Fulham coach Marco Silva recognised that David De Gea’s penalty save changed the tide in Fulham’s meeting with Manchester United. Leading through Kenny Tete’s header, we had the chance to double our advantage, but the momentum swung in the Reds’ favour when De Gea denied Aleksandar Mitrovic from 12 yards.
Marco Silva said: “We had very good moments during the game. Unfortunately for us, we were not really consistent during all the match, but we started with our plan and the way we started to control all the game. Then we were leading the score, I think it was well deserved from ourselves because we showed the composure, the quality to play, to control well most of the moments from the build-up of Man United and all those situations. Of course, we had the chance to score for 2-0 and give us even more confidence and make it much more difficult for them. We missed, De Gea saved in that moment, and of course it was a boost for them, you could feel it straightaway. These are the moments where we have to show more maturity, to show more consistency, because after that is a moment where we have to get back again to our standards, to stick with the plan, and in some moments we didn’t. They started to gain some second balls, they started to win a lot of duels. The reaction, as we expected, was normal, but in some moments we should have done much, much better. Because if we keep doing the same things that we did before the penalty, I’m 100 per cent sure we would keep creating problems to Man United. They equalised with a lucky ball, I have to say, a deflection. They had one or two good chances before that. Second half, we tried to adjust some things because they were creating problems for us between the lines. We tried to be a little bit more compact, but we didn’t start well. After the 2-1, we reacted, we had some chances, they had some chances to score the third, too. In my opinion, we clearly didn’t deserve the result, but it’s the same old story with Man United this season. The three games were different, of course, in my opinion the other two were much better than this afternoon, even if this afternoon we had very good moments, but in the other two we were much the better team. But there are some moments that decide games, unfortunately this afternoon was more or less the same story, because we didn’t deserve to lose the game.”
Regardless of the defeat, Silva knows that the 2022/23 campaign has been a terrific one for Fulham.
Marco Silva added: “It’s been brilliant. No doubt about it, the season has been fantastic for this football club, when everyone expected us to be the first ones to go down. We heard a lot of things in the beginning of the season that there was no chance for Fulham, they are the favourites to go down. The reality is that we did really well, we finished top half of the table, in some months of the season we even expected to fight for something more, but probably for the first season in the Premier League it was too difficult. We have to keep taking the right steps in the right time but, of course, it is a brilliant season. And more important than the position we finished in the table, was the way we did it. This is much more important for me, because we kept our identity, kept our philosophy, played the same type of football. That, for me, is important to see my team play, and this is much more important than just to finish 10th or ninth or 11th. We did it in our style, in our way, and it made me proud.”
Asked what needs to be done to build on this progress next season,
Marco Silva answered: “First is to keep the standards. The platform is here, it’s clear that the platform is here, but we cannot stand still. If this level that we are playing, if someone thinks that it’s okay, now that we are 10th, that will be the first mistake, for the Club to go in a direction that I will not allow it to go. This is the main thing. The standards are there, the platform is here, but we have to improve, clearly. Not just on the pitch, off the pitch as well. There are many things still to improve, this is a normal thing in football, no one can stand still. We have to always show the commitment and the ambition to do more.”
