Boss Silva unhappy with Fulham’s defending

Marco Silva admitted he was left unhappy with Fulham’s defending in the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth.

Fulham conceded just over a minute into the game when Dominic Solanke exchanged passes with Phillip Billing and fired an effort past Bernd Leno, before Issa Diop equalised.

But Solanke was involved again as Silva’s side were punished on the break, teeing up Jefferson Lerma to slot home. Aleksandar Mitrovic’s second-half penalty ensured his side took a point.

Fulham were dominant in the second half but failed to convert their pressure, and while disappointed with the manner of the goals conceded, boss Silva says his team deserved to win the game.

“We are not happy. Of course we are not happy in a game where we control almost all of it,” he said.

“The two goals we conceded come from nowhere. Even if I know it was a good moment from Solanke for the first goal with the way he received that ball, he went between our central defenders which is something where we should have done much better, definitely.

“The second goal was more or less the same. A long ball and the reaction from ourselves is clear for me, it is something we have to work on, definitely.

“When you concede two goals the way we conceded this afternoon, of course we cannot be happy.

“After the last two defeats we know that it was crucial for us to start well and to start on the front foot, to start to create problems and to be confident in the game.

“What happened was clearly the opposite. The first minute of the match, we conceded a goal in a moment where we are clearly in a good set-up, and of course we need to be much more aggressive in that moment.

“In terms of numbers, we had six against two in our penalty box. It’s something we are working on and we have to keep working because we have to improve. The second time they went around our box they score again.

“But I have to be proud of the reaction from our team. I think we played so many times around their box. With different decisions in attack – the last pass, last finish, last delivery as well, I think we could score even more goals.

“It’s something that our players probably deserved, with the way they fought and the character they showed.”

Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil claimed after the game that the decision to award Fulham a penalty for a foul by Lerma on Mitrovic at a free-kick was a “terrible one”.

But after being on the wrong end of a similar decision in the 3-1 defeat to West Ham last week, Silva insists the referee made the right call.

“I can understand what Gary is saying,” he said.

“What I want to say for all of us as a manager is I want to see some consistency in decisions. It was for me clear that everyone last week said it was a penalty at West Ham.

“I heard David Moyes saying in the press conference that it was a clear penalty from Andreas (Pereira) and if that one is a penalty, this one has to be a penalty because it is the same thing.

“And this is the consistency that I think all the managers – myself, Gary, David – we want to see on a matchday.”