Marco Silva has steered his side into the third round of the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 win over Bristol City. A two goal lead inside the first half hour handled business at Craven Cottage, and the **Fulham**manager was happy with a "clinical" and "ruthless" display from his players to put any worries to bed.
‘A serious and professional performance’
Silva stressed the importance of an early goal to give as little momentum to the Robins as possible.
“It was a better first half than the second. It was important to start well, to be clinical, ruthless.”
He got what he wanted. Adama Traore hooked a devilish delivery into the penalty area, and George Tanner turned the ball into the back of his net. Raul Jimenez was on his shoulder, and the striker scored the second goal himself, doubling the advantage for the favourites after the first 21 minutes.
“It's always important to start leading the score in this type of game, to take a little bit of the trust and the belief from the opposition side. You know that it’s normal that the enthusiasm, the motivation from teams from lower divisions is always there.”
The manager mentioned went well before the break, and where he would have wanted improvement.
“During the half, I think that we have controlled very well the game. On the ball, I would like to see more in their offensive half, instead of in our half to build up with the ball, but they tried to press us high as well. But we had some good moments, some good combinations as well, and it was good.”
Following a pair of 1-1 stalemates in the Premier League, the Portuguese pressed his players before the restart to couple their first victory of the new campaign with a clean sheet at Craven Cottage,.
“I told our players at half time it was important to go to try to score more, but that it was important for us to keep the clean sheet. Was not the type of game I would like to see us concede goals, because it's important to start to create and have these good vibes and feelings when you keep a clean sheet.”
The display did not dazzle from the hosts, but they accomplished the task set out before them.
“Second half, we should have kept the ball more and controlled the game better with the ball. We gave many times the ball away, but overall it was a serious and professional performance from ourselves.”