Why Super Eagles duo started on the bench in Fulham’s win against Wolves – Marco Silva

Fulham head coach, Marco Silva, has revealed the rationale behind his decision to bench Super Eagles duo, Calvin Bassey and Alex Iwobi, in his side’s 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers last night, Soccernet.ng reports.

The Nigerian pair have been important players for the Cottagers this season, with Iwobi and Bassey starting 26 and 25 league games respectively.

However, Marco Silva chose to start the duo on the substitute’s bench yesterday, starting Adama Traore and Jorge Cuenca in place of the 2023 AFCON finalists.

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Ryan Sessegnon opened the scoring for the London-based side inside the first minute, to score his first goal in 800 days, but João Gomes pulled Wolves level in the 18th minute. Rodrigo Muniz scored the winner for Fulham in the 47th minute.

Iwobi came off the bench in the 67th minute while Calvin Bassey was brought on with 14 minutes left on the clock as Marco Silva wanted to keep things tight as the back.

Speaking after the game, the former Watford manager revealed he benched the Super Eagles duo to give minutes to some other players in the squad who haven’t had so much under their belt this season.

“We knew that we were going to need some fresh legs inside. The last game for us on Saturday was a difficult one, performance-wise was not the best, and I knew that coming here the game was going to demand from us some fresh legs inside.

“Some players that we decided wouldn’t start the game, like Alex Iwobi, Robinson, Calvin [Bassey] for example, they are the players with more minutes in our team. It’s not easy when you change five players, when you are playing at the level we are playing in the Premier League.

“Not starting with Alex [Iwobi], Willian is not ready to start a game yet from a physical point of view, and we don’t have other wingers, that is the reality, we don’t have solutions, and that was the first reason we changed the formation,” the Portuguese gaffer told Fulham’s official website.

Fulham are now pressing on the throttle as they look to finish higher up the table while they aim for European spots. The 2010 UEFA Europa League finalists are now within two points of 5th place, currently occupied by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.