Marco Silva says Fulham were worthy of their Old Trafford win

Posted Sunday, February 25, 2024 by PA

Fulham boss Marco Silva had no doubt his side got what they deserved after snatching a dramatic stoppage-time win at Manchester United on Saturday.

Alex Iwobi struck in the 97th minute as the Cottagers responded to an 89th-minute equaliser from Harry Maguire to claim a stunning 2-1 Premier League success at Old Trafford.

It was the London side’s first win at the ground since 2003 and, after creating the majority of the chances throughout the game and taking a 65th-minute lead through Calvin Bassey, Silva felt it was merited.

Marco Silva says Fulham were worthy of their Old Trafford win — Fulham’s Alex Iwobi scores the winner (Mike Egerton/PA)

Silva said: “Definitely, it is clear in my opinion the better team on the pitch won the game. We are the team that created the most chances, that played better and tried to win most of the moments of the game.

“We created a very good number of chances in the first half. They had two or three very good moments as well but the way we started the second half, the first 30 minutes, the way we controlled the game against Man Utd at Old Trafford, that is not easy to do.

“We scored and after came the normal reaction from Man Utd, the crowd played a big part in their reaction, and we conceded a bit of an unlucky goal.

“In that moment we showed a strong mentality. It was first a moment for us not to concede the second as Old Trafford was on fire but we showed a strong mentality and even before the 2-1 we had a strong chance from Rodri (Muniz).

“It was a really well-deserved three points and the best team won.”

Fulham’s success punctured some of the optimism that has swept into Old Trafford this week following the completion of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s partial takeover.

The defeat was United’s 10th of the campaign in the Premier League, ending a four-game winning streak, and was a setback to their hopes of reaching the top four.

Manager Erik Ten Hag, however, dismissed the suggestion his team’s Champions League hopes had been dented and highlighted the overall picture.

The Dutchman said: “After these two months I can’t go with that approach. We have gone lately very good but now we have some setbacks.

“Today we could have won this game. We should have won this game as the team showed great character.

“We had two slow starts in both halves, definitely. It was a big loss to lose Casemiro (to injury), we lost some stability in the team and conceded a goal that is very avoidable, but then fought back in the game.

“I have to credit the team – they showed great character. We went for the win but by the end we let them slip away.

“But after one defeat you have to see the bigger picture and the bigger picture looks very good.

“We have to catch up in certain positions and get the injuries back, then we will be more in balance and also strengthen the squad in the transfer windows.

“You see there are many good players coming up and real high potential players, so definitely we are going in the right direction. When we have the players available, we have a very good team.”