Silva focused on Premier League survival – but won’t change style

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Marco Silva says Fulham cannot bask in the glory of winning the Championship title for too long and must now switch focus to being competitive in the Premier League next season.

Fulham lifted the Championship trophy for the first time since 2001 with a 7-0 hammering of play-off chasing Luton at Craven Cottage on Monday, but Silva has already turned his attentions to next season and the tough task of keeping the Whites in the top flight for longer than one season.


The club’s last two promotion successes under Slavisa Jokanovic and Scott Parker in 2018 and 2020 were via the play-offs, but the team made an immediate return to the Championship – something last season’s champions Norwich have experienced this season.

Silva, who has coached Hull, Watford and Everton in the Premier League, is fully aware of the task ahead of his squad but said he is determined to buck the trend of Fulham being a yo-yo club.

“For feelings of euphoria, I am not that type of person,” Silva said.

“I am really happy with everything we have achieved this season, but I want more.

“I am celebrating now with my players, but I am thinking about the future as well.

“The huge work for everyone at this football club next season is for us to compete at a high level and make us proud every single match.

“We have to challenge and be confident in ourselves.”

Fulham, who scored just 27 goals under Parker in their previous stint in the top flight, have plundered 106 goals this season under Silva’s free-flowing approach and the Portuguese said he will not change that mindset next season.

“One thing I am one hundred per cent sure of is that I will not change my philosophy as a manager,” he said.

“But the games will be different. If you ask me now if we expect to have 70 per cent possession each game I would not be telling the truth if I said yes.

“I am not stupid, I know what is ahead of us and we will not be as dominant as this season. Certain things you can change but our main idea is the same.

“We will have to be creative, to be humble and know what type of competition we will face, but we have to be confident, respect and believe in ourselves.

“But it would not make sense to play one way for 12 months and then one different way for another.”