Silva strikes gold as Fulham roar to title
PROMOTED back to the Premier League. Tick. Crowned champions. Tick. Surpassing a century of goals. Tick. Even Aleksandar Mitrovic smashing Guy Whittingham’s post-1992 second-tier record of 42 goals in a season. Tick.
Fulham have everything their hearts desire. To paraphrase a certain popular song they like to play at Craven Cottage, they’ve been just too good to be true.
Too good for the Championship in any case and so it’s back to the big time, where Marco Silva will hope his side make a better fist of it than on their last two visits.
For now, they’ll enjoy these moments of celebration. Quite simply, Silva’s team have been the best to emerge from the Championship in some time.
They’ve had those relentless and ruthless qualities you need in such an unforgiving division while keeping us royally entertained at the same time.
Now on 106 league goals, they could yet match or exceed Manchester City’s total of 108 in this division from 2001-02.
By the end, they were queuing up to score for Fulham. Tom Cairney, Kenny Tete, Fabio Carvalho,
Mitrovic (two), Bobby Decordova-Reid, Jean Michael Seri. Even goalkeeper Marek Rodak probably fancied his chances.
Silva said: ‘The season has been fantastic and we deserve it, we have been the most dominant team. It is good to see a team play like we play win the title and get promoted. Seeing
Mitro break the record is amazing and he deserved it. Apart from the quality of his goals, he’s a very good professional.’
This is the third time Fulham have won 7-0 this season and the rout began when captain Cairney leathered home Harry Wilson’s cut-back just before the half-hour. Tete picked out the bottom corner with a left-foot strike to double the lead before the break.
The third was delicious, started and finished by Carvalho via passes by Mitrovic and Wilson. Mitrovic was afforded two bites of the cherry for 4-0 and Decordova-Reid spun between two defenders to finish the fifth. Seri then came off the bench and sent a skidding shot into the bottom corner from 35 yards.
The last loose end was tied up in stoppage time when Mitrovic raced on to another Wilson pass, slotted home, whipped his shirt off and leapt into the crowd to celebrate breaking the record.
Luton are hardly also-rans and are still in the play-off places. But this dent to their goal difference means they’ll have to watch Middlesbrough creeping up behind them on Saturday.
‘I’ll be on my knees all week praying. It boils down to a mammoth, unbelievable game next week,’ said boss Nathan Jones.
JURGEN KLOPP having signed a new contract with Liverpool, all eyes turn to Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. He’s already long passed his stay at previous clubs and has spoken of wanting to try international management. Typically, Guardiola does shorter stints than Klopp, we know that. Yet, why not? Why wouldn’t he stay? Set aside the incredible support he receives at City and the financial power of the club, where is Guardiola going to find an epic challenge on the scale of the battle with Liverpool? There is nothing like it out there for him. Nothing that would test his ability as coach and manager, tactician and mentor, selector and recruiter. It is without doubt among the reasons Klopp wanted to stay. Yes, he is right for the club and his wife likes their life here, those are compelling motivations, too. But, professionally, how rewarding must this season be? He has the chance to win the quadruple, while up against one of the greatest teams this country has ever seen. He is pitting his wits against one of the games’ finest minds. And there is mutual respect. In purely professional terms, for all of his achievements at Borussia Dortmund, this must be the time of Klopp’s life. A third Champions League final in five years is a distinct probability. Dortmund were a good team, but they couldn’t do that. And Guardiola? Could we seriously imagine a coach as driven as he is, content to wait for meaningful competitions every two years? Wading through qualifying rounds of mismatches, shorn of drama, waiting months for the chance to have a crack at opponents that are palpably inferior when he could be up against Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent AlexanderArnold. And Klopp. Guardiola walked away from Barcelona once, from Lionel Messi and his Catalan home. He could walk again. But surely the challenge is here, and now, which is what Klopp recognised. It doesn’t get better than this.