Phil SumblerWhen you manage a team who has gone away from home and left with a 5-1 victory you would expect Marco Silva to be a happy man when addressing the press after the game but the Fulham boss declared that it was not their best performance.
Five goals, three points, a fourteen point lead at the top of the table and 89 league goals already to your name means that you are certainly a side heading for an immediate return to the Premier League after relegation last season.
But Silva was honest enough to admit that his side was not at their best – something that was certainly reflected in a first half that the Swans controlled with the game turning on a couple of minutes either side of the interval when the Swans were reduced to ten men and Fulham opened the scoring before many had retaken their seats.
“It was a tough game, like we expected,” Silva told their official website. “We knew before the match that it would be a little bit different with the way that they play, the way they build and prepare their attacks.
“We had a plan, but the first 15-20 minutes we did it wrong. We did it completely wrong.
“They beat our press easily, but after that we started to get a little bit more balance and didn’t give them the chance to find the spare player.
“After the red card, the game changed. Even in the three or four minutes before half-time we started to create more problems for them.
“It was key for us scoring in the first minute of the second half. We knew that they take many risks with the way they play, and they made a mistake after we pressed. We scored, and then after that it was a matter of time before we scored the second.
“It wasn’t our best performance, definitely not, even the second half wasn’t our best performance, but I have to congratulate the players.
“It’s easy to see how this competition is really tough. Every three days you are playing, and it’s always tough to take the three points. Even if in some moments we didn’t play how I like, to come here and win the football match was really important for us.”
