Marco Silva had his work cut out for him at the start of the season. The Fulham manager could only watch on as João Palhinha, Tosin Adarabioyo and Willian left the club in the summer. Silva is no stranger to losing key players, having previously had to cope with the exits of Fábio Carvalho and Aleksandar Mitrovic. When Fulham lost their first game of the season, it looked like it could be a tough year for the club. But, with the end of the campaign looming, they are flying high in two competitions.
The Premier League is likely to have five clubs in the Champions League next season and, as outlandish as it sounds, Fulham could be one of them. They are eighth in the table, just three points behind fifth-placed Manchester City. A place in the Europa League is more realistic, especially as they have two routes to the competition. Fulham host Crystal Palace in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, with a Wembley semi-final up for grabs. Fulham have only played in one FA Cup final, 50 years ago, which they lost to West Ham. This season they have a great opportunity to go back to Wembley and win the first major trophy of their history.
Silva is doing a brilliant job. Impressively, he is hauling Fulham up the table despite the efforts to remove the rug from underneath him. “It’s not easy to find other clubs in the Premier League that lost four key players who normally are starting XI players. It’s going to be important for us to rebuild everything again,” said Silva in September as he contemplated the season ahead. The fact that Fulham are within a whisker of a Champions League place is a testament to his coaching ability. Previously considered a yo-yo club, Fulham are now firmly established as top-tier side.
Marco Silva’s Fulham have two paths to European football. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images
Silva routinely sets his side up in a 4-2-3-1 formation but he is tactically flexible and will tinker with his team to match his opponents. Take the recent 2-1 win at Wolves, where he moved to a three-man backline to counter Vítor Pereira’s system. Even so, the 4-2-3-1 is Silva’s bread and butter and the players know the setup like the backs of their hands.
When one full-back pushes on, the other tucks inside to forge a three-man defence. The team has a solid defensive shield in Sasa Lukic and Sander Berge, the latter joining from Burnley over the summer to add a physical presence to the midfield to cover Palhinha’s exit. In attack, Adama Traoré, Alex Iwobi, Emile Smith Rowe, Harry Wilson and Willian – who returned to the club in February – interchange positions. Their movement adds to the unpredictability of the forward line led by Raúl Jiménez, with backup striker Rodrigo Muniz proving Silva’s supersub having scored more goals off the bench (five) than any other player in the Premier League this season.
What stands out about Fulham is their ability to play attractive football while also limiting the number of chances they face. They are conceding just 11 shots per game this season, which is the fifth lowest in the Premier League – for context, Liverpool and Arsenal (both 9.7) top this metric. They have conceded just 38 league goals, the same as Carabao Cup winners Newcastle and two fewer than defending champions Manchester City.
No longer are Fulham an easy ride for the Premier League’s bigger sides. And, even when opponents do breach their defence, getting the better of goalkeeper Bernd Leno is far easier said than done; the German ranks sixth for saves (80) in the league this season. The former Fulham striker Louis Saha made the case recently that Silva is the best manager in London at the minute, even above Mikel Arteta and Enzo Maresca despite their teams sitting higher up the table. “Fulham never had this type of consistency with any other manager,” said Saha.
Silva has said goodbye to some high-profile players – they lost £100m worth of talent when Mitrovic left for Saudi Arabia and Palhinha moved to Bayern Munich – but the club has spent well. Signing experienced Premier League players has helped, with last summer’s arrivals, Joachim Andersen, Berge and Smith Rowe, all well versed in top-tier English football. Silva has remained consistent with his tactics, which means the players know what they are doing and new additions fit in quickly.
There have been reports that Tottenham are eyeing up Silva as a replacement for Ange Postecoglou if he leaves in the summer, which is no surprise given his fine work in west London. Fulham fans, who have never seen the club finish higher than seventh in the top flight, will be hoping he stays.
Saturday marks the beginning of a key period for the club as they hope to enjoy the most successful season of their history. After their FA Cup tie with Palace, Silva takes his side to the Emirates in midweek before they welcome Liverpool to Craven Cottage next weekend. Between now and the end of the season, Fulham also face Bournemouth, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Brentford and Manchester City. In previous years, that would have had fans fretting, but this Fulham team will approach these games with confidence. This could be a special season for them.
This is an article by WhoScored
