Tactical Profile: Shining the Spotlight on Marco Silva’s Fulham
Fulham are chasing European qualification this season under the guidance of Portuguese manager Marco Silva, who is in his sixth season in charge of the West London club. He is a manager who is mainly influenced by two schools of football: “tactical periodisation”, which structures the week of training ahead of a game around how a club’s analysts expect the opposition to set up that weekend, and “positional play.”
Silva is not a manager who insists his team plays out from the back; he is also more than happy to set his team up in an incredibly well-drilled and compact mid or low block, often in a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 formation. He has also used a 3-4-2-1 and 3-5-2 in some matches, usually against the top six, which are games that Fulham will be expected to have less of the ball in.
In build-up, Fulham tends to form something of a 4-2-4 shape, with Josh King pushing up alongside one of either Raúl Jiménez or Rodrigo Muniz on the last line, whilst two of Harry Wilson, Alex Iwobi, Kevin, or Oscar Bobb provide the width out wide. Meanwhile, the back four stretches wider to make the pitch as big as possible when they are playing out.
Fulham are also comfortable playing bounce passes between the goalkeeper and centre backs to try and bait the opposition into a press, before quickly raising the tempo and breaking the press by playing the ball between the lines. Once Fulham are through the initial phase of build-up, it gets slightly more interesting. In games where Fulham are dominating the possession, often the left back Antonee Robinson will push high and wide on the left whilst Timothy Castagne or Kenny Tete invert to form a back three with the two centre backs.
However, the left back slot this season has mostly been filled by the resurgent Ryan Sessegnon due to Robinson’s persistent injury problems. Meanwhile, Alex Iwobi (who is increasingly played in the double pivot) will move up alongside Josh King or Emile Smith-Rowe as one of the two 10s, whilst Harry Wilson holds the width on the right wing to create a slightly lopsided 3-1-6 shape.
When facing bigger teams in the Premier League, Silva adapts his system slightly and focuses on counter-attacking and frustrating the opponents. He has had notable success against local rivals Chelsea playing this way, beating them three times, twice at home and once at Stamford Bridge, which was Fulham’s first win at Chelsea since October 1979.
Moreover, the Portuguese manager has also used a similar system in two recent wins over Tottenham Hotspur, one at home last season and another away at Tottenham earlier this season. When Silva adapts his system, it shows how he is influenced by the tactical periodisation philosophy.
The job that Marco Silva is doing at Fulham should serve as a template for any team that is promoted to the Premier League; the initial change that he made when they returned to the top flight in 22/23 was to make his team incredibly hard to beat and a team that nobody wants to play against.
Now that has been accomplished, he has been able to create one of the most tactically flexible and complex sides in the division, which is just as happy to play a patient possession-based style as it is to sit in a narrow deep block and frustrate the opposition.
The recruitment Fulham have made also deserves huge credit for Kevin and Oscar Bobb. The Whites have got themselves two of the Premier League’s most exciting attacking prospects, as well as the exceptionally technically gifted Smith Rowe, who seems to be getting back to his best after a tough few years with injuries. If Fulham do manage to make it into Europe next season, be it via the league or by winning the FA Cup, it will be an entirely deserved achievement for Silva and his players.
By: Benedict Flanagan / @ben366486451371
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Rich Linley – CameraSport