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Fulham boss Marco Silva knows there is room for improvement, after Fulham drew 0-0 away to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
On an absolutely sweltering afternoon at Molineux, both team struggled to be at their fluid best, and were forced to share the points.
“It was a tough game for us, like we expected against a good side,” Silva said. “A team that we knew were playing their first Premier League match at home, we knew what type of atmosphere we would play against here, one that would push them further for sure.
“They wanted to win the game as it was their first game, playing against a team that was promoted as well, that was always their obligation.
“First half, our first press was not at the level it should be. They started to command the game as we failed a little bit with our first press.
“Their midfielders played without pressure the first 25 minutes and started to play inside our block, something we didn’t want.
“But they didn’t create many clear chances, maybe one each half or two in the second half.
“We controlled the game well more or less, but on the ball we have to do much better.”
He continued: “We have the capacity to do better. Of course it was a tough afternoon for both teams as it was very, very hot, [but] we were not dynamic enough with the ball.
“We want to use the ball quicker to utilise the spaces that we want to explore, and that was the thing that I took from the game, that we can clearly improve.
“But we showed very good organisation for the most part of the game, the togetherness, playing for each other, fighting for each other.
“In the last moments of the game we showed maturity as well, which was important.
“Clean sheet is always important to have as well, and we have to go again.”
Fulham had a chance to secure all three points in the latter stages when awarded a penalty, but Aleksandar Mitrovic saw his effort saved.
That did nothing to dampen Silva’s faith in his number nine, though.
“Mitro knows that the next penalty will be there, the next penalty he will take, and the next penalty he will score,” he stated. “That is part of the game.
“Last week he had one and he scored, this afternoon he could be the moment for us to win the game, but okay, it’s part of our job.
“It’s part of Mitro’s job as well and we have to keep working with him. I will not miss, for sure, because I do not take penalties, but it’s part of the life of a football player.
“Next time he will score.”
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Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Bruno Lage
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Look, I think we deserved to win the game, but to win the game we need to score goals, and to score goals we just need to put the ball in the net and I think we had plenty of chances to do that.
Sometimes our players faced their goalkeeper, I think there were two situations without their goalkeeper in the goal. First, with Pedro [Neto] and the second one with Morgan [Gibbs-White].
I think it's clear chances, obvious chances to score goals. So, in the end, what we look for is the performance. Again, another good performance, with personality.
And I can see by the way the fans responded at the end that they enjoyed the performance. Now it's time to continue to work. We are working hard, we are working hard in everything.
So, I'm happy because of the performance. I think we lose here two points, but against a strong opponent, Marco [Silva] is a top manager.
I think the way they played against Liverpool, it was different. I think they respected us a lot as a team so it means a lot for him to understand the way we are playing. That's why he is a top manager.
And when you look back, what they did in the Championship, the way they started the Premier League season, the way they come here and they respect us. So it means a lot to us.
Now, we have to continue to work. This is our direction. The fans are happy. We are happy with the performance, but I want more and we know that tomorrow is off and Monday we will be there again, to push hard because we are here working hard for our fans.
Yeah, I'm happy with the four in the back. Now we need to work more, especially the game between the lines.
What they did in the first 20 minutes, they blocked Ruben, and put both midfielders on Ruben so he didn’t have the ball. And we need to understand that if we don’t have Ruben available, (Nathan) Collins and Max (Kilman) should be more aggressive.
We usually do that when we played the line of three defenders. So it was (Romain) Saiss and Max to be more aggressive to find the man.
With two, I think until the first water break we were more conservative so and we didn’t create too many chances. We control the ball. We have two good chances in the first five minutes, but after that they controlled the game without the ball.
After that we start to to improve to find the spaces between the lines and I think in that part, we we dominated more, we created more chances.
So this is the things we need to improve in the different system. When they block some player, how can we find, and how can we replace? Where is the space to be more and more aggressive?
The other thing, and I just spoke with the players, is that we need to grow up
It’s the emotional control and I think in the last 10 minutes we lost a little bit of our positions. I put people with fresh energy on to try to explore more of the game on the sides because they were more worried about closing inside, and we don't get a chance.
When the game comes to that part in the emotional control, we lose a little bit the positions, we lose the rest defence, we lose our balance and we give chances for the opponent to score. So that's one more thing that the team needs, to grow up.
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