Martin Jol has confirmed that he will be rotating his squad for tomorrow’s Carling Cup tie at Chelsea.
The Fulham manager says ‘a lot of players’ will be involved in the derby at Stamford Bridge as he tries to find the right balance between rest and game time with a trip to West Brom in the league on Saturday.
We’ve got another day to decide but there will be a lot of players involved on Wednesday night. It’s not only about West Bromwich Albion this weekend – it’s also about the games that we’ve already played.
I involved my best players last Thursday against FC Twente and on Sunday they had another tough game against Manchester City. I have to make changes and I will do.
Jol had been hoping to include Rafik Halliche, who has stayed at Fulham after he was denied international clearance for his proposed loan move to Swansea, but the Algerian is a major doubt having fallen ill over the last couple of days.
Halliche is a doubt for Wednesday night. He has been ill today so we will have to assess his situation tomorrow. I’ll give him a phone call this evening and see how he is.
Yesterday I had a little thought to play him because he’s a decent player. I’ve got seven or eight defenders so there hasn’t been a place for him up until now.
Andrew Johnson won’t be in the squad for the trip to Stamford Bridge and could miss the game at the Hawthorns on Saturday as well. Bjorn Helge Riise will need ‘another week’ and Simon Davies is a long-term injury victim.
Despite his desire to tinker with his team, Jol still wants to progress on Wednesday.
The Carling Cup is there for teams like Fulham to win. The FA Cup is won eight out of ten times by one of the top four sides. If you’re going to win the Cup you’ve to play the best sides at some point
At some stage you have to play a team like Chelsea, even though it would have been nice to play them in the Final. Chelsea are also playing a lot of games at the moment so they will probably play different players.
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