MARCO Silva lamented Fulham mistakes in their 3-1 defeat to Liverpool at Craven Cottage as he said the Cottagers weren’t at their usual levels as the Reds won the game in the second half.
Trent Alexander-Arnold gave Jurgen Klopp’s side the lead with a free-kick before Timothy Castagne equalised as Silva was pleased with the first-had performance.
But the title-chasing visitors turned the screw after the break and goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Diogo Jota sealed the three points.
“We knew how they were going to start,” Silva said. “But it was a balanced first half. No team on the front foot, really.
“They scored an excellent free-kick and our reaction was really good. The result at half-time was fair because the reaction was good. The team deserved the equaliser and the goal in that moment.
“The first half, the game was in the same direction as the last three or four games we played against them. But second half was not the usual level we play against them.
“You are supposed to start the second half with the same intensity but the way we conceded the [second] goal was really hard for us to take. A good chance for us to counter-attack, but we gave the ball away and they score. A very good strike.
“The reaction from that point was not good enough. The second goal was [preventable]. But even the third, it was the goal that killed the game.
“We made a double-change and brought on Tom Cairney to give us more creativity in that area. But seconds later, we concede the third goal.
“Again a moment we should be stronger in the challenge. We are soft in the challenge. We should be much stronger because it is the moment to stop that situation.
“The way we conceded the two goals, the second and third goals, were really hard for us. We have to learn from these situations in the future because after that it was more difficult for us to react.”
Liverpool went second on 74 points, the same as leaders Arsenal who have a plus-eight better goal difference. Those two sides are in a title fight with Manchester City, who will go two points lear if they win their game in hand at Brighton & Hove Albion this week.
Klopp said: ”For 80 minutes we played a really good game. I didn’t like the last ten minutes of the first half and they got the goal. But that’s all right because I loved the second half.
“We want to stay in that race, that’s clear. Arsenal won yesterday, Manchester City will win their game in hand, so we have to win games and that’s what we’ll try.”
