[themaclad]

Fulham
Deepdale 17/9/2024 19.45 hrs

https://www.fulhamfc.com/

LAST ROUND SIDE

Birmingham 0 - 2 Fullham





The Market



Form Boys



MANAGER



Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva (European Portuguese: [ˈmaɾku ˈsilvɐ]; born 12 July 1977) is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a right-back. He is the head coach of Premier League club Fulham.

He played for a variety of Portuguese clubs, finishing his career with a six-year spell at Estoril. He managed them for three years before spending a season as coach of Sporting CP, during which the team won the Portuguese Cup. He then worked abroad, first with Olympiacos where he won the Super League Greece in 2015–16. He spent several years in England as head coach of Hull City, Watford, Everton and Fulham.

Estoril
On 10 June 2011, immediately after retiring, Silva was appointed director of football at Estoril. However, early into the season, he replaced Vinícius Eutrópio as manager,[11] with the Cascais team ranking tenth in the second tier.[12] His first game in charge was a 3–1 defeat at Penafiel[13] and, after losing only three matches in 24, he helped the club return to the top flight after seven years, as champions.[14] He ultimately was chosen as the league's Manager of the Year.[15]

Silva made his debut in the Portuguese top division on 17 August 2012, in a 2–1 away defeat to Olhanense.[16] Estoril overachieved for a second best-ever fifth place in the table, with the subsequent qualification for the UEFA Europa League, also a first. Highlights included not losing any of the games against Sporting CP (3–1 at home, 2–2 away),[17] and drawing 1–1 at Benfica.[18]

On 23 February 2014, Estoril achieved an historic first-time win at the Estádio do Dragão, the 1–0 victory – where he was sent off midway through the second half – being Porto's first home defeat since the 2–3 against Leixões in 2008.[19][20] He left his position on 12 May, after leading his team to the fourth position.[21]

Sporting CP
Silva agreed to a four-year contract with Sporting on 21 May 2014, replacing Leonardo Jardim who left for Monaco.[22] He led the team to the third place in the championship, also winning the Taça de Portugal by beating Braga 3–1 on penalties after a 2–2 draw in the final[23]– this was the club's first piece of silverware since the 2008 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira.

On 4 June 2015, four days after winning the trophy, Sporting announced that Silva had been dismissed with just cause,[24][25] for not wearing their official suit in a cup match against Vizela.[26] The dismissal was necessary for president Bruno de Carvalho to bring in Jorge Jesus from rivals Benfica, and included a clause requiring Silva to pay Sporting should he join another Portuguese team.[27]

Olympiacos
On 8 July 2015, Silva was appointed the successor of countryman Vítor Pereira at Olympiacos, signing on a two-year contract.[28] His first competitive game occurred in the season opener in the Super League Greece, winning 3–0 against Panionios. On 16 September, he played his first UEFA Champions League match with his new club, losing 0–3 at home to Bayern Munich in the group stage.[29]

Silva subsequently guided the team to break the record of eleven consecutive league wins from the first matchday,[30][31] also recording a 3–2 victory at Arsenal in the Champions League group phase.[32] The Piraeus side's run of domestic wins ended at 17, a European record in the 21st century,[33] but they nonetheless won a record 43rd title with six games remaining.[34]

Silva left Olympiacos on 23 June 2016, citing personal reasons.[35]

Hull City
On 5 January 2017, Silva was appointed as the head coach of Hull City until the end of the season, replacing Mike Phelan who was dismissed with the team bottom of the Premier League. Upon his appointment, vice-chairman Ehab Allam said: "He has a great track record and we feel this is a bold and exciting appointment in our aim to retain the club's Premier League status".[36] Silva brought in his own coaching team, including assistant João Pedro Sousa, first-team coach Gonçalo Pedro and goalkeeping coach Hugo Oliveira.[37]

Two days after his appointment, Silva led the side to a 2–0 win over Swansea City in the third round in the FA Cup.[38] His first league match in charge also ended in success, with a 3–1 defeat of Bournemouth on 14 January.[39]

On 26 January 2017, Silva's Hull beat Manchester United 2–1 in the semi-finals of the EFL Cup, giving the club its first victory over that opponent since 1974.[40] However, due to the latter's 2–0 win in the first-leg of the tie, the former failed to advance to the final,[40] but on 4 February they beat Liverpool 2–0 in the domestic league, giving the coach four wins from his first four home matches as manager.[41]

In March 2017, Silva stated that he wanted to end the groundshare agreement with the Hull rugby league team at the KCOM Stadium, as the latter played on Friday and affected the pitch quality for his team at the weekend.[42] On 25 May, after the team's relegation, he resigned.[43]

Watford

Wikinews has related news:
Marco Silva joins Watford on two-year deal after Hull City relegated from Premier League
On 27 May 2017, it was confirmed Silva would join Premier League club Watford as head coach on a two-year contract.[44] After a good start to the season, he was tracked for the vacant managerial position at Everton in November.[45] During this period and in the subsequent two months, the team's performances became increasingly poor (five points from 30 in ten Premier League matches), with fans citing his loss of focus as putting them at risk of relegation.[46][47]

Silva was dismissed by Watford on 21 January 2018, with the club citing the "unwarranted approach by a Premier League rival" that caused "significant deterioration in both focus and results to the point where the long-term future of Watford FC has been jeopardised".[48][49] In February, Everton agreed to pay £4 million in compensation in response to this claim.[50]

Everton
Silva was confirmed as manager of Everton on 31 May 2018, on a three-year contract.[51][52] His first game in charge was a 22–0 win in a pre-season friendly over Austrian amateurs ATV Irdning.[53][54] On 21 April 2019, he guided the side to a 4–0 victory over Manchester United, the Toffees' largest victory over them in all competitions since a 5–0 win in October 1984.[55] His first season at Goodison Park ended with an eighth place after a 2–2 draw away at Tottenham Hotspur on the final matchday.[56] Although the side finished in the same position that they achieved under Sam Allardyce a year earlier, their goal difference improved by 22.[57] They also won five of their last eight games, including 2–0 and 1–0 home victories against Chelsea[58] and Arsenal.[59]

Silva extended Everton's home winning streak to six games on 1 September 2019 for the first time since April 2017 with a 3–2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.[60] He was dismissed on 5 December, after a 5–2 defeat to city rivals Liverpool which left the team in 18th place.[61][62]

Fulham
On 1 July 2021, Silva was appointed as head coach at recently relegated Championship club Fulham on a three-year contract, after Scott Parker had left to join Bournemouth.[63] After leading them to 13 points out of a possible 15 in the first five matches of the season, he won the Manager of the Month award for August.[64] In January 2022, the team scored 19 goals over three matches, making them the first English team since Chester City in 1933 to score six times or more in three consecutive fixtures;[65] as a result, he earned another monthly accolade.[66] On 19 April, the side secured an immediate return to the top division after a 3–0 win over Preston North End,[67] confirming the league title two weeks later after beating Luton Town 7–0 and totalling 106 goals, a competition-best after Manchester City's 108 in 2001–02.[68][69][70]

Silva apologised after being sent off due to improper conduct during a 3–1 defeat away to Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter-finals on 19 March 2023, following the dismissal of his player Willian for handball.[71] On 4 April, he received a two-game ban for the events.[72] In the post-season, following a tenth-place finish,[73] he turned down offers from Saudi Pro League clubs Al-Ahli and Al Hilal, with contract offers reported as being as high as £40m over two years.[74][75]

In October 2023, Silva agreed to a new deal until 2026.[76] On 19 December, he led Fulham to their first ever League Cup semi-final, beating Everton on penalties[77] before bowing out to Liverpool 3–2 on aggregate.[78]

PREVIOUS



MACS VIEW

Not too fussed be nice to win, but hopefully unlike some of the sit back and hope to do your damage in the last 15 minutes which we have been guilty of over the past few years, let's have a go nd at least if we are going to lose go down fighting

[themaclad]

The Fitness Test

After missing Saturday’s draw with Middlesbrough through illness, Stefán Thórdarson is now back in training and will be in contention for this cup tie.

One man North End will be without, though, is Will Keane as he continues to nurse a slight hamstring injury, which manager Paul Heckingbottom is not willing to risk.

Other than that, it’s a fully-fit squad, with Liam Lindsay also back available after suspension.

The Cottagers

Since their promotion to the top flight in 2022, Fulham have established themselves well as a Premier League side with tenth and 13th-placed finishes.

Under the management of Marco Silva, the Cottagers will be looking to build this season and they’ve made a steady start to the campaign, beating Leicester City and drawing to Ipswich Town and West Ham.

Silva made wholesale changes for the last round as they beat Birmingham City, but there was certainly no lack of quality in the side which started, with Raúl Jiménez, Sander Berge and Harry Wilson among those involved.

The Officials
[
Referee: Bobby Madley
Assistant Referees: Darren Williams and Greg Read
Fourth Official: James Bell

Bobby Madley will take charge of Tuesday night’s fixture, which will be his second PNE match of the season.

The referee, who has overseen several North End matches over the course of his career, was the man in the middle for the curtain raiser against Sheffield United.

So far this season, Madley’s shown 14 yellow cards in four matches.

[themaclad]

Match report later

[themaclad]

Preston North End 1 Ledson Fulham 1 Nelson
PNE win 16-15 in penalty shoot out

PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Bauer (Hughes, 62), Lindsay, Kesler-Hayden; Bowler (Okkels, 83), Thórdarson (McCann, 68), Ledson, Holmes (Whiteman, 82); Frøkjær (Greenwood, 68), Osmajić. Subs not used: Cornell, Whatmough, Riis, Stewart.

Fulham line-up: Benda; Castagne, Diop, Cuenca, Sessegnon; Reed (Smith Rowe, 77), Berge, Cairney (Godo, 85); Wilson (Iwobi, 77), Muniz (Lukić, 90+5), Nelson (Jiménez, 86). Subs not used: Leno, Tete, Bassey, King.

Attendance: 5,530 (452 Fulham fans).

Referee: Mr B Madley.

On rare occasions you can say you won a 33 goal thriller, this was one of those occasions. Of the 34 penalties taken two were saved, one was skied over the bar of the other 31 only one was close to being saved, the standard was off the scale, probably the best one was taken by the giant Diop, short run up absolutely thundered past Woodman. A recoed penalty shoot out for the fizzy drink cup and a rare trip to the 4th round for the whites.
As for tyhe 90 minutes Fulham probably should have won but great keeping and defending denied them, bodies were thrown at the ball to block anything remotely goal bound.
Fulham with Berge bossing the game were always the more dominant, we had a shot from Thordarson which went narrowly over the top but it was mainly all one way.

Just before half time we lead, Bowler cross never really cleared fell to Ledson, good first time volley ball found the corner of the net, bonus one up at half time.
Could have had a second great pass by Bowler found Holmes ball into the box, everybody ended up in the net except the ball, felt that was a pivotal moment as the Londoners started to dominate. They hit the bar from a free kick, Reed unlucky however in the aftermath Bauer was injured and this caused us to re organise at the back didn't work, they were level within a minute of the German going off, Cairney down the left, Nelson fired home from close range.
We held on just and the rest is history, Castagne ino the seats, Ledson into the night. Unreal night.

Following a crazy end to North End’s Carabao Cup tie with Fulham which saw 34 penalties taken in the shootout, Paul Heckingbottom was just relieved to see his side progress to the next round.

The Lilywhites opened the scoring through Ryan Ledson in the first half before Reiss Nelson’s leveller sent the third round tie to penalties.

No one could have predicted what was about to happen, though, as both sides took 17 penalties in the longest shootout in the history of the competition.


On the remarkable shootout, Hecky said: “The standard of penalties was really good. When you get that deep in and the commitment you’ve shown during the game to get to penalties, then when the penalties are racking up, the longer it went on, the more I wanted to win the game.

“When you’ve put so much into it and when you’ve come out on the positive end of that, it’s really good.”

The match will live long in the memory for its incredible ending, but the 90 minutes which came before shouldn’t be forgotten.

North End went toe-to-toe with their top-flight opponents, holding firm in defence and causing them problems at the top end of the pitch.

Fulham were dangerous themselves, though, which in the main PNE stood up to, but they were left disappointed with the goal conceded, which happened just after Patrick Bauer – playing for the first time in almost a year – went off with an injury.

On the Cottagers, Hecky said: “They stretched us and tested us. There were a couple of really good blocks in the first half when they got in behind us, so some really good defending.

“We had our moments as well and it was a really good, competitive game. We had to make a change when Pat (Patrick Bauer) went off and we made the change and we just didn’t set up the same way to go and press. It left Tom Cairney free and he went through and he ended up scoring off that.

“We stuck at it again. Fulham had a lot of the ball and a lot of territory towards the end of the game but again we defended our box really well and had our moments on the break and forced some corners, some opportunities from corners and set pieces.

“I think in the end we were pleased to get it to penalties. We had one or two come off with cramp and then Hughesy (Andrew Hughes) was carrying an injury towards the end when we were making a sub so we were pleased to get it to the 90 minutes.”

North End’s goal on the night was a thing of beauty as Ryan Ledson, once again, scored in the Carabao Cup.


The captain on the night hit a brilliant strike sweetly into the bottom corner and having then scored two penalties in the shootout, there was a surprise waiting for him in the changing room.

Hecky said: “It’s actually a decent attack and Josh [Bowler] had got on the outside a couple of times. People want to show him on his right foot because of his left and he looks to naturally jink in on his left, but he’s very comfortable going down the right.

“He’d already stood a couple of balls up so Ledo was supporting the attack rather than being involved in it. We had bodies in the box to get on the end of the cross, they made the header but Ledo’s in a really good position at the end.

“I’ve just given Ledo the match ball there. It’s a strange hat-trick, but I think I’m allowing him to claim it.”

[theo_luddite]

Caught up with the shoot-out on SSN after Barnsalee got battered last night. I'd missed the two that were saved so it was looking like going to be who would miss first. Well done on holding your nerve.