Marco Silva
Fulham, 2021-
When Marco Silva arrived at Fulham in 2021 they were a yo-yo club. The club had won two promotions via the Championship playoffs, going straight back down twice. Silva duly guided them back to the Premier League in his first season, except this time as champions having scored 106 goals in 46 games. He then kept them in the top flight for the first time in a decade with an impressive 10th place finish. Silva’s Fulham followed this with another two comfortable Premier League campaigns – including the club’s record points total in the competition – plus two FA Cup quarter finals and a League Cup semi final.
Just as he hit the ground running at Craven Cottage, so too Silva had made an impressive start to his managerial career as a whole. Shortly after his playing days ended he entered management at second division Estoril in 2011. After winning the league in his first season and impressing in the top flight, he stepped up to manage Sporting, where he won the Portuguese Cup. Next he led Olympiacos to the Greek title and a notable Champions League win against Arsenal. His first Premier League jobs came with six-month stints at Hull City and Watford, followed by 18 months at Everton, before he settled at Fulham.
Below, our UEFA-licensed coaches have analysed Silva’s tactical approaches from his time at Craven Cottage…
Progressive passing
Throughout Marco Silva’s managerial career in England he has prioritised a 4-2-3-1 structure. Although his teams have tended not to dominate possession – averaging almost exactly 50 per cent of the ball across his first six Premier League campaigns – they have progressed the ball forward with purpose. Particularly at Fulham, where, across the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, only Liverpool bettered their total of progressive passes. That despite Silva being in charge of clubs that could not take Premier League survival for granted.
From his 4-2-3-1 base at Fulham, the centre-backs have split quite wide at times during build up, allowing the goalkeeper to enter the space in between. Although his sides can build short, they have also shown a penetrative side, with central defenders such as Joachim Andersen and Calvin Bassey playing passes that have often bypassed the double pivot ahead. These passes have sometimes looked for an onrushing full-back, moving as wide as possible as they run forward. Their movement drags the opposing winger with them, freeing space for the centre-backs to split wide.
Silva’s teams have also played directly into the front line with regularity – connecting without the need for shorter passing support from the two pivots. When the pivots have dropped short they have often lured opponents with them. With the number 10 moving slightly wider, clearing central spaces, Fulham have then had more room to access the front line.
Raúl Jiménez, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Carlos Vinícius and Rodrigo Muniz have all played as target forwards, dropping away from the opposing back line to secure, hold and link with those around them. The closest winger has provided maximum width, while the far winger narrows – often with opposite movements to the number 10 – giving Silva’s centre-forward options to connect with (below).
Wide rotations
Accessing the front line quickly can turn average amounts of total possession into forward play and goalscoring chances. Under Silva, Fulham have turned progression into goals via their centre-forward initially coming deeper. When this centre-forward – one of Jiménez, Mitrovic, Carlos Vinícius or Rodrigo Muniz – has dropped to secure the play, a feature has been for the 10 to swap with them, attacking high and central. Both wingers have then joined the inside channels to create a tight attacking unit. When the play has quickly progressed into the final third, Fulham have looked to incisively attack, with the 10s and wingers providing a steady goal return from such fast attacks.
When the opposition have prevented quick progression into the final third – especially centrally – Fulham’s adapted, narrowed front unit have been capable of attacking around, usually to cross. Or they have attempted tight combinations to break through the central defensive pressure. In these moments, the centre-forward’s delayed support works well with the other forwards, who are adapting to the opposition blocking a quick attack. With the centre-forward eventually joining from deep, they have often been well placed to make unmarked runs for crosses, or to be the final receiver in tight, central combinations. Mitrovic and Jiménez in particular have benefitted from this attacking pattern – the former (below) scoring a record 43 goals in a 46-game English league season in the 2021/22 Championship.
A forward-passing style forces opposing players to track back more, sometimes into a block that they may not want to be in. By playing forward passes regularly, it forces opposing players to recover or back-press more. After a while, they may choose to concede space higher up and stay in a block to conserve energy. In these moments, Silva’s teams have had to show a different side to their play, making shorter connecting passes, with rotations in the wide areas to disrupt the opposition block.
Silva has done a good job of coaching this flip of attacking style and ideas. His wide attackers have moved inwards, mostly on the left side, where they have often allowed space for the overlapping and crossing threat of left-back Antonee Robinson. Silva has worked clever rotations around Robinson’s advances, with Alex Iwobi particularly clever at timing his movements inside. Andreas Pereira or Emile Smith-Rowe as the 10 have often complimented these movements and supported the left-side rotations. When a more traditional winger than Iwobi has played on the left, Robinson has provided high support via delayed forward runs. There, he has waited for the ball to progress into the front line, before overlapping or underlapping in support.
Either way, Silva has ensured that Fulham’s attacking play provides an outlet for Robinson’s advances. The left-back was in the top four for total crosses in the three Premier League seasons from 2022/23, with Silva utilising Robinson’s advances and crossing. This has been ideal for powerful centre-forwards who thrive on attacking crosses, or midfielders crashing the box. The latter has provided Robinson with options around the centre-forward, which is where most of his assists have come from (such as below).
When Fulham have kept the ball for long enough, they have often built with a single pivot. One of the two deeper midfielders then moves higher to support right-sided play (below). For the most part, the winger has held the width on this side – Willian, Dan James, Adama Traoré, Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Kebano have all attacked from the right during Silva’s tenure, using their 1v1 talents and in some cases raw pace. The right-back supporting underneath – Timothy Castagne or Kenny Tete – has usually provided secondary cover behind the winger, giving space for one of the pivots to advance, especially when the number 10 has cleared the central space.
Having a more reserved right-back has helped the two centre-backs to shuffle across to form a converted back three, building higher up against an opposing block – the game state often dictating this switch.
Silva is also comfortable pushing both full-backs higher. Especially if the double pivot – two from Tom Cairney, Sander Berge, João Palhinha, Harrison Reed and Sasa Lukic – have remained deeper to bounce the ball wide, play around corners or make simple but consistent passes and switches across the pitch.
Compact defending
Without the ball, Silva’s sides have shown flexibility and compactness, almost always with a back four structure. He has either stuck with a 4-2-3-1, or moved into a 4-4-2, usually via the number 10 jumping to defend alongside the centre-forward. His teams aren’t known for aggressive high pressing, instead defending high when appropriate. His preference has been for more of a mid-block, defending in and around the halfway line, with a consistent defensive presence in the middle third.
From the mid-block, the structure often flips between 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2, depending on how and when Fulham force the ball wide. Initially the 4-4-2 covers central access, with the front-two zonally covering access through the middle of the pitch – especially against attempted passes into the opposing single pivot. From here, Fulham show the ball around and wide, with the closest winger ready to jump when they are set in the middle third. If play continues around after the winger has jumped, Silva’s full-backs are also aggressive to press out of line. There, they are happy to continue showing the touchline, being full-backs who can match runs out wide and attempted carries on the outside shoulder.
For any opposing runs or movements from within their block, Silva’s double pivot is key to their defending. This pair will often track narrower runs aimed at exploiting Fulham’s jumping full-backs – ideally keeping the centre-backs narrow and in close contact to one another (below). This works best when the winger on the far side is extremely narrow, pushing the midfield further across. The number 10 can then drop back to fill in any central midfield holes created by the covering midfielder, who is helping to keep the ball locked on one side. This is the best example of Silva’s mid-block shifting between structures.
During higher pressing, Silva’s team again aims to force the ball wide, using the touchline as a wider pressing trap. The centre-forward will begin the press by showing the play one way, with the closest winger supporting by jumping any resulting wide passes to the opposing full-back.
When Fulham try to lock the play with their high press, many teams, especially at Premier League level, will look to bounce the play back out and across to the spare centre-back. From here, Fulham’s opposite winger will be ready to jump at this spare, opposing centre-back, trying to stop a switch across the back line (below).
Fulham’s aim is to force the ball back into the centre, where they form a new trap using their midfield three. The number 10 is now deeper – as opposed to being higher in the first line in a mid-block – and prioritises the opposing midfield. Silva’s full-back on that side will also jump, moving to their opposite number – which can be a significant pressing distance if they haven’t already established appropriate positioning. The midfield unit track any forward runs, with the opposite winger on the far side no longer needed to narrow as significantly as seen with the mid-block. This creates better opportunities to transition to the opposition goal, especially if Silva’s side work a quick switch after a regain, even from within the middle third.
Silva’s tactical nous has certainly helped Fulham to establish themselves in the Premier League after they had struggled to do so for a decade. In doing so, he has established himself among the leading head coaches in English football.
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