Marco Silva insisted Fulham’s lack of aggression in and out of possession was their downfall against Liverpool.
The Reds ended a run of three successive defeats by recording a 2-0 win over the Cottagers at Anfield. Rio Ngumoha, the 17-year-old winger, opened the scoring in the 36th minute before Mo Salah doubled the advantage four minutes later.
Fulham did improve after the break but they struggled to create clear-cut chances, with Emile Smith Rowe spurning the best opportunity. Liverpool’s win edged them closer to securing Champions League qualification as they moved four points clear of Chelsea.
Fulham head coach Silva said: “The game was decided in five minutes. In my opinion, it was decided in that first half, where our approach was not aggressive enough, on and off the ball.
“We gave Liverpool the chance to build up their attack too easily in some moments, not with the right aggressiveness off the ball. That was the reason why they had the chances and they were in command of the game most of the time during the first half.
“And the good example of that is the way they score the first goal – a long ball from the goalkeeper, the way they were able to win that ball in the air, lack of communication between two players, Salah’s first contact on the ball, the way they won the second ball before the great finishing of Rio.
“I think it’s a good example about our approach during that first half that was not aggressive enough for the level of a game in the Premier League, and a game that we wanted to win, and had the ambition to win.
“Second half was completely different – our approach, our aggressiveness on and off the ball. I know that Liverpool was winning the game, but the way we won many balls in our offensive half, we were much more aggressive, we created much more chances as well.
“Of course, we were not ruthless enough, because with a goal we can create a different scenario in the stadium, in the opposition side as well. We got a big chance with Emile to score, and the game is going to be probably different [if it goes in].
“We tried to score the 2-1, but we were not ruthless. Liverpool when they had the chances, first half, they did it, and that made a big impact in the game.
“But our face and our image as a team is much more that second half than the first half. For us to win games and to be fighting for what we want to fight for, has to be much more in the way we played second half than we did first half.”
Fulham were playing their first game in three weeks because of the international break and last weekend’s FA Cup quarter-final fixtures. But Silva made no excuses. He added: “That is an easy excuse, because we play in the second half. Most of our players were three weeks without a Premier League game but they had international games and it is not an excuse for us. Liverpool had FA Cup and Champions League and if you look at that we should have taken advantage of their game on Wednesday night.”
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