Fulham manager Marco Silva’s milestone, his 150th game in charge, ended in disappointment with a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa in a compelling and event-filled match. Raúl Jiménez gave Fulham an early lead, but Morgan Rogers quickly responded for Aston Villa. The match turned further when Andreas Pereira missed a penalty, followed by a second-half transformation led by Ollie Watkins, and Joachim Andersen’s red card led to Issa Diop’s own goal sealing Villa’s victory.
Marco Silva** said, “It was not at all a good performance from us. It’s a bit weird the way we conceded goals and we were not able to punish them in some moments as well. After the penalty I think I felt the team a bit more nervous. We were not playing at our best level and after the penalty even more. Against West Ham at home Adama Traore was one-on-one with the goalkeeper and was pushed from behind. That afternoon it was not a foul. All the explanations were it was a soft touch, not enough for him to go down. I would like to ask what type of touch that this one is. It was even softer than that one and this afternoon was a penalty against us. We just would like to see the consistency week-in, week-out for us to understand.”
Unai Emery said, “I’m very proud of our mentality. We did a fantastic job. And even if they scored one goal, even if they had a penalty, we were always in the same idea, playing with our game plan, focusing 100 per cent. Emiliano Martínez is the best goalkeeper in the world and it means we need him in moments like today. I was sitting on the bench and I was dreaming he saved [the penalty] – and he did.”
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