Fulham boss Silva on “really successful’ Premier League campaign despite heavy loss to Manchester City

Fulham head coach Marco Silva has described the club’s campaign as “really successful” despite ending their home fixtures with a 4-0 defeat to Manchester City.

The Whites have had some impressive results at Craven Cottage, including beating both Arsenal and Tottenham, but found Pep Guardiola’s side too hot to handle on a sun-kissed day by the Thames.

Josko Gvardiol scored twice for City. Phil Foden also netted with Julian Alvarez adding a fourth from the spot. He was fouled by Issa Diop, who was shown a second yellow card by referee Anthony Taylor.

Fulham are 14th in the table and will finish at least in that position with none of the sides below able to catch them.

They also reached the EFL Cup semi-final but lost to Liverpool over two legs.

“It was a disappointing result for us – they deserved the three points,” said Silva.

“We knew it was going to be tough and not just because of their motivation (to want to win the title) but because of their quality and what they have been doing in the last two or three months as well – not just winning games but doing it clearly with great scores. We kept them quiet in the first half but we didn’t create the way we should. They scored a goal and we have to do much better – be more aggressive and greater organisation.

“We changed some things at half-time to get more power to our attacking line and confidence in our build up as well, with Tom Cairney and Adama Traore – the first 10-15 minutes we did okay and had some moments. The second goal killed the game.

“We dropped a little bit after that – when you shouldn’t – and it was more difficult for us.

“Analysing the season, because it was our final home game, we have to say it is a really successful season again after the first one, where we surprised everybody. We were the only team that lost their main striker (Aleksandar Mitrovic). We had to sell him and rebuild from the players we already had in the building.

“We got the confidence back into Raul Jimenez and put Rodrigo Muniz at a very good level too.

“When we are at our best level we are a very difficult team to play against.”