How Marco Silva’s strategy against top teams has evolved

The boss's tactical flexibility stands us in good stead as the Whites look to push up the Premier League table.

The overriding emotion at the start of Fulham’s season has been anger.

Winning only two points out of nine against Brighton, Chelsea, and Manchester United, mostly because of some woeful VAR and refereeing errors, has generated a real sense of injustice at the club.

This comes after Marco Silva put forward a pretty convincing portrayal of the most irritated man in West London this summer. A poorly-managed transfer window hasn’t helped to lift the mood much either, even with some deadline day signings.

But football is a reactive game. To focus solely on results and incomings would not give Silva’s side nearly enough credit for three mature performances to start the season, which, despite the results, demonstrated Fulham’s tactical progression as a Premier League side.

Trusted tactics

The last two games, both against ‘top six’ opposition, have seen Silva deploy a back five. This is a formation that Fulham have become familiar with in recent years, and one that the manager has employed in six out of our last 10 meetings with the traditional top sides.

The switch has bore fruit; in the last campaign, only Liverpool won more points against sides who started the day in the top six than Fulham (not to mention the Whites’ own unbeaten record against the Reds last season).

In our first Premier League campaign back, though, the story could not have been more different. The sole focus was staying up - and it showed. The Whites won 45 of our 52 total points from the teams that finished below us in the table. Against teams above us, Silva still seemed wedded to his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation. As such, Fulham picked up an abysmal five out of a possible 36 points from top six sides.

Evidently, over the last few seasons, Fulham’s tactical flexibility has seen us evolve into a highly-competitive Premier League side that can now trouble anyone. There have been two key factors in this development.

Silva’s changes

One has been the flexibility of Kenny Tete. It’s easy to forget that the Dutchman’s future at Fulham was not guaranteed after the 2021/22 Championship-winning season, when loanee Neco Williams kept him out of the side following his arrival in January.

But, in the top division, where more defensive acumen is required, Tete flourished. In Silva’s back five, Tete is able to slot into the right centre-back role, and has done so in most games against the top six. His pace and staunch tackling provide an extra layer of solidity alongside the two traditional centre-backs, providing key assistance to the Whites’ defence in big games, and earning himself a new contract this summer.

Strength in depth is another key factor. The signings of Alex Iwobi and Timothy Castagne in particular have given Silva breathing room to experiment with tactics. While Iwobi’s fee raised some eyebrows at first, he has become vital to Silva.

The Nigerian is effective with and without the ball, and has played in at least five different positions since signing for Fulham. Usefully, he’s even been able to slot in at right wing-back when Silva opts for a back-five, which he did impressively in successive draws against Liverpool and Arsenal in December last year.

When Iwobi is needed further up the pitch, Castagne is an ideal replacement at right wing-back. His profile differs entirely from Tete's; the Belgian is far better at taking on players and swinging in crosses, while his one-on-one defending is weaker.

This makes him perfect for a back-five; with Tete tucked in behind him to cover, he can get up and down the wing as he likes, in a way that would leave the defence less exposed than in a back four. This is how Silva’s used him in the past two fixtures - a decision that would be getting a lot more praise if results differed.

So, with Fulham sitting in the relegation zone during the international break, there’s been frustration around West London. But we shouldn’t panic. With luck (and VAR) in our favour, the Whites could easily be sitting in the European spots after the first three games of the season.

Marco Silva is showing the same tactical nous that has served us so well to date. With some new blood and an easier run of games coming up, let’s have some faith in the manager, team, and tactics that have given us some famous wins in the past few years.