Following today’s clash between Fulham and Aston Villa, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Fulham hosted Aston Villa at Craven Cottage for a 3pm kick off on Saturday February 17, with the hosts taking a two nil victory.
Fulham made it ten league games unbeaten with efforts from Ryan Sessegnon and Floyd Ayite, but Villa stumbled with a largely poor performance and slip to third place in the Championship table.
Teams:
Fulham:
Bettinelli, Fredericks, Kalas, Ream, Targett, Cairney, McDonald, Johansen (90+1), Ayite (Piazon 88), Mitrovic (Kamara 79), R Sessegnon.
Substitutes:
Kebano, Norwood, Christie, Button.
Aston Villa:
Johnstone, El Mohamady Abdel Fattah (Onomag 45), Chester, Terry, Hutton, Jedinak (Grabban 67), Snodgrass (Davis 88), Tuanzebe, Hourihane, Bjarnason, Hogan.
Substitutes:
Taylor, Whelan, Lansbury, Bunn.
Referee: Tony Harrington
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Tony Harrington blew the final whistle, Fulham gaffer Slavisa Jokanovic explained.
‘We played with confidence, but we cannot think the job is done. We must show solidarity and work together. All the squad will be needed, not just the players who started today, but those on the bench and in the stand. In the second half we tried something a little bit different, we scored two goals and we could have scored some more. We must be satisfied with our performance, we played very good football, but it is only three points.’
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce in his comparative interview explained.
‘I didn’t think there was anything in it. It was a tense game with two very good teams for the first 60 minutes. It was always going to be the first goal that was likely to decide the game and we’re disappointed because we know they’re very good down the flanks in particular, they’re quick in wide areas and we’ve been done down the wide area. We’ve made a mistake for the first and a mistake for the second. We’ve made more mistakes today than we’ve probably done in six weeks, but that’s football.’
