Marco Silva gives away Fulham game plan for Nottingham Forest clash

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Marco Silva is preparing his Fulham side to potentially do the double over Nottingham Forest but his proposed game plan may just play into Nuno Espirito Santo’s hands.

Fulham beat Forest 1-0 in September in what has turned out to be a rare City Ground defeat for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.

Silva praised Elliot Anderson in the buildup to the match as Morgan Gibbs-White was suspended, but the English midfielder was unable to fire his team to victory as Forest fans slammed Taiwo Awoniyi’s performance against Fulham.

Since September, though, Forest have entered the top five Champions League qualification race and have shown undeniable improvement under Espirito Santo but Fulham are also chasing a European football position of their own.

Forest’s upturn in form doesn’t necessarily mean that the Fulham boss should feel any less confident about repeating September’s performance, with Silva displaying this confidence in his pre-match press conference.

Marco Silva is confident of his Fulham game plan vs Nottingham Forest

Silva was asked to pick Forest’s best midfield in his press conference before the media quizzed him on just how difficult the clash between the two teams will be.

Speaking to the official Fulham website, Silva said: “Of course, they [Forest] are really strong on the counter-attack. They are a team that, if the game is completely open and if you are not balanced, they are capable of punishing you, because we are going to play against a very good side.

“But they know as well that they are going to have a tough task here to play against us at Craven Cottage, because we are confident that we are capable of getting the result that we want – the three points.”

On the specific way he expects his side to win on Saturday, Silva said: “We like to be dominant, we like to have the ball and to try to create as much as we can. At the same time, we have to be really careful, because they have this capacity, in the offensive transition, to be a very, very strong side.”

Clearly, Silva has every right to be confident about how his team will perform, but Espirito Santo’s tactics have been praised this season so the Fulham boss may need to be careful, especially when he has explained just how the Forest squad may exploit his side.

It’s not just a theory either, with Espirito Santo showing time and again how his team can dominate games through counterattacking, with the 7-0 win against Brighton the latest example.

Brighton were punished for dominating possession vs Nottingham Forest

Individual performances clearly played their part in Forest’s 7-0 win as Stuart Pearce hailed Anthony Elanga’s display against Brighton but tactically, The Seagulls played right into Forest’s hands.

Controlling the ball with 63% of possession, Brighton were constantly sprung upon by Forest in swift and efficient counterattacks, aided by the seven interceptions made.

Forest were able to go long to Chris Wood or further wide to Elanga, too, creating endless problems for Brighton, leading to an xG of 3.41 which is excellent on its own, but even more incredible considering Forest outperformed it.

If Fulham are looking to play the same way, the Forest coaching staff must be licking their lips at the potential for another electric display of counterattacking.