Fulham manager Marco Silva Marco Silva spoke of his satisfaction after Fulham secured their place in the next round of the Carabao Cup with a dramatic win over Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday evening.
The Whites had to overcome an early setback when Cauley Woodrow put the Chairboys in front, but Josh King levelled things up and the tie was wrapped up on penalties.
“We wanted to be in the next round. We are going to be there,” Silva said. “Of course, our obligation was to be in the next round.
“To be honest, I think throughout the game we did enough. We knew we had to be positive and keep positivity around ourselves because these types of things happen, where the first shot on target was a goal. That’s football, and I told the players at half-time that sometimes things come against us and we have to face it in the best way we can.”
Silva admitted that his team were not at their best before the interval but was encouraged by the improvement in the second half.
“The first half was not at a good level but we did create some chances – not clear cut chances – and we didn’t suffocate them like we should.
“Second half, we pushed them back and created six or seven clear chances to score. That’s football – when you create like we created in the second half, we have to put the ball in the back of the net. We have to be clinical, we have to be ruthless.”
The boss was pleased to see Fulham’s efforts rewarded with victory, and took a moment to recognise the contribution of the travelling supporters.
“We are in the next round and that was the most important thing for us. In that away end full of our fans, I have to thank them for the support. We understand that they were unhappy at half-time with our performance.”
With Fulham’s name now in the hat for the next round, Silva reiterated his ambition to go deep in the competition and underlined the importance of unity as his side look to build momentum.
“We aim really high in this competition. We didn’t hide. I started this conversation with you guys by saying it was our obligation to be in the next round. It’s easy to say, I know, but it’s clear – the way we started preparing this game with the players.
“The results haven’t been good enough for us, even in difficult circumstances and against some difficult opposition as well. But I think we have been very, very competitive even in difficult moments. I’m sure that when we have the full squad available, we’re going to be much stronger.
“Many, many things are coming against us. Our words are not going to be enough. We have to work, keep working to be positive. They have to be positive. In this moment, the confidence is not something that you can buy anywhere. We need all of us even more together, and our fans with the team as well.”