Marco Silva has claimed that his Fulham squad are not ready to compete in the Premier League at the moment.
The Championship winners welcome Liverpool to Craven Cottage on Saturday and will be keen to cause a huge upset by taking points from last season’s Carabao Cup and FA Cup winners.
But former Everton boss Silva has admitted that the West London outfit aren’t yet ready to face Jurgen Klopp’s side but has praised his players for their efforts during pre-season.
“No,” Silva told West London Sport (via the Liverpool Echo), when asked if Fulham are ready for the new season. “These players, they are ready for the Premier League.
“The players that we have right now, I congratulate them for the work they have been doing.
“We, as a squad, we are not ready. These players, they are ready.
“I have to tell you, and I don’t want to speak for too much time about the situation, I want to be clear with you; now we have 16 senior players in our squad. No-one competes at this level with 16 senior players in your squad.
“I will tell you one more. No-one can prepare for one season with just two central defenders. We have two central defenders at this level.
“I can continue, and I will not stop, but I don’t want to talk more about it. I’m talking because you ask me.
“I’m really happy with this group of players that we have. But everyone that understands football can see we need at least five or six more players.
“That is clear, if you really want to be competitive. These players need help to be competitive in the training sessions every single day.
“We cannot be five weeks into the pre-season with two central defenders. We can’t be competitive in this situation and I can talk more positions as well but this will not help at all.”
You have to admire Silva’s honesty, but the comments are rather bemusing and you wouldn’t be very impressed if you were a Fulham supporter.
It’s appears as if it may be some sort of message to the owners for more transfers from the 45-year-old who clearly feels that he doesn’t have enough talent or depth at his disposal to enjoy a successful campaign at the club.
The side from the capital have already added four new faces to their squad this summer, with Kevin Mbabu, Joao Palhinha, Andreas Pereira and Manor Solomon joining the club.
One of their best players last season was Fabio Carvalho but they lost the talented youngster to Liverpool earlier this summer and he could make his Premier League debut for the Reds on Saturday.
Klopp may view Silva’s comments as mind games and will therefore not read into what’s been said too much – we just need to ensure we play our own game to ensure we get our campaign off to the best possible start.
Silva Silva Silva …
Same old tactics …
At least you don’t Europe and the high expectations put on you like other clubs have.