‘This is more than a defeat’ – Silva reacts to Fulham’s loss to Southampton in the FA Cup | OneFootball

Marco Silva insists that Fulham’s 1-0 loss to Southampton in the FA Cup is “more than a defeat” and takes the blame for making nine changes to the side.

A late Ross Stewart penalty was the difference between the sides meaning that Southampton earned their place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

Silva made nine changes to the side that lost 1-0 to West Ham in midweek with Tom Cairney and Samuel Chukwueze the only players to keep their placed from the match.

“I understand that, it’s more than that. It was a bad afternoon for us and for our fans,” Silva explained. “We need to look deeper because I’m not pleased at all what has happened this afternoon.

“This one is more than a defeat – if it’s because of the changes then fine, I get it – but [Ryan] Sessegnon and [Timothy] Castagne have played this season against top Premier League sides, Oscar Bobb and Samuel Chukwueze are at the level. We have to look deeper.

“I understand that I get the blame for making the changes.”

Fulham had one goal controversially disallowed during the match from Rodrigo Muniz in the first-half.

Ryan Manning played the ball through to Muniz from a Southampton free-kick allowing the Brazilian to strike home, but referee Jared Gillett blew the whistle early for a moving ball from the dead ball. Replays later showed that the ball was not moving when the free-kick was taken but VAR could not intervene because of the early whistle.

The Fulham boss did not want to talk about the decision after the match, but explained that Fulham lost the match because of their poor finishing rather than that decision.

“For me it’s simple, when you have 24 shots and they don’t have many clear-cut chances,” he said in response to why they lost the match. “We arrived in their box, created from the sides but with end product we have to finish, have to be quicker and arrive in the right spots in the box.

“They have five shots and have chances to score, any moment on the counter was a chance for them. It’s about mindset. When you have so many shots and looking for the chances we should’ve created more. The end product of our team was not the level it should be.”