Marco Silva has been clear over the past couple of days that he will have Fulham up for the League Cup. He shared with Jack Kelly yesterday his disappointment at the second round defeat by League Two Crawley Town in 2022 and reiterated that he wants to go further than reaching the semi-finals a couple of years ago.
Candidly discussing the Crawley collapse, Silva said: “For me, it was a big surprise. Sometimes the big surprises – even in a bad way, can help you and they can help the club to go in the direction you want. That moment was very important for me as a manager, even if it was tough to take.
The Portuguese head coach has been clear that he wants to take the next step as a football club – and that means competing in the latter stages of the cup competitions. Looking up at the photo of Fulham’s fans forming that wonderful ‘White Wall’ at Wembley when Slavisa Jokanovic’s side beat Aston Villa to win the Championship play-off final, Silva set his ambitions high – insisting he would be aiming to take his team all the way to Wembley.
While there’s a contradiction between wanting to reach the later rounds of the cups and his clear frustration at the small size of his first team squad, Silva will be aiming to win tonight’s tie against an in-form Bristol City outfit. He was coy when asked about the prospect of Seth Ridgeon making his first-team debut but admitted that eleven of the academy’s under-21 squad have trained with the first team over the past few days. Silva has already promised several changes with the SW6 derby at Stamford Bridge coming up on Saturday lunchtime.
It will be something of a mix-and-match eleven because Fulham have recent experience of exiting this competition at the hands of Championship opposition – having lost a marathon penalty shoot at Preston North End last September. There should be a debut for the only summer signing to date, Benjamin Lecomte in goal, and an opportunity for Issa Diop at centre back. Harrison Reed and Tom Cairney could come into the midfield, whilst the likes of Ryan Sessegnon and Antonee Robinson, who have both started the season injured, will need more minutes.
Getting the balance right between blooding the youth talents – like Ridgeon and even under-21s forward Aaron Loupalo-Bi – and picking a team strong enough to progress is tricky. Gerhard Struber’s side seem to have put the disappointment of being thrashed in last season’s Championship play-offs behind them, with the former Barnsley boss beginning impressively at Ashton Gate. City avenged their aggregate loss to Sheffield United at Bramall Lane with a brilliant performance on the opening weekend of the season, and picked up points against Charlton Athletic and Derby County.
They were comfortable winners at Milton Keynes in the first round and Struber may ring the changes at Craven Cottage tonight too. They will be without the services of Max O’Leary, Luke McNally, Joe Williams and Cameron Pring. It remains to be seen whether former Fulham youngster Rob Atkinson, who spent two seasons with the Whites and has now forged 200 senior appearances, will make an appearance having started all three Championship games so far this season. Jason Knight, a scorer in the first round, should partner Adam Randell in the middle of the park whilst the dangerous Scott Twine will need to be watched carefully.
MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Lecomte; Castagne, R. Sessegnon, Diop, Cuenca; Reed, Cairney; Traore, Godo, Smith Rowe; Muniz. Subs: Leno, Tete, Andersen, A. Robinson, Lukic, Ridgeon, King, Jimenez, Loupalo-Bi.
