Marco Silva admitted his disappointment after Fulham suffered a loss to Crystal Palace in Sunday’s Premier League clash at the Craven Cottage, SportPremi reports.
The Cottagers had suffered a 5-4 defeat to Manchester City in their previous clash in midweek, with Nigeria duo of Alex Iwobi and Samuel Chukwueze (2) on target in that clash.
The latter came on as a substitute in the clash and almost inspired a comeback in one of the most entertaining matches of the season so far.
- Read this: Fulham winger Chukwueze sends warning to Crystal Palace
- Marco Silva plays down Chukwueze permanent transfer talks
It marked a second successive home defeat for Marco Silva’s men who remain in 15th position with 17 points, four ahead of the drop zone.
How it happened
Super Eagles forward Samuel Chukwueze earned his second start since joining Fulham in the summer after his two-goal display in his previous outing.
Alex Iwobi also made his 306th EPL appearance, moving him into third on the all-time list by African footballers, while Calvin Bassey also completed a Nigerian trio of starters for the hosts.
In the opposition side, Christantus Uche’s underwhelming loan spell at Crystal Palace continued as he started the game on the bench once more.
Fulham started the game better, but fell behind in the 20th minute as the Eagles took the lead through Eddie Nketiah, who was making his first league start of the campaign.
However, the home side equalized soon with a spectacular strike from Harry Wilson in the 38th minute.
Samuel Chukwueze and Alex Iwobi were involved in the buildup, as well as Raul Jimenez, as Wilson scored a curling effort with the outside of his left boot.
The Cottagers then scored a goal in the second half, although it was denied for a marginal offside decision against Chukwueze in the buildup.
The Nigerian forward had crossed to countryman Iwobi, who hit the post with a header, before Smith-Rowe fired home the rebound.
Marc Guehi sealed a late win for Palace as he headed in the winner in the closing stages of the match to seal a 2-1 victory.
Everything Marco Silva said
Speaking after the defeat, Marco Silva was disappointed with the result despite his side’s relentless performance in the clash.
“Disappointing the result. We didn’t deserve this result, definitely. We knew that it was going to be tough. A team that will come here to not try to take the control, but to try to come and to block ourselves every single time, to be deep and to try to organise them in 5-4-1 every single time”, the Portuguese admitted.
“What we should have done different was to move quicker the ball. And our possession in the back was too slow.
“Even so, it’s a game that we should try to win until the end. But we cannot concede a goal the way we did it because then we lost the game.”
On the disallowed goal
“Of course, again, the goal was disallowed. Probably the [toe] nail of Chukwueze is too big for the sport that we are playing. Now, another decision from the VAR against ourselves”, he continued.
Chukwueze, Iwobi and Bassey will play their final match of the year for Fulham next weekend against Burnley, before heading off to the 2025 African Cup of Nations duties with Nigeria.
