Fulham manager Marco Silva thinks that Fulham did enough on Sunday afternoon to take three points away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Whites created a lot more chances than our hosts, but had to settle for a draw after going down to 10 men, with Tom Cairney shown a straight red card 16 minutes after scoring a fabulous equaliser.
“Great performance from ourselves,” Silva said. “I got the feeling throughout the week, and I told the players during the week and before the match in our pre-match meeting, that we had all the conditions to come here to match them, like we have been playing against every team in this competition, and to fight for the three points. And we showed that.
“I think we deserved much more from the game. Deserved clearly to win the game with the chances we created, against a very good side.
“Tottenham had very good chances, too, but overall, looking at the game, I think we had more. We had more control of the game and, performance wise, we did really well.
“Great first half from us – very good chances, control of the game, apart from the first minute where the first pressure of Tottenham created a little bit of a problem for us. When we found the right moments to beat that pressure, I think we did it well almost always.
“We know how they are strong, how they can press really high. Most of their goals come from moments where they press high, and the turnovers from themselves.
“We did control really well the situation, and it's not easy to be on the front foot always against a team like Tottenham, when they have Werner, Johnson or Kulusevski in that front line, plus always Maddison to provide the right passes for them, and we did it very well first half.
“Even in the second half, the first chances were from ourselves. Great chance from Issa, another great chance from Alex Iwobi before we conceded the goal.
“Okay, we have to be more ruthless in the moments that we are controlling the game. We cannot give the chance like we gave.”
Spurs opener came from a counter attack against the run of play, but Fulham rallied valiantly, with substitutes Cairney and Harry Wilson helping to bring us level.
“Great reaction from us,” Silva stated. “First with the two players that came in, Tom Cairney and Harry Wilson – they made a massive impact in the game. Great goal from us.
“And when the game was open for both sides, comes the red card and changed completely the mindset from ourselves. We changed the formation, with five at the back, plus three midfielders.
“We know that they are strong on the sides, so we wanted to block the sides for them. And the reality is that we didn't give any chance for them, even with the 10 men during the last 15 minutes of the game.”
The big disappointment from the game was that Cairney will now serve a three-match suspension, and his Head Coach empathised with his Captain, who he insists doesn’t have a malevolent bone in his body.
“We all know Tom Cairney is not a malicious player at all. Sometimes, honestly speaking with you, I'm the first one pushing him to be more aggressive, in the right way of course.
“But looking at the images, you have to accept it. He was unlucky. Okay, good interception from Kulusevski. [Cairney] tried to get the ball, and he stamped his leg. And if you want to look just at the picture and the images, you have to accept the red card.”