Marco Silva wasted no time in switching things up in brutal fashion after Fulham conceded two early goals at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday. The Cottagers got off to a dreadful start at the City Ground, with the hosts scoring twice to give themselves an iron grip on the contest after just 19 minutes.
Callum Hudson-Odoi fired Forest ahead inside the opening 10 minutes before Chris Wood doubled their tally shortly afterwards. Anthony Elanga went on to strike the post from close range, with Silva clearly unhappy with what he was seeing from his Fulham players.
The Spaniard reacted by making a triple change on the half-hour mark in a desperate attempt to swing things in Fulham’s favour. Sasa Lukic, Harry Wilson and Alex Iwobi were all withdrawn as Silva made it clear that he was furious with his side’s poor start.
Adama Traore, Willian and Tom Cairney were sent on with the aim of getting Fulham back into the match but Silva’s changes failed to have the desired effect. Things went from bad to worse before half-time when Forest added a third courtesy of Morgan Gibbs-White, who fired past Bernd Leno from inside the area.
Forest were full value for their comfortable lead at the break, having sliced the visitors open time and time again. The Reds were clearly out for revenge after suffering a 5-0 defeat to Fulham in the reverse fixture, which took place at Craven Cottage in December.
Before the game, Silva warned that Forest would be tricky opponents for Fulham as a result of their precarious league position. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were only outside the drop zone on goal difference ahead of kick-off following their four-point deduction for breaching profit and sustainability rules.
“They are in a position that they don’t want to be and it’s going to be a team that is going to fight really hard to get out of that position,” said Silva on Monday.
“We know that, but at the same time, we want to fight for the points because we want to keep climbing the table and go for the higher positions in the table if we can.
“I have this feeling as well because I know what is their value collectively. When you look at each player they have on the pitch, players that they have on the bench as well, you can see the individual quality they have.”
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