Fulham coach Marco Silva reiterated the seriousness with which he is taking the Emirates FA Cup, in his pre-match press conference. Victory over Leeds United on Tuesday would put Fulham into the last-eight of the competition for the first time since 2010 – something Silva is keen to achieve.
Marco Silva said: “It’s everything that we want right now, with full focus on tomorrow’s much. It’s really important for us, this competition, I think we have shown during the season so far in the FA Cup how we have been serious. Even if you change players, the approach from the players, our commitment in tough games that we played already, even the replay against Sunderland away from home in the middle of the week, we did it in the best way we could. It’s really important for us, this competition, and we really want to play the Quarter-Final. That’s what we want. Of course, I know that Leeds wants the same as us, for sure. They come here with the aim to go through in the competition, but we are playing at home and we really want to be in the next round. It’s up to us now to play at our best level, to improve some things from the last game, to be able to go through the competition.”
When asked if Fulham’s position in the top-six means we can put more emphasis on the FA Cup,
Marco Silva replied: “It’s our goal, it is our aim, clearly. Of course, I understand what you’re saying about our position in the table, but right now nothing will disturb our focus in the FA Cup match. Our position in the table can probably give us more confidence, and gives the confidence for the players that they are doing the right things as well. The focus right now is just in the FA Cup match, and if you ask what is our aim, it’s clearly to make a good run in this competition. Full respect to Leeds, we know their capacity, what we’re going to face tomorrow night, the support they are going to have again. We played against them in a different competition, the Carabao Cup, last season and we know what type of support they have in that situation. It will be a proper cup tie, in my opinion, two good teams that want to go through. It will be a tough match, but it is our aim to play in the Quarter-Final of the FA Cup.”
Leeds find themselves fighting for different targets in the Premier League, though new boss Javi Gracia won his opening game in charge at the weekend. But there is still just one point keeping them out of the bottom three, and Silva admitted it’s difficult to forecast how they might line up at the Cottage.
Marco Silva said: “As you know, it was just the first game for Javi last game. It’s difficult to predict the way they are going to be, if they are going to change many players or not. I think even for them it’s difficult to predict the type of players, or number of players they are going to change. But they are always going to be Leeds and probably even in a better mood, more confident after the massive win for them last Saturday.”
