From the press box: Silva calls on fans to get behind the side

In his first meeting with the press since Deadline Day, Marco Silva sets out his stall.

So, today was the first press conference post Deadline Day. The window has shut, business has been concluded, and now it’s time to knuckle down and focus on things on the pitch.

Marco Silva arrived at his latest presser and gave the update of no fresh injuries. A good thing to hear after an international break, for a team searching for their first win of the season.

The elephant in the room had to be addressed. Deadline Day. Fulham made three new additions in the final hours, but the most telling thing from Silva’s answer was in regard to not adding a new midfielder to the squad.

Even after Andreas Pereira departed late on in the window, Silva made it clear that he wanted another midfield body added before the window slammed shut. Despite reports of links to a couple of CMs on deadline day, Fulham didn’t get one over the line.

Silva stated that he wanted to ‘close’ all talk of the window and park it until January. Fair enough: that was like music to my ears.

Some key quotes from Silva:

"I understand some of the fans' reactions because they saw our team do what we did in the last three seasons, so, so well. Always trying to improve. It was the time to see a certain type of ambition. As a manager, I understand their frustrations.

"It's been our story, we were the team that spends less - net spend. We are the team at the bottom in terms of spending in the PL. I will make the players progress, grow. The team have been brave so far this season, we will try to do that again tomorrow.

“The reality is we didn't add one midfielder, which means we are short in that area of the pitch. Now is a moment for us to cross our fingers and hope for nothing in terms of injuries in that area of the pitch."

I love Marco Silva. He’s honest and to the point. He is concerned about the midfield area, which is interesting because from the fans’ reaction to those tweets earlier - some seemed to think we look OK in the centre of the park.

Losing three players to AFCON was another reason why Silva was so insistent on squad depth.

Overall, the press conference, in my eyes was really interesting. I took away a lot of positives and really enjoyed my back-and-fourth with the gaffer.

Tomorrow is an important game. A home fixture against a newly promoted side. Leeds will not make this easy at all, Fulham will have to try and impose their Premier League quality on Daniel Farke’s side, and hopefully we will see some Samba skills from our new Brazilian winger.

I won’t lie to you, the embargoed section is taking up my whole evening, and has denied me the chance to pick up my wonderful missus from the airport this evening, after being away from her for 7 (SEVEN) weeks. So I’d better crack in preparation for the 22:30 spam of tweets.

Fulham fans, please take part in tomorrow’s minute applause as the clock hits 31 for Fulham fan Abeeku ‘Beku’ Lewis, who passed away after battling cancer aged just 31. Let’s get the three points for him. Rest in Peace, Beku.