By the nineteenth minute, Marco Silva's plan had fully revealed itself.
Palhinha stayed close enough to deny Demien a free run into the final third, but he'd stopped wasting energy trying to dispossess him outright. Fulham's attacking intent had shifted to the wings and the space beside Eriksen instead.
Willian started receiving more often on the left.
Pereira drifted toward Eriksen's side rather than Demien's before every buildup.
Robinson kept overlapping whenever Antony was a half-second late tracking back.
Demien read the pattern and started shifting earlier to compensate, which cut down Fulham's central access but pulled more and more of his own movement into repair work rather than attack.
Every defensive responsibility took him somewhere he wasn't attacking from.
