Fulham manager Marco Silva was full of praise for the role the Fulham supporters played in our hard-fought defeat by Manchester City on Tuesday.
The team found themselves 3-0 and 5-1 down at points in the game, but belief never wavered inside Craven Cottage, with the lads roared on to go within a whisker of taking an unlikely point.
“If you go in that direction, about the character and the personality of the team, of course what they showed was impressive.
“Normally, if you are losing by a heavy score, home or away, it doesn't matter if it’s against a side like City, many things can go in their mind.
“After the fifth goal of City, you want to react, but you can be thinking the damage is there, probably it's better to don't take any risk and don't go and face the game.
“But the reaction was unbelievable – from the boys, from our team, from the fans, too. And looking at that reaction, we probably deserved that fifth goal to equalise the game. Unfortunately, we didn't.
“Many positives from the game, definitely. The main one – that connection with the fans in the end, really means something. We didn't take points from this game, but that reaction, the connection at the end, the respect that they showed for a team that lost and conceded five goals at home, was impressive from the fans, and is going to give us many things in the future.”
Despite the excellent character on show, five goals were still conceded, and Silva acknowledged that you cannot be giving teams of that calibre an inch.
“If you start the game so bad, like we did, against a side like City, you are going to be in trouble,” he said. “And we were, definitely.
“We knew before the match that we are going to find a way to create problems for them on the ball, and we did.
“Even in the toughest moments that we had, after the 1-0, big chance with Emile inside the box to equalise the game. Some moments after that moment, we took good decisions, other moments not so good.
“But against any side in the Premier League, more against sides with this quality, off the ball we have to be much stronger. They started on the front foot, and we were not aggressive enough off the ball.
“I think we created, I'm not saying easy, but a bit not so difficult scenario for them to score the first, even the chance from [Erling] Haaland [at 0-0] off the post.
“The second goal is a good example on it, the way we squeeze with a central defender, the way our backline didn't cover around. I think it’s clear in our principles, we have to do it much, much better, and quicker. We didn't, and they punished ourselves.
“The goal of Emile gave us a bit of hope at the end of the first half. A team that wants to react, double change at half-time – imagine if you go and you concede two early goals again?
“But the reaction was unbelievable from them, and we have to praise that. We are going to take positives. We are going to analyse.
“For sure, the players’ feeling is not the best, because we lost the game, but we have to look for the positives, too, and praise the players for the reaction, the way they did it.
“They were really a team, they kept together themselves, and they pushed City back. Probably they deserved more, they deserved the fifth goal to equalise the game.”