Martin Jol was delighted that Fulham quickly recovered from their European exit with a comfortable win over Bolton at Craven Cottage this afternoon.
The Fulham manager identified the need to get back to winning ways swiftly after their elimination from the Europa League by Odense in midweek and was happy with his side’s performance as goals from Clint Dempsey and Bryan Ruiz guided them past Owen Coyle’s struggling side.
The most important thing was the points after the disappointment on Wednesday. I thought we did well in the first half, linked up well with Moussa Dembele,
Clint (Dempsey), Bryan Ruiz, sliding balls into Andy Johnson.
You would like to score the third goal but we didn’t do that and gave them the momentum. It was a bit sloppy in midfield. That was the only thing I thought could be corrected.
Jol was delighted with Bryan Ruiz’s role in the victory, with the Costa Rican winger beginning to show just why Fulham parted with £10.5m to bring him in from FC Twente.
I expect him to do what he did today because that’s what he did on a weekly basis [at Twente]. Of course it is a different ball game here. Today he was not perfect but he can set up goals like he did with the first one and score ones like he did against Everton.
The Fulham manager also hopes that the club’s early European exit could help their league form.
Hopefully it is a blessing to go out. It’s nice to be in Europe but if you don’t win it you can punish yourself. I think the players will agree, it was harsh to go out but we can focus on different things now like the Premier League.
Jol also confirmed that Bobby Zamora missed the match after aggravating a knee problem in training on Friday.
Bobby had a late test today and he was not fit to start. He could have played maybe 10 minutes but that was not enough. Yesterday we had to drop him out of training. He couldn’t start.
