Martin Jol’s relationship with Rene Meulensteen is crucial if Fulham are to turn things around but the early signs are looking good, says Ashkan Dejagah.
Meulensteen has been appointed to work alongside Jol, who has dismissed suggestions that the arrival of his Dutch compatriot has undermined his position.
Jol has taken a backseat on the training ground and the new partnership appears to be working well. Dejagah said: “It is a good mix. He [Meulensteen] is a nice guy and a nice coach and we have good training sessions with him.
“The new head coach has a lot of experience with Manchester United. He tries to show us some things in training and every coach has a different style and we hope that we can play better in the future.”
Jol’s position remains under scrutiny with Fulham in the relegation zone ahead of tomorrow’s game against West Ham but Dejagah has backed his boss. “Martin Jol is a good manager and he has a lot of experience,” said the 27-year-old Iran midfielder.
“I know that he gives his best for this club and hopefully we can get some points and he stays here. He works hard for this club.
“We have a hard situation now, every player knows that, but we are all working hard, the whole team, the staff, the manager, everyone is working hard and we have to stick together and get some results now.”
West Ham have not won at Upton Park since the opening day of the season but Dejagah is wary of the physical threat Sam Allardyce’s side pose.
“It is not easy playing against them because they have tall and big players and we will have to fight for each other in this game,” he said.
“We have to fight from the first minute and we know that because we played there last year and ended up losing 3-0.
“We will go there to win and we have worked hard this week so hopefully we can take the three points.”
