Fulham manager Chris Coleman has told his team to shape up for the daunting visit of Manchester United on Saturday less than a week after a 4-0 FA Cup humiliation by Tottenham, thanks to blunders in the Fulham defence. The defeat led to giant centre half Zat Knight having a run-in with the Craven Cottage fans at the end.
Knight publicly apologised for responding in kind to harsh words from the home fans and says he is now determined to provide the perfect riposte with against United.
The 26-year-old admitted: “We fancied ourselves before the game, especially considering the two draws we’ve had against Tottenham this season but bad defending cost us.
“We wanted a good cup run this season but unfortunately it wasn’t our day. Now we have to learn from the mistakes and approach Saturday’s game against Manchester United in the right manner.
“The fans have come down and got behind us but we haven’t done it for them against Spurs and at the end of the game words were exchanged. It was pure frustration. I was as disappointed as anyone to have lost the game and I would like to apologise to those fans.
“We’ll look to rectify the mistakes we’ve made and everyone will be up for the game next week. We owe the fans.”
Fulham were crushed 5-1 by United on the opening day of the season at Old Trafford but Coleman said: “We’ve got 11 big league games left and we want to make sure we don’t crawl over the line. We want to be sprinting.
“There’s nothing like playing a side like Manchester United in front of a full house at the Cottage.
“It’s going to be a great game and in the past against United we’ve done well. We are only two points off tenth and 12 points from the bottom three .
“If we can get three points against United we can stop looking below us and make our push to the top 10.”
