Marco Silva has urged Fulham to ’embrace the challenge’ of competing for continental football in the final five games of the season as they look to bounce back from back-to-back defeats at Southampton this weekend.
The Portuguese head coach was disappointed with the Whites’ level of performance as they were beaten at Bournemouth and then threw away the SW6 derby in the final ten minutes on Sunday, but insisted that there was still plenty to play for. He told his pre-match press conference at Motspur Park this afternoon:
“I told you before the first Premier League match that finishing in the top half of the table would be our target and we are now in a position where we can fight for something, and we are going to fight. We have worked so hard throughout the season to be here now, in a decisive moment for us, and we have to embrace the challenge ahead of us.”
Silva, who confirmed that Rodrigo Muniz will miss the trip to the south coast through injury, scotched any suggestion that his side might take already-relegated Saints lightly.
“Their future – playing in the Championship – is already clear. The game can be different, but analysing their last two games, the approach is more or less the same, very similar. Compact block, five-at-the-back, but let’s see how the game starts and what their approach is going to be, but I’m 100 per cent sure our approach will not change.”
