Fulham manager Marco Silva has blamed a “lack of communication” as he confirmed Ryan Sessegnon was incorrectly substituted during his side's 1-0 Premier League defeat to Bournemouth.
As the Cottagers tried to bounce back from Antoine Semenyo's first-minute goal at the Vitality Stadium, Sessegnon left the pitch and Tom Cairney, Adama Traore and Raul Jimenez were all waiting to come on with just over half an hour remaining.
Silva was clearly unhappy with the situation and tried to get Sessegnon back on the pitch despite the confusion on the touchline.
After referee Michael Oliver approached fourth official Tim Robinson for a discussion, the Portugal coach noted that he had been prevented from correcting the error.
“There was a lack of communication with the fourth official from our staff,” Silva said, suggesting he wanted to replace Sasa Lukic, as well as Sander Berge and Rodrigo Muñiz.
“We had enough time to make a change. When I saw Sessegnon come on, I tried to do it. He (fourth official Robinson) decided not to let us make the substitution.”
Semenyo's 53rd-second goal gave Bournemouth a boost to their European qualification hopes while Fulham's hopes were dashed.
The Cherries' first win in seven top-flight games lifted them to eighth place, ahead of the Cottagers and Brighton on goal difference.
Silva believed Bournemouth defender Marcos Senesi should have been sent off in the 44th minute when he was shown a yellow card for a foul on Joachim Andersen.
Argentine Senesi, who won the ball in a tough challenge, was replaced by Ilya Zabarny in the second half.
“That substitution showed that they (Bournemouth) realised the same thing as us, that it was a mistake by the referee, it was a mistake by VAR,” Silva said.
“And of course they substituted the player because they knew that sooner or later he would probably be sent off.”
“Probably if I was in their situation I would do the same because it's obvious. If you look at Joachim's shin it's obvious.”
Silva was unhappy with the “sloppy” start which allowed out-of-form Bournemouth to take charge.
Semenyo capitalised on a mistake by Cottagers captain Anthony Robinson to score his 10th goal of the season, while Sessegnon missed his best chance to level the scores.
“We are very disappointed with the outcome and we did not learn anything from this game,” Silva added.
“We were sloppy when we conceded the first goal. We gave them the boost they needed after six games without a win.”
Bournemouth equalled their club record top-flight points tally by moving up to 48.
With just two points from a possible 18, head coach Andoni Iraola said the Cherries were back on track for Europe.
“He's definitely alive,” he said. “If the season ended today, I think we'd go to Europe. We have one problem: we've got six games to play. We'd love to finish today.
“It's still very difficult because we have a difficult schedule. Even with (the games), we can definitely compete.
“I'm very happy, I think we needed this win. It's a key game for us.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
