Fulham's manager Marco Silva was clearly not a fan of Chris Kavanagh following the referee's officiating during his side's defeat in the Emirates FA Cup at the hands of Erik ten Hag's Manchester United.
While the visitors' manager Marco Silva kept emphasizing that his side had been the better side on Sunday evening, he slammed the match day officials for their inconsistency.
“Let’s talk about all the game and not just about one moment,” Silva told ITV Football, as seen above.
“I think it’s fair enough with our team to talk about the game and not just one moment in the game." Until that moment, until the penalty and the red card, we were clearly the best team on the pitch. Clear.
Erik Ten Hag's men started off slowly in the first half but got on with the game afterwards. They came close to scoring twice in the first half; Fulham's Ramsdale kept out Sabitzer's powerful shot, while Scott McTominay's shot was blocked out to a corner by Fulham's defenders.
The second half started off with Fulham on the front foot, and notably, their best chance came with William forcing a vital save from De Gea before Mitrovic ensured a Fulham corner hit the back of Manchester United's net moments later.
Fulham didn't sit back to defend their lead as they pressed for more, which cost them as Manchester United broke away. While the Cottagers were in an attacking play, Bruno Fernandes' pass found Antony, who was left with just one defender to beat and Jadon Sancho making a run on the left, and he laid the ball to the number 25, who rounded the keeper with one other defender, but his effort was kept out by William, who intercepted the ball with his hand.
A VAR check confirmed a penalty and also showed a red card. Mitrovic as well joined his teammate for an early shower as he was dismissed for getting physical with the referee, while in the process of checking VAR to decide Willian's fate, Fulham coach was red carded by the referee.
Manchester United were awarded a penalty, which was successfully converted by Bruno Fernandes before Marcel Sabitzer scored minutes later. The Red Devils controlled the game and eventually scored a third as another Bruno Fernandes goal sealed their progress to the semi-finals, where they will be facing Brighton Albion.
Marco Silva argued his team would have gotten the desired results as they were the better side; however, the match officials changed that by dismissing two of his players and also sending him to the locker room.
“We come here to play at Old Trafford," he continued.
"Like I said to you before the match, and we were the best team on the pitch, clear. "Man United, of course we respect them, but it's clear, we were the best team on the pitch."
“Corner for us and (after) counter-attack, and it was a red card." It was a decision that the VAR could take, and what is difficult for us to understand are two moments in their box.
“In the first half, one of them is a clear penalty on Mitrovic." "No one checks, no one sees, and no one wants to see.”
In another interview, he clearly stated his unhappiness with referee Chris Kavanagh but was critical of his striker Mitrovic, whom he claimed allowed emotions to get the better of him.
"In that moment, he [Mitrovic] has to control his emotions much more like all of us should," he said.
"You have to keep the emotional balance, of course." Sometimes, it is not easy, but it is our obligation to do it. It's been a tough season in some moments for us. "We know that we are Fulham; we don't have the same importance in football as some others, but it's difficult for us to deal with some situations," he claimed.
Marco Silva further alleged that the match-day referee for the clash between Fulham and Man United on Sunday in the Emirates FA Cup quarterfinals, Chris Kavanagh, has been poor in terms of officiating this season, citing instances from their league matches against Leeds United and West Ham.
"It's difficult for us to understand," he stated further. "Chris was in a game we played away at West Ham where we lost with two clear handballs; we received the apology because of the mistakes." The last game at Leeds in the FA Cup, it was him again. "And for a game that is the quarterfinals, it's him again; it's difficult to understand."
“Of course, we respect that he's a top referee in this country; I accept that, but unfortunately for us, with us, it's been really unhappy this season."
"You need to talk about the three [possible] penalties because you are just talking about one moment." You want to talk about the other moments in the box? Why don't you ask me about the other two moments as well? "If you want, I can talk about that moment [Willian's handball], but I talk about the others as well."
In another interview with the BBC, Marco Silva expressed his unhappiness and slammed the VAR officials, tagging the referee officials as a shame as well.
"It is a shame the ref wasn’t shown VAR for the first-half moments. It is difficult to be Fulham at Old Trafford; the VAR feels the pressure too. "For us, it is difficult to understand why they didn’t do the same."
On his own red card, he added: “Even if I haven’t done anything special, I have to control myself." I didn’t say anything special to the ref; he didn’t listen and showed me the red card. It is a moment to control my emotions. "The game was decided in the moment."
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