Martin Jol praised a ‘sharp’ display from Andy Johnson, who scored one and made another, as Fulham saw off RNK Split to reach the Europa League play-off round at Craven Cottage tonight.
The Fulham dismissed talk of a move to West Ham, insisting that Johnson was a big part of his plans for the forthcoming season, and hailed the forward’s lively performance.
Sharp and in good form – that is the way I always saw him when I was working in England. He is a very good player, lively and he can play the ball too.
He can also do something in an individual way like he did with (winning) the penalty kick so I can’t ask for more. If he stays fit then he is a great player for us.
It’s always the same, there’s always interest in five or six players. Maybe you don’t know about that but now you do you start talking about it. People will always talk because we have got good players
Jol conceded that Fulham’s preparations for the new season have not been ideal. The Fulham boss pondered whether he would have been able to fit in a few more pre-season friendlies without the Europa League qualifiers, but hopes his side will be ready to take on Aston Villa on August 13.
We could organise another game for next Tuesday but I think that’s a bad idea. We have played six games now. Maybe you would prefer to play eight or nine games in the pre-season as some other players didn’t play a lot so that is probably a disadvantage, but I am satisfied with the results because we got through to the next round.
But I cannot be satisfied with the preparation because we only played on a Thursday and you can’t just focus on these matches the whole time. You have to work on conditioning as well so it’s not easy.
