Marco Silva has revealed his concern at the number of managers being sacked in English football following Jesse Marsch’s dismissal at Leeds.
American Marsch was in the Leeds job for less than a year but was dismissed on Monday following the club’s 1–0 defeat to potential relegation rivals Nottingham Forest.
Silva’s Fulham have enjoyed contrasting fortunes to Marsch’s Leeds. The Cottagers are currently eighth in the table and will face them in the FA Cup if they beat Sunderland in a fourth-round replay on Wednesday.
Th 45-year-old said: “It’s not good when I see a colleague who is not in the job anymore. It was a short period he was in charge but it’s the decision of the people in charge.”
Silva admitted he has noticed managerial sackings happening sooner in the modern game than in the past.
The former Hull, Watford and Everton boss said: “In England it’s a change from the past because normally a manager gets more time. Results speak really loud and football has become a business.”
Silva’s Fulham visit Sunderland on Wednesday after the Championship’s ninth-placed side earned a deserved draw in their FA Cup match last weekend.
The Cottagers will not be able to call on new signings Sasa Lukic and Cedric Soares who signed last month, yet Silva can see the bigger picture.
He continued: “It will be important for us to have more solutions in those two positions. But it is what it is: they are not going to be available for the match.”
Silva will be in the stands for the match due to a suspension for picking up too many yellow cards, but he hopes his Fulham side can show the FA Cup the respect he feels it deserves.
“We want to do it,” he said when asked about his hopes of reaching the fifth round. “It’s our aim and ambition. Before the Sunderland match at home I said we want to keep playing in this competition. It wasn’t our best game for sure that afternoon.
“It will be tough but we believe in ourselves and of course we have to do our maximum to get to the next round.”
Fulham’s talismanic striker Aleksandar Mitrovic has scored 11 goals in 19 outings so far this season yet hasn’t scored in his last four games.
Asked if he was worried by the Serb’s drop-off, Silva said: “It’s not a concern. We know that sometimes strikers have these moments. Some moments he was scoring week in, week out. Now those goals are not coming but his belief is the same and we have to keep providing for him.”
Fulham visit Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in their FA Cup fourth-round replay on Wednesday night.
