Fulham boss Marco Silva said Portman Road is a tough place to play following his side’s 1-1 draw with the Blues yesterday.

The Cottagers went behind to Liam Delap’s first Premier League goal before Adama Traore levelled before half-time with the Blues the better team in the second half.

“It was a tough game against an aggressive side. They have great support which demanded us to win duels and beat the pressure,” he said.

“A tough Premier League game, as always, against a side that you know are going to be really tough to play against.

“We know it can be tough to play here because last season we played against them in a different competition [the Carabao Cup] with great support from the home crowd.

“You can say it was a balanced game, both sides trying to get the control of the game.

“We should have done much better to be tight to Liam Delap driving the ball from the halfway line for their goal, but the reaction was good from us, and we scored a very good goal in an open play moment.

“From then, I think we did control the game with a clear chance from Rodrigo [Muniz] to score.

“Moments that we have to be clinical, we have to build to be ruthless and to punish them in those types of situations.

“We were solid in the second half, but not in the way that we like to play, not with that quality in our build-up and it was more difficult for us to create chances.

“There were all the defensive set pieces, a lot of situations there, and I think we were really solid, we were brave enough in those moments.

“It's a game, of course, that we wanted to win, we wanted the three points. We got one point, and we move on to prepare for the next one."

Silva was pleased with the way his team dealt with going behind: “The reaction from us was good, we scored a good equaliser and after that we took a step forward and were completely in control.

“The second half was a lot more difficult for us, we were not able to control the game the way we liked. We were solid, we did not give many things but we did not create.

“We should create a lot more when we are on the ball, we have to be more effective in our build up and have more chances to score.”

Photo: TWTD

Tractorboy58 added 09:28 - Sep 1 Our home support this season will play a massive part in our chances of success
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WeWereZombies added 09:53 - Sep 1 Silva never looks happy but I thought when the camera cut to him during the match yesterday he looked particularly unhappy. They were never 'completely in control.'
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Cakeman added 09:58 - Sep 1 Accurate assessment I would say. I’m not saying this because he has always been complimentary to us but he is a well respected experienced manager who I enjoy listening to or reading about. He has had to endure some awful decisions that have gone against Fulham over the years particularly when playing the ‘big boys’ so he knows how the Premier division works inside out. His comments give us much hope as clearly all of the opponents won’t enjoy coming to Portman Road.

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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 10:24 - Sep 1 Managers always tend, naturally, to find favourable things to say about their own team. I'd say yesterday´s game was a 50-50, with both sides having periods of dominance, and a draw was a fair result. What was good about our effort is that it looks as if we can only go on to get better as we get more used to playing together and to the pace of the PL in general. Fulham are a decent team, who I would expect to finish mid-table; so to stand up to them quite well was a plus.

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bobble added 10:26 - Sep 1 Nest time we play he will be very unhappy
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Europablue added 11:35 - Sep 1 WeWereZombies They were completely in control for a few minutes in the first half including when they scored.
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Europablue added 11:38 - Sep 1 Steve_ITFC_Sweden We were the better side, but they looked dangerous at all times. It was a typical away performance from them, but we really looked at least like equals. The home crowd probably made the difference and gave us confidence, well actually the players and the crowd fed off each other.
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clivebleedingthomas added 12:33 - Sep 1 Our home support just gets better and louder. We are learning what a good effect upon the team singing and rhythmic clapping when they most need it can have. We can truly call ourselves the "twelfth man" if we keep this up through the ups and downs of the season.
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Jazzy71 added 12:56 - Sep 1 Home support is important. And our fans will be there throughout the season. Watched on the TV and thought it was a very even game.
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PortmanTerrorist added 15:48 - Sep 1 Folks are forgetting they had a full and settled squad. We have key 1st team players out, nearly half the team on league debut, who are clearly still learning the managers ways and yet we matched them. With a full bench (Iincl Hirst, Burns, Broady and even Clarke) we would, like last season, probably have won, but was even and draw is fair.
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Ebantiass added 17:14 - Sep 1 I thought we did very well and played obviously to win against a settled experienced premiere league side. Fulham have splashed the cash and would expect to have taken all three points albeit a difficult game. Sammy looked class and was my MotM but we need to be more ruthless. Once again the home supporters were absolutely magnificent. The bluearmy is worth a handful of points this season.

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OldFart71 added 13:39 - Sep 2 Fulham's goal although very well taken was in many respects lucky as it managed to evade three players across the box. Nothing lucky about Delap's goal though.
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