Fulham midfielder Steve Sidwell admitted the team had not performed..
The Cottagers failed to make an impact in a must-win game at the Britannia Stadium, on the weekend, and Sidwell cited last weekend’s 2-2 home draw with Hull City as a factor.
Felix Magath’s side led 2-0 against the Tigers but dropped two vital points as the visitors fought back to draw 2-2.
Sidwell said “I think the Hull City draw probably knocked the stuffing out of us – 2-0 up at home and coming away with a draw.
“We knew we had to go up to Stoke to get a result and it did not work out.
“It’s probably more disappointing with how we performed I think words were said in the dressing room afterwards, that if we were going to go down, let’s go down with a bit of fight and courage – something that’s not been there throughout the season.
Sidwell admitted it has been a tough campaign for the Craven Cottage club who have won just nine of their 37 matches.
“It’s been a bit of pain every week throughout the season, even the games we’ve won. It’s been hard at times,” he said.
“We have had a spell in the last few weeks when we’ve got back into a bit of form and we’ve thought we could get out of it, but at the end of the day the table doesn’t lie. It’s all there for a reason and we deserve to be down there.
“No-one is too good to go down. It’s a squad game and you’ve got to perform on a Saturday and if you are not performing as a team then you deserve to go down.
“There has been a lot of factors that you could make excuses for – different managers, different styles over the course of the season – but we are professionals and we just have to go out there on a Saturday and perform and over the season we have not done that.”
