Marco Silva feels Fulham’s display left room for improvement in win over Hull

Posted Sunday, August 22, 2021 by PA

Marco Silva believes Fulham were not at their best despite disposing of Hull 2-0 at Craven Cottage.

The west London side sit on top of the early Championship table after two goals in the first half from Aleksandar Mitrovic and Fabio Carvalho.

Despite a performance that saw them dominate throughout, despite Tim Ream, Carvalho and Kenny Tete all being forced off through injury, the Portuguese head coach felt his side could have played even better against his former club.

He said: “I’m happy with the three points, because we asked our players before the game to aim for the target of the third win in a row, with the first home win as well. If you achieve that, I’m happy.

“It wasn’t the best performance to be honest with you. In this competition, with the level that you are, it was not the perfect performance that we had against Millwall.

“We have to play to win football matches. Today, we won the game because we were the best team on the pitch.

“After our first goal we saw confidence and controlled the game better, in the way we wanted.

“Antonee Robinson is in our model, in our way to play. It was his best performance this season.”

The hosts took the lead a minute after Ream went off as Mitrovic flicked home a corner from Jean Michael Seri.

The second came two minutes after Tete limped off, as a low cross by the impressive Robinson from the left led to Carvalho’s strike.

Fulham were hit with another injury blow after 70 minutes, when goalscorer Carvalho was taken off.

Hull head coach Grant McCann felt Fulham’s opening goal should not have counted as he claimed referee Tim Robinson missed a foul on Jacob Greaves by Mitrovic.

He said: “Their first goal I’m really disappointed with. Having watched it back it’s a block on Jacob. It’s disappointing because it’s right in front of the referee.

“Fulham are a possession-based team, we have to stay compact and in shape. I think we did that in the second half.

“I was proud of the boys after the break, the way we stuck at it.

“I thought we started the game very well, they came down from the Premier League last season.

“We showed bravery, I asked for that and we showed it in the first half. We got forward in some good areas.”