Fulham boss Marco Silva admits his squad is “not ready” for the visit of Liverpool and the start of the Premier League season.
The Reds take on the newly-promoted club at Craven Cottage on Saturday in the early kick-off. It will be Liverpool’s first visit to the London club since the 1-1 draw in December 2020.
Liverpool acted early in the summer to bring in new players during the transfer window. Darwin Nunez, Fabio Carvalho and Calvin Ramsay have been added to the ranks for the new season.
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Fulham have brought four new players to the club this summer, with Kevin Mbabu, Joao Palhinha, Andreas Pereira and Manor Solomon moving to Craven Cottage. However, they did lose Carvalho to Liverpool, who could make his Premier League debut for the Reds against his former club.
Looking ahead to the new campaign, Silva admits that the club are not yet ready to compete in the top flight. But the former Everton boss did praise the effort of his current squad as a clash against Liverpool looms.
“No,” Silva told West London Sport , when asked if Fulham are ready for the new season. “These players, they are ready for the Premier League.
“The players that we have right now, I congratulate them for the work they have been doing.
“We, as a squad, we are not ready. These players, they are ready.
“I have to tell you, and I don’t want to speak for too much time about the situation, I want to be clear with you; now we have 16 senior players in our squad. No-one competes at this level with 16 senior players in your squad.
“I will tell you one more. No-one can prepare for one season with just two central defenders. We have two central defenders at this level.
“I can continue, and I will not stop, but I don’t want to talk more about it. I’m talking because you ask me.
“I’m really happy with this group of players that we have. But everyone that understands football can see we need at least five or six more players.
“That is clear, if you really want to be competitive. These players need help to be competitive in the training sessions every single day.
“We cannot be five weeks into the pre-season with two central defenders. We can’t be competitive in this situation and I can talk more positions as well but this will not help at all.”
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