Fulham manager Marco Silva was absolutely delighted with club captain Tom Cairney as West Ham simply couldn’t cope with their Premier League opponents today.
Silva was speaking to the press, via BBC Sport, at the end of a second huge win at Craven Cottage this week.
Despite a massive victory over Nottingham Forest in midweek, there wouldn’t have been much expectation from Fulham fans heading into today.
Their recent record against the Hammers is poor and they were subject to some questionable refereeing decisions during both matches last season.
However, there’s a newfound confidence within the Fulham squad right now and after a slightly slow start, they controlled the game throughout.
While he wasn’t on the score sheet against West Ham today, Silva was delighted with the impact of Tom Cairney.
The £3m million midfielder was used almost exclusively as an impact substitution in the Premier League last season.
Since the international break, Cairney has proved that not only is he potentially indispensable to the side, but any question marks over his fitness need to be disregarded entirely.
Silva hails Cairney performance against West Ham
Speaking about the club captain on a momentous appearance for Fulham, Silva said: “It is 300 Fulham appearances for him and he has been crucial.
“Firstly in training, but he made a huge impact in the way we want to build. He knows what I demand off the ball; but on it he’ll always be crucial because he is a top player.”
The stats only back up what every Fulham fan at the Cottage saw today as he ran the show from the middle of the pitch.
Alongside his assist for Harry Wilson’s spectacular fourth, Cairney completed 104 passes.
For reference, Nayef Aguerd completed the most passes for the opposition but his tally reached just 58.
Cairney also won one tackle and three ground duels including a lovely sliding effort in front of the travelling fans in the second half.
The 32-year-old is a leader on and off the pitch and quick to praise his teammates when necessary.
Silva will be delighted with how well Cairney is playing at the moment and his display against West Ham should inspire confidence for the upcoming run of fixtures.
There was a sense that the team wasn’t playing as fluidly as last season and it was difficult to put a finger on what was wrong.
It turns out they simply needed to put the experienced playmaker back in the middle of the pitch and let him do his thing.