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Fulham boss Marco Silva challenged Rodrigo Muniz to make the forward position his own after he scored in a 3-1 win at Ipswich to send them through to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2004.<\/p>\n
The Premier League opposition proved too strong for the Championship high-flyers with Harry Wilson, Muniz and Tom Cairney on target at Portman Road before substitute Elkan Baggott pulled one back late on.<\/p>\n
It was the performance of Brazil striker Muniz which caught the eye after his movement helped create Wilson\u2019s ninth-minute opener from Bobby Decordova-Reid\u2019s pass before the 22-year-old fired home in the 50th minute from Andreas Pereira\u2019s cross.<\/p>\n
Muniz endured a difficult 2022-23 campaign on loan at Middlesbrough but after scoring his first Fulham goal since January of last year, Silva talked up his chances of starting Saturday\u2019s clash with Manchester United.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is always a candidate and he had a very good pre-season,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately in the moment he was showing his quality, showing how he was growing, even if last season was tough for him, he had a muscle injury and it stop a little bit his development in the pre-season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came back and had a very good game against Tottenham in the first Carabao Cup match we have and he is taking his chances. So, he is always a candidate like the others, like Raul (Jimenez) and Carlos Vinicius.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are fighting for the position, we don\u2019t have a number one, two or three. It is for me to decide for each game regarding the strategy and what I want from the game. It is up to them to show the quality they have and to show they are able to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cRodrigo did really well. Let\u2019s see what is going to be my decision for the next match.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fulham\u2019s passage into the last-eight was clinched when Cairney\u2019s low effort went through Christian Walton in the 77th-minute.<\/p>\n
While Silva was frustrated with Baggott\u2019s headed consolation, he praised the application of his side.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cYes very good performance. Credit to the players, congratulations to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is true we did eight changes in our XI and even we probably needed more because we are going to play an early kick-off on Saturday, but in some positions it was impossible to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I had the chance, I would do even more (changes), but the main thing for me is we kept our structure, we kept the same way. All the players know the way we want to play and we were really serious in the way we approach the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna was able to take plenty of positives from only their second defeat of the campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tough game, no doubt about that, but I think a game and a night we will be much stronger for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was always going to be a massive challenge irrespective of how the game went or which team we picked.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo concede an early goal against a really good Fulham team it was always going to be a really tough game, but I\u2019m pleased with how we stuck at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am pleased we kept trying until the last minute, we tried to stick to our football and there is big positives to take.\u201d<\/p>\n