Marco Silva Laments Everton's Lack of Aggression Following 2-0 Defeat to Already-Relegated Fulham

Everton manager Marco Silva bemoaned his side's lack of aggression after they produced an insipid performance in their 2-0 defeat to Fulham. Second-half goals

Everton manager Marco Silva bemoaned his side's lack of aggression after they produced an insipid performance in their 2-0 defeat to Fulham.

Second-half goals from Tom Cairney and Ryan Babel helped seal what was a routine win for the already-relegated hosts, as the Toffees looked out of sorts all afternoon, despite coming into the game off the back of three consecutive league wins. 

Christopher Lee/GettyImages

Speaking after the game, Silva admitted his side didn't do enough at Craven Cottage to warrant earning three points, as Everton missed out on the opportunity to go up to seventh in the Premier League. 

As quoted by Sky Sports, he said: "It was a disappointing result and a disappointing performance. I didn't expect this because we've been on a good run, and we've been in good confidence also. We knew it would be difficult playing here.

"Fulham played with character to achieve something for them, and they were more aggressive and faster than us. We didn't perform in the way we needed to in order to win the match.

FT. A frustrating afternoon at Craven Cottage. #EFCawayday pic.twitter.com/HMb8KVrXPq

— Everton (@Everton) April 13, 2019

"I expected them [to play with pride] and it's what I expected from my players too. All of us inside the dressing room knew this."

The defeat in west London means Everton remain in ninth place on 46 points, just one point behind Leicester City in seventh, which could be good enough for a place in next season's Europa League, should Watford lose to Manchester City in the FA Cup final.

While Silva acknowledged his side's poor performance, he suggested that Fulham's gamesmanship in the second period meant Everton weren't able to generate any rhythm.

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A number of stoppages in the second half - mainly injuries which required treatment - resulted in eight minutes of added time, although he refused to use that as an excuse. 

He added: "We didn't play football. If everyone came here to watch football, the second half was not a football match.

"There was a lot of stoppages, a lot of playing on the pitch - maybe eight, nine, 10 times the medical staff went onto the pitch, and each five minutes the game was stopped. This is why I say it was not a football game.

🗣 | "The result and performance were not good enough. We weren't aggressive with or without the ball." - Marco Silva #EFCawayday

— Everton (@Everton) April 13, 2019

"But we didn't perform the way we wanted to. We produced three fantastic games, but we did not produce a performance today that was at the right level for our club."