“It wasn’t the fault of Iwobi,” Silva explains early substitutions in Forest defeat
Marco Silva, the manager of English Premier League side Fulham, has shed light on his decision to replace his midfielder, Alex Iwobi barely half an hour into the game, Nigeriasoccernet.com reports.
Fulham faced a challenging away match against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night, ultimately suffering a 3-1 defeat.
After conceding two goals in less than twenty minutes, Silva responding, surprisingly made three substitutions in the 33rd minute of the game, with Iwobi being one of the players withdrawn.
Silva commented on the team's performance, stating, "When we don’t start the game the way we should, of course, we are going to be punished. First half, we didn’t play. Everything was so, so slow."
He continued, "We didn’t do what we planned. We were not solid enough, we were not aggressive enough. We were losing almost all of the balls."
Despite a better showing in the second half, Silva acknowledged that the damage had already been done. He emphasized the importance of starting strong and playing with intensity from the beginning of the match.
Regarding the early substitutions, Silva clarified, "It’s important to say, that when I made the triple change, it wasn’t the fault of Harry Wilson, Sasa Lukic, and Alex Iwobi at all."
"At that moment, the team needed many more changes than just three. As a collective, we were not there. It was a tactical change. We needed Tom Cairney and Willian to at least have the ball," he explained.
The win takes Nottingham Forest out of the relegation zone for now, pending results of other games.
By Olujimi Dare Ogun
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