Fulham boss Silva admits his side not at ‘best level’ in 1-0 defeat to West Ham United

Fulham head coach Marco Silva admitted his side did not perform to their “best level” in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to West Ham United.

The Whites were toothless without suspended striker Aleksandar Mitrovic and had an xG of just 0.68 against their east London opponents.

Harrison Reed’s own goal gave West Ham a lead to defend and they did exactly that with Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna comfortably dealing with a steady stream of crosses.

Vladimir Coufal’s handball in the lead up to Reed clipping the ball into his net did not get reviewed by VAR.

West Ham had two big chances on the counter but Bernd Leno saved excellently from Danny Ings and Maxwel Cornet.

“I think everyone was that was handball,” Silva told BBC’s Match Of The Day when asked about Coufal’s contribution before the first-half clincher. “My players told me straight away it was handball.

“It’s possible VAR didn’t check or tell the referee it was a clear handball from the player. The rules are clear – every goal should be checked.

“In the first half we were too static. It was a bit strange because we didn’t run in behind or play forward, there were too many sideways and back passes.

“The second half was slightly different, a bit more emotion in the way we played with Tom Cairney on the pitch and Manor (Solomon) – a bit more creativity. We had one or two chances, the best was probably Andreas (Pereira) – one on one with Lukas Fabianski.

“It was not our best performance. When you don’t perform at your best level it’s more difficult to create chances.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD