Jol: Fulham can bounce back

Martin Jol is adamant Fulham will not let Wednesday’s 5-0 defeat at Craven Cottage to Manchester United shake their confidence.

While the Dutchman believes his side’s second-half performance was much improved, he conceded the lack of team-work shown in the first half condemned the London club to defeat in the English Premier League encounter.

Jol told reporters on Friday: “I don’t think we are lacking confidence, it’s about team-work.”

“If you work as a team, we are good, and our goal difference has shown that.”

“That’s probably been a big plus for us this season, but that is something we destroyed on Wednesday with the five goals.”

“If you concede early like we did, then you get tired as well and that’s not what you want.”

“In the second half, we showed we wanted to play for ourselves, the team and the supporters. We could have got back into the game had it been 3-1 because we had chances, but it wasn’t to be.”

The former Tottenham boss is keen for Fulham to bounce back in Boxing Day’s west London derby against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, and the 55-year-old believes his men will showcase their defensive abilities.

“It’s a good opportunity to show everyone that we can defend better,” he said.

“If we don’t defend better, we’ll never win a game against a top side.”

“It does not lift your confidence if you get a defeat like this, so you have to do a lot of talking for resolve.”

“We’ve learned from this. We have to do better, be more aggressive, and if we have the ball, we must take the game to them.”