Silva hopes Fulham goal frenzy can finally banish talk of Mitrovic

Marco Silva hopes talk of the departed Aleksandar Mitrovic can finally be ended after Fulham smashed 10 goals in four days to demolish Nottingham Forest and West Ham by identical 5-0 scorelines.

Fulham shared the goals around against the Hammers today with five different scorers – Raul Jimenez, Willian, Tosin, Harry Wilson and Carlos Vinicius.

On Wednesday Alex Iwobi (two), Jimenez (two) and Tom Cairney were on the scoresheet. That’s seven different Fulham scorers across the two games.

In today’s post-match press conference the name of the departed Mitrovic – who was sold to Saudi club Al-Hilal in the summer – cropped up once again.

But boss Silva hopes the ghost of the Serbian striker can finally be laid to rest, with the Whites back among the goals.

Silva said: “Even when we win 5-0 comes the name of Mitrovic.

“When I arrived here he was a top player for this football club. I love him and will always keep a relationship with him, but now is the time to stop talking about him because he is not here anymore.

“The fans as well, they have to support the players who are here and who wear the shirt.

“It was a brilliant performance from us, a really very good level and no doubt we were the best team on the pitch, from the first minute.

“We were very solid as a team and we were able to express ourselves to score goals and the way we did it made it an almost perfect afternoon for us. We gave almost nothing for them and it is not easy to control a team like West Ham.

“It’s difficult to win 1-0 in the Premier League so to win this way is amazing. It was a better performance than against Forest. I didn’t enjoy the first 15 minutes of that game but today was much better.”

Silva said he was almost as pleased with the two clean sheets as he has been with the 10 goals, instilling in his team a determination to stay solid at the back while expressing themselves further up the pitch.

He said: “Confidence builds confidence. We have not played that different all season, it is just we have played so well the past two games. I feel we are growing as a team every single day.

“Clean sheets are crucial. Apart from the goals it was the best feeling I got.

“I said (to the players) at 3-0 it will be good to score the fourth but the biggest challenge will be to keep a clean sheet and I am really pleased for it.”

David Moyes (above) meanwhile bemoaned the quick turnaround between Thursday – when the Hammers beat Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium – and today’s game at Craven Cottage.

He said: “We used up too much energy midweek – another Thursday fixture. No excuse for the rest but it played a part in it.

“It’s disappointing but we have had two away games this week and three points isn’t a bad return from that.”

Pictured top: Marco Silva (Pictures: Charlie Stong)