Marco Silva thought Friday night’s clash was a good contest between two decent teams, but was frustrated with the lapse in concentration which cost Fulham the opener.
“Let’s start to talk about the football, the football that both teams play on the pitch,” he said. “A good game, two strong sides on the pitch.
“We didn’t change anything like we are doing so far. They came here with a different strategy, they changed a little bit the formation, to be a little bit more compact in that middle zone, the way they tried to build with four midfielders instead of three and just two players in the attack line.
“First five minutes, we took some time to adapt and after that we start to control the game. We knew before the match we could not lose the balance because they will be strong in that moment.
“First half was a bit more balanced with the chances that we created and I think we deserved more, we deserved a clear 2-0 lead in the score at half time.
“The only thing I didn’t like, we lost for two seconds our focus and discipline in our organisation and they punished us.
“We cannot concede a goal like we conceded from the kick-off, our backline slept completely in the moment.
“But I’m proud really of the way they reacted. I’m really proud of our fans and how they helped us and pushed us.
“What we did against a really strong side, the stats are there. We pushed them back, there are 10 players around their box and we created chances and chances to score.
“At the end we scored, we clearly deserved more from the game. We were the best team on the pitch.”
The introduction of substitutes Tom Cairney and Bobby De Cordova-Reid added some impetus to the Whites’ play, and Silva was pleased with their contributions.
“Both players made a big impact in the game,” he said. “It is something we planned, Tom and Bobby made a big impact on the game and we expected that.
“We controlled the game after that. Fabio and Mika, they were tired in that moment.
“Tom with his quality, Bobby to put a bit more fresh legs in that right side with Harry Wilson, and we started to create a lot of problems for them.”