Fulham coach Marco Silva rued the lack of a cutting edge in the Second Leg of Fulham’s Carabao Cup Semi-Final with Liverpool.
There was nothing to separate the sides on the night, but a 1-1 draw booked the Reds a place in next month’s Wembley Final with a 3-2 aggregate victory.
Things may have been different, though, had João Palhinha scored early on or Andreas Pereira hadn’t hit a post.
“Difficult match, like we expected really,” was Silva’s assessment. “They were leading 2-1 [from the First Leg], of course, we knew that it was a game where we had to score two to play the Final.
“Performance-wise, overall the game wasn't our best performance, I have to say, but I would prefer to start with the desire and the attitude and the commitment from our players. They gave everything.
“They gave everything from the first minute until the last minute to keep to the Semi-Final open until the last minute of the game.
“First 30 minutes were difficult for us. Probably too emotional, probably a bit more nervous than Liverpool.
“The details make the difference. Tonight, I felt that they were much calmer than us. For them it’s another game. And for most of our players, probably apart from three or four or five, it’s new for them to play Semi-Finals of this competition.
“We were not able to keep the possession like normally we do, to make three or four passes between us. We lost many, many balls when we were building our attack or moments for our counter-attack as well. Even so, the first big chance was for ourselves.
“Before they scored, we had a big chance with João in that corner, something that we planned with Andreas and the moves inside the box – they were really good. João should hit the target in that situation.
“It's a completely different game probably with that possible goal. We were not ruthless, we were not clinical in that moment.
“And Liverpool scored in a moment that we have to defend much better on our right hand side – a big diagonal from them, first challenge our central defence should be closer in that moment to cover our full-back, and we were not able to do it in the best way, and they scored, creating a more difficult scenario for us.
“We improved a little bit last 10 minutes of the first half. Even so, not enough to score.
“Second half they started better than us, but we started to grow during the game. We knew that we needed a goal to boost the game, to lift the team, to lift the crowd as well.
“We had that moment with Andreas off the post. If we scored 1-1 a little bit earlier it could have been different. And after, when we scored the goal, of course the game became even more emotional.
“The attitude was everything, the players gave everything, but it was not enough. I think [we were] not performing at our best level, I have to say.
“I think we did create some very good chances to score more goals. The truth is we were not ruthless enough, and Liverpool is in the Final.”
Fulham’s home support never lost faith in the team, with the Cottage experiencing a rocking atmosphere from start to finish – something our Head Coach is always keen to see.
“I think the Club is going to grow with these type of moments, the players as well,” he said. “I want to thank our fans because the environment and atmosphere in our stadium was brilliant tonight.
“I know that it's a special night, we're playing a Semi-Final, but we need this type of moments much more because the Club is going to be stronger on the pitch with this type of support from outside.”