Fulham manager Marco Silva, while satisfied to achieve the goal of reaching the Fourth Round of the Carabao Cup, knows the manner of getting there could have been better.
Despite having all of the ball, Fulham laboured in the first half against Cambridge United at Craven Cottage, though a much zippier second 45 ensured safe passage courtesy of Emile Smith Rowe’s goal.
“Everything was slow first half, the way we play, the way we circulate the ball, the tempo in our possession,” Silva said.
“Even if we have 80 per cent of possession, like we had, if you are not aggressive enough on the ball and with your moves, with your dynamic, it doesn't matter. You can have 90 or 95 per cent, you are not going to create anything.
“We had just one good chance first half. And it was our fault, of course. They tried to block, they sat back.
“We expected the game is going to be in our offensive half, like was our obligation, but everything was slow, and one of the things that I said to our players at half-time was that we clearly have to increase the tempo in our possession, to be much more aggressive, more dynamic as well.
“Clearly wasn't our most inspirational night for some of them, our most creative players, because in some moments in these type of games, you need the most creative players to create something.
“But in terms of tempo, the intensity, the aggressiveness on the ball, you have to do much quicker, and we did second half, and that was the reason why we scored and created more chances.
“But clearly it wasn't a good performance for us at all, not with the inspiration that we need to play football in some moments, too.
“We knew what was our obligation. Sometimes it's not easy to say and to use this word, obligation, but of course we were clearly the favourites to be in the next round. We had to make it happen, and we did it, we are going to play the next round.”