Marco Silva
Fulham coach Marco Silva believes the correct result was achieved at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon. Fulham recovered from conceding an equaliser to put in a flawless second half display, claiming a deserved 3-1 victory in the process.
Marco Silva said: “Clearly we were the best team on the pitch and we deserved the three points, no doubt. We started the game really well, I think until the moment Everton equalised we were clearly the best team there, we controlled the game really well. We expected a little bit of the high pressure that Everton was doing the last few games at home. They have been really strong, apart from the game against Villa where they lost, they have been achieving good results and always creating a lot of problems for the opposition side with the high pressure every time. We knew that is something that we like to do as well, building from the back, and I think we did really well from the first minute of the game. We showed the personality and the character to play in our way, to not change many things. Of course, we changed the profile of our number nine to play with Daniel James as a striker, because we wanted to exploit some things in behind their two central defenders, with Harry Wilson on the right hand side as well. And I think we did really well, the players stuck with the plan.”
While the Whites performed well in the first 45, it was after the restart that things really clicked.
Marco Silva said: “We spoke at half-time, we changed some things slightly, and some things were important for us to prepare better for the second half, and our second half was a very good level. It was clear we controlled, from the beginning until the last moment. We scored twice, we had more chances, we prepared well from some set-pieces, and of course I’m pleased for that because it’s not easy to come here and play the way we did, to control the second half from the first minute until the last one. I’m really pleased for the players because they deserve it.”
Of the three changes to the starting XI, attention was perhaps drawn most to James leading the line – a decision which proved to be a masterstroke.
Marco Silva said: “I did it because I was not happy with our last two performances, the way we weren’t really a threat in our attack line. We didn’t create enough, we were not aggressive enough in our attack line. Because of that, I didn’t just change James, Harry Wilson [came in] on the right hand side as well, because we wanted to have a little bit more pace in behind, some different things. And we had plenty of that. We did our job, to analyse the game and to analyse Everton, we expected them to come to press really high every time, and we didn’t want to give that number nine reference for them to go and squeeze him every time. We went in a different way and it worked really well, and the main reason is because the players understood and, after, they did it on the pitch.”
