Marco Silva makes a complaint about Portuguese referees - this time making it clear he might not be able to last the full season as Benfica fell to a 3-1 loss to unbeaten FC Porto.
Fulham fans have seen this all before - Marco Silva complaining about referees is nothing new.
What is perhaps new, though, is the Portuguese threatening to quit his job because of his unhappiness with the refereeing.
That’s what has happened now with the former Cottagers boss, who left Fulham in June to join Benfica and replace Jose Mourinho in a move that also saw Alvaro Arbeloa come to the Premier League and Craven Cottage.
But, while you can take Silva out of west London, you cannot, it would appear, take the same anger and frustration that he had while at the Premier League out of him.
Silva was left furious after Clement Lenglet was sent off for a slap to the head of Andre Silva, who collapsed to the floor in Benfica’s clash with Porto.
And he made his feelings abundantly clear when speaking to Portuguese outlet Record, saying: “I won’t comment on the sending off.
“If the club has something to say about the match, I think it should say it.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to continue like this until the end of the season, because I come from a different culture.
“Here, unfortunately, you can influence referees before matches, after them and during the week, and sometimes it works. I’m not going to go down that route.”
It was the sort of tirade that Fulham fans grew accustomed to seeing from Silva during his time in west London and he did so in the not so distant past when fined for comments made about John Brooks after his side were defeated by West Ham.
While Fulham have struggled in the absence of Silva, winning only Carabao Cup matches thus far this season, Benfica have found themselves falling off the pace in the Portuguese League.
After going unbeaten under Mourinho last season but finishing third, Silva has already seen his side defeated, losing 3-1 in that match against Porto and they now sit five points behind their rivals, who have had a perfect start to the season.
He did guide his side to a hugely impressive 2-0 win over AC Milan at the San Siro a week ago in the opening match of the Europa League.
Managing in Europe was half of the reason for Silva’s frustrations at managing Fulham.
The 49-year-old was desperate to make that next step, and in the end the Cottagers, due to a horrific run of form following the final international break of the season, finished the season a point shy of European football.
That was a contributing factor for why Silva opted to leave the club after five seasons, in a domino effect that also saw Raul Jimenez and Harry Wilson move onto pastures new.
Fulham as a result, brought in Alvaro Arbeloa as Silva’s replacement, and the Spaniard has struggled to get going properly thus far.
The Cottagers’ next three matches are against Ipswich, Hull and Coventry and with the club in 19th and boasting just two points to their name, they will be desperate to pick up at least six, if not seven points from those three matches.
