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Fulham manager Marco Silva praised his team for the way they controlled proceedings against an excellent Brighton & Hove Albion outfit.
Graham Potter’s side had taken 10 points from a possible 12 heading into Tuesday’s encounter, but left Craven Cottage with a 2-1 defeat.
“A great win for us, a great result, a great three points against a really tough team to play against and to beat,” was Silva’s analysis.
“The way they started the season, they deserved the points, the way they controlled all the teams they played against, the way they created so many chances. They conceded just one goal [before tonight] and it was an own goal.
“What we showed in the first 20-25 minutes, we had a clear plan to control them, probably with some different decisions on the attack or counter attack when we arrived with the ball in our offensive organisation, different decisions probably could have created more chances.
“Of course, they have this capacity to change their formation, and after 25 minutes Graham changed to four at the back because we had been doing really well, and they started to control the game a little bit better and we had some difficulties at the end of the first half.
“We spoke at half time about how we should be more aggressive, with our two wingers a little bit higher. The goal gave us the confidence and belief that we needed in that moment.
“Afterwards there’s the second goal, and even with the penalty when they score for 2-1 I think we controlled really well.
“They changed some players, they put fresh legs inside, two strikers at the end of the game as well, but we controlled really well.”
With Brighton pushing for an equaliser, the Fulham players managed the match impeccably during eight minutes of stoppage time, frustrating the visitors by keeping the ball up their end of the pitch.
“It was really, really good,” Silva replied when asked about his team seeing the game out. “We showed the maturity to control, after the 2-1 as well.
“The way we controlled the last minutes of the game, the extra time, we showed the maturity that I’m really pleased to see, and I want to see, in our team – confidence, when we lost the ball there was a strong reaction as well.
“We showed the maturity to control far from our own half. It was really good and was one of the keys for controlling the game in that moment.
“Unbelievable work from our team without the ball, off the ball. It was fantastic the way we pressed most of the moments.
“They deserve all the credit. I’m really proud of them, of the fans as well, because they helped us in certain moments when we were struggling a little bit in the game.
“To be honest, I think we clearly deserved the three points.”
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Brighton and Hove Albion boss Graham Potter
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Graham Potter had no complaints after Albion’s impressive start to the season ended at Fulham.
Despite Alexis Mac Allister’s penalty in the second half, Albion went down 2-1. It marked their first defeat of the season and the head coach said the home side merited the three points.
“I don’t think we were worthy of anything, Fulham deserved to win,” he said. “They were the better team for the first 30 minutes then we got back into it a bit more. We conceded two poor goals after a bad start to the second half but, credit to the boys, they pushed and pushed but overall Fulham were worthy winners. We weren’t as good as we can be.”
After a goalless first half Fulham scored twice in six minutes after the break, through Aleksandar Mitrovic and an own goal by Lewis Dunk.
“We weren’t happy with our first-half performance, we weren’t at the levels we have been at recently.
“Why didn’t we reach those levels? It’s football. There’s an opponent on the pitch as well. We missed Danny Welbeck a bit up front but that’s life. He took a couple of heavy knocks against Leeds and I don’t regret the decision not to start him.”
Albion still have ten points from their first five games and Potter recognises it’s been a good start to the campaign.
“The team has performed well over a period of time. We’ve had a good record and we’ve played at a good level, it’s still a good start when you zoom out. We will learn from tonight and dust ourselves down and prepare for Leicester on Sunday.”
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