In football, we love talking about players running through brick walls for their managers. It is a bit extreme, of course – but there is merit behind the sentiment.

In Marco Silva, we have a manager who has earned so much respect from his players and Harry Wilson’s renaissance is the latest example of that.

In the shadows for most of this season, Wilson changed the game against Brentford on Monday and scored again against Crystal Palace on Saturday, less than two minutes after coming on.

When praising the Wales winger post-Brentford, club cameras caught Silva telling him: “It’s been tough for you, but it’s not your fault – if someone is at fault, it’s [me].”

It is an almost disarming level of honesty that shows how our gaffer manages to juggle the level of talent in our squad, when it is as deep as it has ever been.

Wilson is not the first player to come in from the cold and immediately catch fire. Rodrigo Muniz famously slotted into the starting XI, more than two years after signing (and after a torrid loan spell at Middlesbrough), and scored nine in 13.

And when Muniz faltered at the start of this term, Silva brought Raul Jimenez back in and he has repaid his manager’s faith with four goals and two assists so far. Neither could, nor would, have done it without a special relationship with their coach.

Then there is Sasa Lukic. A perennial understudy to Joao Palhinha in his first 18 months at the club, he came in and flourished before a shoulder injury temporarily put him on the shelf.

But perhaps the most enjoyable example of Silva’s man-management is how he has handled the autumn of Tom Cairney’s career. He has transformed Cairney from on-field leader who starts every game to club captain who makes 20-minute cameos, without lessening his impact.

No need to run through brick walls, perhaps. But Silva has got Fulham running around a football pitch pretty well. And we could not be happier.

Find more from Drew Heatley at Fulhamish