Fulham manager Chris Coleman will use the break for World Cup qualifying to rally his beleaguered team and try to end his club’s dismal start to the season.

A 2-0 loss to Crystal Palace on Monday left Fulham three points off the bottom with four defeats from eight Premiership matches.

Coleman has two weeks to prepare for a match against Liverpool at Craven Cottage and admits the break for internationals has come at the right time.

“We need to take stock of things and regroup. We’re losing a lot of players to the internationals but they’ll know what we’re doing on the training ground – I’ll make sure of that,” he said.

“Some of my boys need to wake up and smell the coffee. We have to show the same hunger whether we’re playing Manchester United or Crystal Palace.

If we don’t we’re in for a long hard season and come March or April we’ll still be in the bottom seven or eight teams. I don’t want to be there – I’ve been there before and it’s not a nice feeling.”