Fulham boss Chris Coleman has reacted angrily to accusations that his teams play negatively – and he has vowed to continue using his current formation.

Coleman has become disgruntled by criticism of his tactics even though he employs the same formation as free-scoring Barclays Premiership heavyweights Chelsea and Manchester United.

Last Saturday’s hugely disappointing 2-0 defeat by Tottenham – in which Fulham failed to create a single clear chance – highlighted a lack of creativity.

But Coleman insists that performance was a one off – and he is not about to change his philosophy for Saturday’s Premiership match against Charlton.

He said: “It makes me laugh when we talk about systems. You read in the paper that our system is 4-5-1. But I guarantee we play exactly the same way as Chelsea or United, yet they are supposed to use 4-3-3.

“We, Bolton and Palace all use an identical system – but it’s called 4-5-1. It’s an attacking formation.

“Last season got us to ninth in the Premiership and the quarter-final of the FA Cup and to the quarter-final of the Carling Cup this season. This year we can still finish in the Premiership’s top 10.

“To be fair to my players, we’ve lost three out of the last 12 matches. I’d take that kind of consistency any time, I can tell you.”

French midfielder Steed Malbranque is close to returning to the first-team squad following his ankle injury and could feature on the bench at Craven Cottage tomorrow.

Claus Jensen started his first match in more than four months against Spurs but did not complete the fixture – and Coleman believes the Danish international will benefit from his reduced role.

He said: “Claus played 85 minutes. I kept him on for too long four months ago, and he ended up ripping his hamstring – so we substituted him early against Spurs. He will be better for it.”