Marco Silva was left frustrated after Fulham failed to ignite their attack once again and fell further down the pecking order when drawing 0-0 with Brentford. The Cottagers failed to have a single shot on target in what was a disappointing afternoon.
Marco Silva was left frustrated after Fulham’s 0-0 draw with Brentford on Saturday.
It was a result that, on the face of it, keeps Fulham in the mix regarding the European spots, but there are concerns regarding the attack, which for the second consecutive game failed to score.
In fact, against Brentford, Fulham failed even to muster a shot on target, after they missed key chances towards the end of their 2-0 defeat to Liverpool the previous week.
The point leaves Fulham in 12th but such is the congestion of the Premier League that just three points separate them from Chelsea.
The Blues were defeated 1-0 by Manchester United as they slipped to a fourth straight defeat in the league.
That leaves the European places wide open, with all the way down to eighth securing Conference League football.
As a result, Fulham and Silva wanted to take all three points back to Craven Cottage and the Portuguese insisted he was frustrated with the point.
“It was not at all the result we wanted,” Silva said.
“As always, we come with the ambition to win the game.
“The performance, we played better in the first half.
“We changed our three midfielders completely to compare with the last game against Liverpool, and it did work well in the first half, we were able to control well.”
It was a match of very few chances as Fulham’s toothlessness in front of goal and Brentford’s current inability to win matches were laid bare.
Ryan Sessegnon had a small opportunity in the first half but it was generally a game of fine margins.
Silva was relatively content with the first half but could not understand the drop in intensity in the second half.
He said: “There were not many big chances in the first half, but Sess did find himself in a good position.
“He didn’t find the target in a very good open play moment.
“Brentford had one good chance from a set piece but, apart from that, nothing more.
“I believe that we dropped in the last 30 minutes.
“We started to lose control of the game, we lose too many duels in terms of physicality in the second half.
“That is the reason why they pushed more than us.
“They were more in control of the game.”
The biggest chance of the whole match came in the final moments of the match, when Bernd Leno made a world class save to deny Dango Ouattara from point blank range.
Silva praised his goalkeeper but again spoke of his disapproval of the sloppy loss of possession that led to the chance.
He said: “They had a big chance. Big save from Leno in that decisive moment.
“But this chance came from a situation that we cannot lose the ball.”