Fulham manager Marco Silva was pleased with how Fulham put a ‘resilient’ Wolverhampton Wanderers to the sword on Monday night.
Twice we were pegged back by Gary O’Neil’s side, but a dramatic stoppage time penalty from Willian secured the Whites a huge three points at Craven Cottage.
“We wanted to react, after a tough month for us,” Silva explained. “We wanted a reaction, and we did it.
“The second half we were much more on the front foot, much more in control of the game. We pushed them back and controlled the game much better.
“But I have to say that the way we started the game was really good, too. First minute of the game, a very good combination on the right hand side, we almost score.
“The way we scored for 1-0 was a very good moment from ourselves. We had the chance to score 2-0 in that combination from a corner, very good save from Sa.
“The reaction came from Wolves, a moment down the right hand side, where they beat our pressure and we didn't recover well and didn't defend well our box when they equalised.
“Second half we were much more on the front foot. We knew that they were showing a really good resilience in all the games. The last few games they came back to score, they always show the resilience to come back.
“Tonight, again, when they were losing 1-0, they drew 1-1, when they were losing 2-1 they drew [level] again. But our team showed the team spirit, the togetherness, the quality – not during the 100 minutes, but some spells.
“I really believe that we deserve the three points because overall we were the team that tried more to win the game, and wanted more to win the game.”
Willian had ice in his veins for each of his spot-kicks, and Silva is happy to have a player with such composure in his ranks.
“It’s really important for us,” he said. “We know the quality of Willian in that moment. Of course, last season it was my decision in certain moments to not change the penalty taker because it was a player that needed to score to get some more confidence to score in the other moments of the game.
“But we knew that Willian was always a taker for us as well. It was my decision for him to be the taker tonight, and it was nice to see him to take the responsibility. Two penalties, very good moments from him.
“Overall, his performance was really good, too. It's important – when you have these type of chances, we must score, and he did it in a very good style.”
Tom Cairney was brought into the starting XI, and the Fulham captain more than justified the decision with a dazzling display in the middle of the park.
“Very good performance, very good performance,” his Head Coach said. “I think he was the best player on the pitch, and he deserves it. It was a very good performance tonight.
“He started because he's showing to me in the training sessions that he deserves the chance and deserves the moment to start.
“It was a game that I knew that we are going to need more calm, because we are not in a moment full of confidence. We are going to need more calm on the ball, and I know what Tom Cairney can give us in these type of moments.
“When you play with Willian, Alex, Andreas Pereira and Tom Cairney behind the striker, it was clear what we wanted for the game. I knew that we were going to have ball, and I wanted much better decisions, because I knew that it's going to be important for us to have some control.
“We did better second half, and Tom Cairney was a really important piece on that.”
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