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Marco Silva defends nine changes but frustrated by poor display and disallowed goal in cup exit

Marco Silva defends making nine changes but has been left frustrated by his side’s poor display and the disallowed goal in the cup exit.

After Finn Azaz was fouled by Joachim Andersen, Ross Stewart netted an injury-time penalty to extend Southampton’s unbeaten run to 10 games and seal their spot in FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time in four years.

Fulham had two goals disallowed, one for a moving ball during a goal-kick, and another for offside. Have a watch of the highlights below…

Marco Silva said in his press conference: “Very bad day for us – myself, the football players, mainly for our fans, definitely.

“The expectations were in the level that, in my opinion, they should be, they must be. And we were not good enough. Simple as that.

“We can talk about many different things – we had 24 shots, and we didn’t create enough after 24 shots, we were around their box many, many times, inside their box.

“But the reality with football is you have to create clearcut chances when you have this amount of offensive game that we had. And the reality is that we were not good enough in the other part of the game, too.

“They had five shots all game, and in most of those moments they created chances. And for us, it’s just a sign that we were not really close to the standards that we have to be, in terms of defensive transition, reactions when you lose the ball, and some other things that are important for us.

“Probably not the moment to be so emotional and, to be clear, very bad day for us, as a group, always myself in front of this group of players, and for the football club.

“It’s probably a moment for us to look even deeper, because it cannot be just another defeat. I know that in football, the defeats, they are tough, doesn’t matter where and who you play. We lost a big chance.

“When you have the responsibility to be favourites, to be in the Quarter-Finals next round, to be playing with a draw that gave us a chance to play at home against a very good side of the Championship, and we didn’t play the way we should to win the game.”

Silva continued: “When you make nine changes, of course I’m going to get it [criticism].

“No worries about it. We played Sunday-Wednesday-Sunday. This back line won games against top sides in the Premier League. If the wingers are not enough to win a Cup tie? We have to look in a different way. The only two players who have not been playing so much are the goalkeeper and Harrison Reed. Alex Iwobi is a first-choice player, but he cannot play every single minute, every single match. I made that decision.

“It was a very bad day for us. Myself, the players, for the football club and mainly for our fans, definitely. We were not close to the level we must be. We were not good enough, simple as that. We lost a big, big chance, when we had the responsibility to be favourites. We should have done much better. This one hurts us, definitely.”

Interviewer: “You looked like you’d scored early on. Some confusion about why that goal was disallowed. Apparently the ball was still moving when the goalkeeper kicked it, although replay suggests it might not have been still moving. What’s your thoughts on that?”

Silva: “For me, it’s a goal. For me it’s a goal.”

Interviewer: “Have you expressed your frustration, your thoughts to the match officials?”

Silva: “No.”

Southampton boss Tonda Eckert speaking to BBC Sport:

“Not so easy when you play a good first half and you feel you should be winning at half-time but aren’t. Fulham have the quality and we had to accept the game where it was and in the end it was very well deserved.

“Nice ground to play. Quality is better than most other Championship stadiums, needed some moments in possession and we got them.”

On disallowed goal in first half: “I have not seen that moment. Overall in the 90 minutes it’s deserved that we go to the next round.

“The first two penalty takers were not on the pitch but we practiced some penalties midweek and Ross [Stewart] has taken penalties all over.

“If everything goes well we can play three games at Wembley this year. Just need to use this as game as fuel for the games coming up.”

Silva insisted the goal should have stood and Eckert added in his press conference: “Marco Silva was not too happy with the decision. I would have been the same if I was on the other side.”

Southampton goalscorer Ross Stewart speaking to BBC Sport:

“Amazing feeling. We put so much into the game, had a massive support here today and to get the win in that manner is really cool. We can look forward to the draw now.

“We came together after January with the squad we’ve got and we’ve put in some great performances. We’ve got a lot of confidence and we were a match for a team in the league above us.

“We missed a few [chances] but we were creating. We kept plugging away and we were solid at the back which gave us a platform. When you keep clean sheets you only have to score one and we did that and timed it well that we didn’t have to see it out for too long.”

On suffering ACL injury at Craven Cottage while playing for Sunderland: “Not the fondest of memories from that day. Good to come back and freshen up the memories with some good ones. Don’t want to think too much about that so it’s good to move on.”

On taking penalty: “I love those moments, back myself and practice them a lot. Great to see it hit the net.”

On who they want in quarter-finals: “Whoever we get is a tough tie, a lot of teams will probably fancy us. A home tie would be good but they’ll all be tough.”

Here’s how fans reacted after Marco Silva defends making nine changes but was frustrated by a poor display and a disallowed goal in the cup exit…

@maxmel171: Marco must face the music now. He played a weakened team twice this week for seemingly no reason at all.

@Jemmett13: Awful from start to finish. We’re not getting Europe and we’re not getting relegated. Put a full strength team out and go for it. Pointless resting players. Fair play to the saints. Defended well and took their chance

@AmbroseBarnaby: This club has issues. This squad has issues and that’s down to Marco. Really poor desperately below par. Another massive opportunity thrown away but we’re good at that

@CottagerNews: FT: Too many changes, opportunity missed. Woeful to a man. No urgency. This is scathing because it deserves to be. Shocking performance! Congratulations Southampton. You deserved it. A complete lack of effort and fight from Fulham. They best knuckle down and fight in the league now. ⚫⚪#FFC #FACup

@nocontextfm1: I will never understand a Prem team that’s safe resting their first XI in a cup game

@ffcLuca: Boring, uninspiring, low quality shite. Season over and fully deserved, wankers

@Caitch22: That was embarrassing. Glad we rested so many players against West Ham then didn’t play them here. Rubbish.

@LeeAHinton95: Cannot get my head around the amount of changes they made. Their league season is over, why not go for the FA Cup? Crazy!

@will5wp: Another loss on Silva. Disjointed lineup and too late with the subs yet again. Reed, ESR and Cairney all useless in the middle. Muniz ineffective up top. Defence looked like they’d never played together in their lives. Shocking performance all round.

@TheThinkingNote: How can you talk about progress when you’re not serious? Playing at home and losing to a Championship team is unacceptable. It shows a lack of ambition, a lack of urgency, and a lack of standards. If you want to be taken seriously, start acting like a club that respects its own potential.
#TheThinkingNote #Fulham0Southampton1 #FACup2026

@EllisCole_: Yet again silva leaves it way too late with the changes. Joke

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