Fulham boss Marco Silva makes ‘difficult’ Wolves claim in Premier League relegation prediction
Marco Silva assessed Wolves’ chances of staying up following Fulham’s 2-1 win at Molineux.
Fulham manager Marco Silva was full of praise for Wolves after his team’s victory at Molineux on Tuesday night.
The Portuguese head coach has admitted he has kept a close eye on the Old Gold over recent weeks and saw them as very tricky opponents, making the Cottagers’ win all the more satisfying. Silva reckons the relegation fight is not yet over but he believes Wolves stand a good chance of staying in the Premier League if they can perform like they have in certain matches.
Using Wanderers’ three previous league outings as examples, Silva outlined the challenge Fulham faced to claim victory at Molineux. “First of all we came here and knew they were gaining the momentum because even two weeks ago when they lost against Liverpool the second half was very good,” Silva began.
“The game before was very good against Villa and they won at Bournemouth too. That means the last three games from them were really good, they won against two very good sides in Villa and Bournemouth.
“We knew it was going to be difficult. First, it’s difficult to take the ball from them because with Andre, (Joao) Gomes, when the ball comes to Matheus (Cunha) something can happen. Of course, they have the pace in the attacking line so they’re difficult to play against.
“But of course we trust in ourselves and know what we are capable of doing as well. Ok, it’s going to be tough and a big fight for them but they are in a better position than before. It’s going to be a big fight between them,” Silva concluded.
Wolves problems laid bare
The Old Gold’s defensive display against Fulham really cost them the chance of points as Vitor Pereira’s side conceded in the first 65 seconds of each half. Ryan Sessegnon opened the scoring after being played through by a simple Andreas Pereira through ball, while Rodrigo Muniz put the Cottagers 2-1 up just after the interval with a delicate dink over Jose Sa.
Pereira was as disappointed as anyone about the result but especially with the manner in which Wolves conceded their goals. Nelson Semedo should’ve done better as he didn’t see Sessegnon’s run for the first whereas Santiago Bueno afforded Muniz too much space between the lines for the second.
“I’m frustrated because after three days we play again and start the first half conceding a goal, a very easy goal. We cannot have our level of concentration or focus not in the level of the game,” Pereira said during his post-match press conference.
“Today we committed mistakes that we cannot commit again. It means that tomorrow I will start the work correcting these mistakes and trying to think about our mistakes. We need to look at ourselves, it’s not about the other team - it’s about us. Today the players they tried everything but not in the right way,” he added.
In other news, BirminghamWorld handed out two 8/10s in Tuesday’s player ratings despite defeat. Read on for the full report.