Marco Silva lauded “almost unstoppable” Adama Traore after his performance helped Fulham secure their third successive win in all competitions with a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
Following their 2-1 league triumph over Newcastle at St James’ Park earlier this month and their FA Cup win against Wigan last week, Fulham continued their fine form with goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Calvin Bassey.
Despite Chris Wood netting his 18th of the season, it was not enough for third-placed Forest, who saw Bournemouth and Manchester City close the gap on them in the race for Champions League football.
Traore showed signs of his best, with his cross for Smith Rowe’s opener in the 15th minute being one of a series of quality deliveries on the day.
“I’m really pleased for him, it was a great cross and he had chances to score and I like to see the Adama like we saw today,” said Cottagers boss Silva.
“He was balanced today and I don’t remember one ball he gave away and he needs to take risks and the assist was great.
“Throughout the game he was much more involved in everything and this is how I want to see him because his capacity is almost unstoppable and we need to give him the tools to play like he did this afternoon.”
Following Smith Rowe’s headed effort past Matz Sels, Calvin Bassey nodded in the Cottagers’ second after he got on the end of Raul Jimenez’s flick-on in the second half.
Silva admitted his side’s aerial ability is something they had worked on in recent weeks.
“We expected them to come with the five defenders and so we knew the space would be out wide,” he added.
“The first goal is something we have worked on with the players to arrive in the box with the pocket players or the wingers. The move from Emile and the assist from Adama is something we have been working on.”
Despite the proven track record of defenders Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo, Forest’s backline were second best to Fulham’s forward threats.
“I think it was a tough game, they created a lot of problems for us in the first half and were in control,” Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo said.
“We started the second half well but we began to lose duels, conceded and conceded too many set-pieces
“We should’ve done better in those situations.”
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