Fulham boss Chris Coleman is prepared to dispense with his philosophy of attractive, attacking football as Fulham chase a desperately needed victory at high-flying Charlton.
Fulham are stuck in the bottom three of the Barclays Premiership after making their worst ever start in the top flight with just one win – against struggling Everton – in eight games.
Coleman is convinced his side have deserved more but the pain of seeing Fulham rooted in the relegation zone is too much to bear and he has demanded a win of any sort at The Valley.
“I can sit here all day and say how well we are playing and that it is all good attacking football – but we are not getting the points,” said Coleman.
“I don’t care how they come now, we just need the points.
“We have only played eight games but I don’t like looking at the table and seeing my team in the bottom three. It’s not a nice place to be.
“It’s the first time it’s happened to me. It’s another new experience for me but it’s something we need to deal with right now.
“We can’t make excuses. I know we have been playing well, the players know we have been playing well, the supporters know we have been playing well, the chairman knows we have been playing well but we are third from bottom. We shouldn’t be there and we need to change that.”
Coleman has the luxury of an extra two days with his players following the international break and he has spent the time instilling a mean streak into a defence that has been too prone to sloppy mistakes.
But given Fulham’s current predicament, two extra days was still not enough given he had been without the majority of his squad for a fortnight.
“It’s been difficult because you look at the league table and you are bottom three and you can’t do anything about it,” he said.
“Two weeks in football is a long time. I have found that really hard and the players have been frustrated.
“But we have a chance at Charlton to do something about it and put some points on the board.”
Coleman received a vote of confidence in the week from Fulham chairman Mohamed al-Fayed as he deals with the first major crisis of his time in charge at Craven Cottage.
“We have never been in a relegation scrap, not in my time here. We have always been thought about as relegation strugglers but we have finished mid-table, top 10,” said Coleman.
“The most frustrating thing is we have been playing quite well. If it was this time last year and we were bottom three I could understand it, but we have been playing better this year.
“But we have not been able to turn the performances into results and that is what it is all about.”
And that is what Coleman is demanding of his men tomorrow – produce whatever performance is required to get the win and lift the club out of the bottom three.
