spurs. Only, this time, Sessegnon replaces our “captain” at left back, his true position??? And, to boot, gets the captain’s armband??? But this was probably down to Robinson shoving it up Ryan’s arm in his desperation to get off the pitch.
Add to the mix, Raoul getting thrown into the fray, playing alongside Muniz, an attacking duo, a change of style that Silva has only ever called upon when things have been at their direst.
Against Spurs, Marco was lauded as a miracle worker for his substitutions, even though, in previous games, some of his decisions were bewildering to say the least but he showed his usual lack of clarity again today.
For all those fans who have been clamouring for Europe or anticipating getting our hands on some silverware at Wembley, this season, please wake up. This season is one of the poorest Premierships in recent years. A very average Liverpool team are walking away with the title because of the lack of consistent competition from those teams, with big purses, who have failed to live up to expectations. This has allowed teams, such as Forest, Brighton and, yes, Fulham, to see an opportunity that, in most seasons, would not exist.
But, inevitably, fraudsters get found out and, in all honesty, we have been pretenders to the throne in an age when more emphasis is placed on statistics than on genuine performances.
And the sad truth is that Marco Silva has a propensity to favour certain players, even when they have shown, time and time again, that they are not good enough. Like it or not, that’s a managerial flaw. The players on our bench are not good enough, end of story. That’s why they are on the bench and not on the pitch. Unfortunately, we also have two, three, maybe four or five players ON the pitch that are not good enough and, until Silva stops favouring them and makes some changes -which can’t happen until the summer -we will remain (and kudos to the manager for bringing stability to the club) a mid-table, Premiership side.
Having said all that, and I’m only speaking the truth as I see it, I am hoping and (eternal optimist of a Fulham supporter that I am) that we can go to the Emirates and turn over Arsenal on Tuesday night. In fact, I expect us to bounce back, being away from home where our attacking frailties are less obvious.
Well done Charles totally correct in his comments we are what we are a mid table team,Consistency is not there an international break why yet again?ESR get rid in the summer cut our losses,Stubborness by the manager playing the same players,Cairney oh dear what can I say
I broadly agree with the comments above so won’t repeat them. I’m pissed off and angry but maybe there should be a reality check.
To be mid table prem is for Fulham punching above our weight. Well above. To expect or demand more is unrealistic and for Marco or any other manager to keep us at this level should, I think, be considered real success.
I remember how dissatisfied Charlton fans were with Curbishly – unexciting, unambitious mid table stuff. They can only dream of that now.
The day started with great expectations and like many other Fulham fans this was the important match to win this season. The atmosphere was fantastic and for the first 20 minutes I was full of hope for a trip to Wembley. After that my dream was shattered. I was embarrassed , disappointed that such highly paid individuals could be so lacklustre. There was no one one player in my view that deserved ant=y credit. One or two were just about okay but the rest were awful. Pereira who blows hot and cold mainly cold was awful. Castagne’s defending was abysmal and he did not appear to have any back up Robinson who is a good player was obviously carrying a injury and his performance was poor. Grandad Willian is not a starter and at best can come up as a 2o minute substitute. Iwobi who earlier in the season was one of our best players has lost the plot and maybe should be given a break. ESR has shown nothing and as it stands must be a very expensive mistake. We never looked like scoring , We passed sideway and backwards and everyone was afraid to take a shot, We certainly had no plan B. Traore for all his faults is one player who is prepared to run at the opposition. Why not pay Josh King, start Sess on the wing . and change the back four. I am very frustrated fan
I hope you slept well and didn’t have nightmares after that epic effort, but what you said is entirely justified.
Up to now our season has been very promising and gave us fans some belief and hope for reaching the dizzy heights in the league and FA Cup, with the possibility of Europe. Those dreams have virtually been dashed and Silva is largely to blame. His samey approach for every game, makes us so predictable that teams find it easy to play against, especially at the Cottage.
We have a very old squad that needs drastically overhauling. Giving the likes of Cairney a contract extension doesn’t make footballing or financial sense.
Obviously I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes and what are the Khan’s intentions( other than selling expensive hospitality seats in the Riverside Stand) regarding the squad development this year end, but they will need to support Marco Silva in the transfer market, or their Riverside Stand will be redundant in the Championship.
We were dire and did not turn up for the match. It was hurtful to see people who earn thousands of pounds a week offer such rubbish to the fans. Yep the ref is typical of the inconsistent rubbish we have to put up with. These referees earn between £180000 to £250000 a year and generally they are about as much use as a………..(use your own euphemism). The linesmen, who have varying involvement in a game, earn £30000 and £850 expenses a game. The requisite for this job is to be deaf, dumb, blind and subservient to the exalted ref. So near but so far. At least the Brazilian management apologised to their fans, what have we herd from those responsible for yesterday’s debacle. Wembley? maybe next year.
I am extremely upset.
Do we really think that Silva is the man to progress us forward?
Perhaps folk will now stop using Fulham and Europe in the same phrase – unless it’s “Fulham are not just good enough for Europe”. Beaten badly at home twice in a matter of weeks by this side is really poor. It hurts.
Can’t add anything to the criticism above, can only agree with everything that’s been said.
The truth is we just do not have the individual quality that, in this instance Palace have, regrettably they are a far better team than Fulham and that probably goes for the likes of Brentford, Brighton, Forest and all of our closest rivals. How the hell we are above them in the table God alone knows.
Im presuming we have benefited from others inconsistent performances, it hasn’t been much of a season overall, even the likes of M. City, Arsenal and Chelsea can’t string anything together. We benefited, despite our own in/out performances and have been flattered by the general lack of quality.
Too many weak individuals, playing with little passion or commitment all add up to a very average team. If something isn’t done we will struggle horribly next season:((
I would think that after 29 games the table doesn’t lie. With better game management and professional know how we would be higher. Worrying thing going forward is that teams have got our measure (especially at home). Next few games are really tricky and will give an idea of where we really are.
Can anyone out there tell me the difference between Beckhams petulant kick at Simione in the world cup that warrented a straight red and Whartons petulant kick out at Muniz that was ignored. Bearing in mind that intent is enough grounds for a card
CB – it’s ‘cos we are Fulham
Well, sorry to say we were hopelessly outplayed and out thought.
…but could we please all calm down a little and accept that we really are lucky to be safe from relegation and to have got so far in the Cup…lucky because we have a team that has far exceeded expectations…a team with no stars…no Eze, Guehi, Wharton, Mateta…any star spring to mind?
…a star being a player who can achieve the incredible from time to time…turn a game on its head now and again.
Palhinha was one and Mitrovic another…did any of us really think the benighted ESR would be a star?
So be happy that an ordinary team has prospered under the supervision of a bit better than average coach who knows he will never win anything with the team he has got other than survival in the Prem. for a few years.
We have never expected it of Fulham and never should.
Leave it to the principal writers here to speculate as to when Ryan Sessignon will start for the national team.
…just enjoy facing Arsenal and not Accrington.
Well said Douglas, some people forget how far we have come as a team and a club. The days of watching us play the likes of Stockport on a cold and wet Tuesday night in a run down stadium with under 3000 fans are still locked in my memory.
The bitterest pill to swallow isn’t that we didn’t turn up, or that Glasner out thought Marco, it is that Palace simply have better players and looked the more creative, hungrier side, although we helped them in that respect by phoning in a performance. They definitely wanted it while we looked like we cba for periods of the game.
Jedi, Iwobi and Timmy are all looking jaded, having been asked to play too much football this season. It’s unrealistic to expect Jedi to be the Energiser bunny for the whole season and not see fatigue set in, especially as he’s expected to be everywhere down the left.
I also think that Timmy is running on fumes, having been ever present for months, and that that’s why some of his performances aren’t always top drawer. It’s at times like this that Bobby D would have been able to step in for the odd half and give Timmy a break, especially when Marco’s played 3 back and we needed a wing back.
Same goes for Iwobi. The two long term injuries on the wing have meant that he barely gets rested and imo the fatigue is affecting his form. International games just add to that tiredness.
I think it was a mistake to play Andersen. It was clear that Glasner knew his weaknesses in the league game and those were exploited again. Not blaming Joa, it’s just that his former manager knows Joa’s limitations. I think Diop needs to get a look in. Yes, he looks more prone to error but should be given a crack, as at least he has the pace to be competitive. Brede wasn’t the fastest cb in the world but he had excellent positional awareness which made up for his lack of pace and meant he didnt have to lunge into tackles. Joa, unfortunately, isn’t quite up to Hangeland standards.
I also have to question the decision to start Willian. Much as his skill on the ball is still top notch, it seems he’s lost a half yard of his remaining pace. I’d have preferred to see Sess starting on the left, as he has more pace than Willian and also, unlike the 3 who are usually behind the striker, he has an eye for goal and the knack of showing up in the box at the right time. Plus he also has a bit more defensive nous, which would have been helpful.
Our build up was frustratingly slow and predictable vs Palace, and the lack of flair and vision to pick out a defence splitter only exacerbated that. But that’s been the case all season, especially against counter attacking teams (I refuse to use the term ‘low block’).
Another frustrating thing when we’re going forward is that we always seem to work the ball into the box before shooting. I’d like to see some of our players having a crack from distance more often, as it sometimes catches a keeper out of position while he’s concentrating on the movement of players directly in front of him. To quote one of the greatest sportsmen of all time, ‘you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’.
As for Raúl and Rodri, they offer us different things up front, but only if we can get the bloody ball to them. Both must be frustrated that in a lot of games, as Saturday showed, they get precious little in the way of decent service.
It might be simplistic to say, but I think that the long term injuries on the wings and at rb didn’t hit us at first but that they’re proving costly now that legs are flagging late on in the season. This doesn’t fill me with confidence for our run in.
Marco has done well with what he has had available, even though he’s been forced to shuffle the pack and pick tired or out of form players for too many games. His idea of two decent players for every position was a sound one, but who could have foreseen two wingers and an influential fb being out for so long.
It’s frustrating to go out with a whimper, but (puts on tin hat) the league is of more importance than the Cup these days. Yes, a day out at Wembley is always something to get excited about but we’d make more money being a few places higher in the league and might be able to afford/attract higher calibre recruits as a result. There’s more or less a quarter of the season left and hopefully it will be to our benefit that we only have to focus on one thing now, disappointing though that is.
To be honest though, I can’t see us making Europe, not even the Conference League, which is just a glorified Intertoto (we won it one time). A shame, but we’re just too thin on the ground, especially in central mid if Sasa or Berge are out, and at present on the wings.
It must be frustrating for fans in their mid 30s and younger, who only know us as a top flight club or thereabouts, that we can’t get our hands on a trophy. The old gits like me are just happy to be in the Prem and starting in the Cup at the 3rd round. I think that, generally speaking, there are differing levels of expectation.
And while I’m rambling away, like the old geezer I am, ESR. His track record and reputation mean he can’t be as bad a player as some have made out this season. To me he still looks nervous, like the new kid in the team who isn’t exactly sure what his role is or who he should play the ball to. He’s hesitant and looks unsure of his own abilities, perhaps a result of his long lay off or, to an extent, having been left out in the cold by his former club. I was one of the many who thought that we should have binned Rodri and Sasa in the January 24 window, but both have turned themselves around with help from Marco. While he won’t always have a 100% record in picking up gems or reviving flagging careers, I have a gut feeling that Marco will get a tune out of Smith-Rowe and that we just have to be patient. Or at least I hope so.
We need to accept that our Cup run is over and that we were beaten by a better team, and referee to some extent, as I couldn’t understand why Wharton wasn’t shown a second yellow in the first half.
Yes Saturday was an insipid, uninspiring performance against a team I thought we could beat but they were set up better and seemed to want it more. We have 9 games left to make this season a memorable one for the right reasons. I’m hoping but trying not to get too carried away.
Douglas and DC should listen to the blether coming out from the management before the match, along with the hype before the game. Our expectations were raised, not by us, and then dashed by ineptness sadly displayed by the team throughout the season. I think I am right in saying we have dropped 22 points from winning positions this season.
So if you are satisfied with premiership survival have a chat with the Kahn’s and see if they agree with you, have a chat with silva and see if he agrees with you, pay full price for a ticket and then consider your options. Some stand out games this season, Forrest, Spurs home and away, Newcastle and then the comedown on Saturday. So so disappointing.
Zippa, you call 4 points off fourth place surviving.
Er! it was Douglas that mentioned this and you applauded him?
Applauded him on the fact that Fulham as a club on the whole are so better placed than when I first started going to the Cottage.
Splendid back and forth gentlemen.
Zippa, certainly have been many points lost in the last few minutes.
DC, glad we agree that this has been a great season whatever the final outcome.
…there have also been some points gained by unbelievable good fortune too like Harry Wilson’s speculative balletic flick and then his shoulder winner against the Bees, both in the waning moments of the game.
Luck and the lack of it is the magic ingredient that makes it all so phenomenal, moves Plymouth past Liverpool.
I’m afraid to say as a long term follower my first thought each season is the fear of relegation, the agony of losing Palhinha and Mitrovic and Elliott and O’Riley.
That is no consideration for fans of some other teams, instead wondering if they can pull off the double or treble.
My point is that we will never be one of those and there’s nothing wrong with that…defeatist? no…just realistic.
We will never whip out and buy Marmoush in mid season to quell our predictability.
…and please Zippa, don’t take any notice of the Khans.
Great debate! I’m firmly in the camp of those who say we are having a good season. As for the Palace game you are all forgeting the first 25-30 minutes where we were totally dominanant and playing slick incisive football. I don’t know why but the Wharton incident seemed to wreck our concentration. After that Eze changed the game because we did not mark him as we play with our full backs tucked in. We don’t have an Eze or the like, if we did we would be right up with the big boys. I suggest that in the summer we spend all the funds available on one excellent game changing player and not 3 or 4 decent players. Also give the youngsters a start now and then, who knows we might unearth a real diamond there.
I think we’ve improved beyond measure but still not as far as CP, Brentford and Brighton. We have indeed lost players, but can’t keep hiding behind the loss of two really, Mitro( when was that, 2020? and Palhinha) Reilly and Elliott never got a game so can’t really be missed.
CP, Brighton and Brentford have lost equally significant players, if not more than us, but have made excellent signings. That’s where we’ve faked I’m afraid. We’ll have to wait and see who finishes the season in the highest position. Proof of the pudding.
I’m hoping my assumptions will be proved wrong, but I’m a bit of a glass half empty type, after 70+ years of supporting FFC.