Oliver Glasner praised the impact of Eberechi Eze after the Crystal Palace forward transformed a tie Fulham had initially dominated with two moments of skill to tilt it in his side’s favour. Eze opened the scoring in the 34th minute and created a second goal four minutes later to leave Fulham deflated and all but seal Palace’s place in the FA Cup semi-finals.
“The first 15, 20 minutes we had no structure in our game,” Glasner said. “We lost almost every single ball, we lost almost every single duel and we really struggled. We lost the ball too easily, too quickly. We were too long on the ball.
“Eze’s goal was amazing and from this moment the structure was better. We defended much better, we didn’t allow them so many [goalscoring] situations. This goal was so fundamental. In the first 20 minutes everybody could feel that it doesn’t work –and then the goal.”
Marco Silva, the Fulham head coach, said his side had worked in training specifically on preventing Eze from cutting infield into shooting opportunities on his right foot, only for the Palace player to do precisely that.
“We were prepared for that move from him,” Silva said. “We were not strong enough in the way we have to defend our box and it made a massive impact in the game.
“Our start was very, very good. Dominant, aggressive on the ball, off the ball, dynamic.
“After the second goal, and when we expected a reaction in the second half, the team was too anxious to create chances. We didn’t find one individual moment that we needed – like they needed, if you see their first goal.
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“In these types of games you have to be ruthless, you have to be clinical, you have to punish them when you are on top. We were clearly the best team on the pitch for 25 minutes and we were not able to punish them.”
For Silva the game hinged on the moment, in the 22nd minute, when Adam Wharton, who had already been booked, appeared to trip Rodrigo Muniz off the ball. “At 0-0 against 10 men you know more or less what is going to happen and we are going to win that game,” he said. “We’ve been unlucky with these types of decision. Unfortunately, the officials, they are not seeing.
“I’m not going to say anything more, but it’s a frustration for us, because it was a moment that was clear. It should be a frustration too for the officials because they were not able to see it.
“We are all down, the players inside the dressing room, everyone who loves this football club. But if you have to cry, if you have to be sad it’s this afternoon and tonight. From tomorrow you have to work as hard as you can, even harder than before, to react like we should as a team.”
