Fulham’s manager, Marco Silva, has argued that his team deserved to beat Manchester United in their Premier League opener on Thursday, August 16, as he blamed a lack of emotional control for the defeat.
Fulham started their 2024-2025 Premier League campaign with a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford after putting up a brilliant display, especially in the first half of the encounter.
New Manchester United signing Joshua Zirkzee came from the bench and scored the match-winner for the Premier League giants in the 87th minute.
After the game, Fulham coach Marco Silva explained that his team made adjustments at half-time, improving performance in the second half.
He, however, expressed disappointment that they lost their composure in crucial moments, allowing Manchester United to score.
Silva said: “We started well and had good counter-attacks to score. We adjusted things at half-time and the second half was much better.
“We had good moments, two against one, we should have done better.
“The main thing for us was to keep the emotional control. When the game becomes open we should have kept the balance and kept compact. But in those moments, we lost emotional control, and that allowed them to score.
“The game was open and broken, we tried to rush our decisions. Many times we started to lose the ball too quickly. We let the game go too emotional and we didn’t want that.”
On the other hand, Manchester United’s manager, Erik ten Hag, explained why Jadon Sancho was not included in the squad to face Fulham.
Ten Hag emphasized the necessity for squad depth in a demanding season and clarified that Sancho was not fully fit due to an ear infection.
“First of all, we need squad depth. There will be a long season, and it will be survival of the fittest, but I can only put 20 players in the squad, and Jadon in the week had an ear infection. He was not 100 percent fit,” Ten Hag said.
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