Fulham manager Silva praises match-winner Alex Iwobi
Fulham manager Marco Silva hailed match-winner Alex Iwobi’s ‘outstanding’ contribution after the Nigerian international bagged a brace to beat in-form Brighton and Hove Albion at Craven Cottage this evening.
“Alex has been outstanding from the first day of pre-season. He is in a happy place and he is a fantastic footballer. Last season was his best season in the Premier League and one or two months ago I said he would be even better in this one. He is versatile and I can use him in many different positions. He’s a top player with the way he can assist and score goals more than ever. What a game for him and he deserved all the credit.”
The Fulham head coach felt Fulham got their rewards for a strong second-half display as the Whites had to recover from the setback of conceding a superb equaliser to Brighton’s Carlos Baleba.
“A tough team to play against. Top quality – individually and collectively as well. They have not been losing games easily. They were fifth in the table, last Friday when they played against Southampton they finished that game in second position in the table, too. That shows the quality they have, and how they have had a great start. We knew that it was going to be tough. We started the game the best way possible with a goal in the first minutes. Okay, a mistake by the goalkeeper or not, but the reality is that we believed in that moment.
But the first half was really difficult for us, was tough. Even if we were leading the score, it was tough. It was difficult for us to find the right moments to press. We had more problems than normal to press and to start to be more aggressive in our first press, and when you don’t have the ball for some longer times, it’s more difficult for us. Rodrigo and Emile worked hard first half, but we didn’t get the right timing to press and win the ball. We wanted to create some dangerous moments for them, but it was not as often as we like to do it, and it was difficult.
They had some chances to equalise, we had our moments too – two great headers from Rodrigo, probably should have scored in that situation. But I have to say that, first half, even if we were leading the score at half-time, they were the better team. The second half was completely different. We adjusted some things at half-time, we adjusted our pressure. It was important for us to don’t lose Rodrigo and Emile always in the first pressure, because after they are going to play behind that first pressure. And we did much better second half.
Even when they equalised, in that moment of the game we were already the best team on the pitch. We reacted well. Even with 1-1, I think our reaction was good. We scored from a set piece. It was in an important moment of the game that we scored, and after that, we controlled the game.
It was a moment that I decided already to change, to put Raúl and Josh King in to help our first pressure. From that moment we started to press higher, and better, and we didn’t give many chances after the 2-1. It was a difficult one, but big three points for us against tough opposition. Much better second half than the first, looking overall to the game. Of course, credit to Brighton, the way they played first half, but I think, overall, we probably deserved the three points.”
