slav2000brentford

Slavisa Jokanovic has seen encouraging improvements in his Fulham side after they recorded back-to-back wins to climb up the Championship table – but is refusing to count any chickens about his team’s promotion prospects ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Sheffield Wednesday.

The Fulham head coach feels there is a greater positivity around Motspur Park after two victories over Huddersfield Town and Brentford prior to the international break, but he is demanding the optimum level of focus on the visit of Wednesday, who he believes will be determination to end their own disappointing run of two defeats.

Jokanovic told FulhamTV in his press-match interview:

We have improved, but are a team that still needs to improve more. There are still important gaps we need to fill. Generally, these last good games can encourage us in how we play and can show us the way we want to follow [in future]. We have played some very good games, but at the same time we cannot be satisfied and we cannot be sleeping in this moment because you are going to have Sheffield Wednesday, who lost the last two games, and I’m sure they are going to be at maximum level of concentration, maximum level to compete and we need to be one step above the highest level where they are.

He was clear about what he expected from his players – brushing off any concerns about the short degree of time his squad had together after the international break – and scorched any suggestions of over-confidence after morale-boosting wins, reiterating the importance of hard work in delivering both results and belief in his side’s quality.

I can only accept good performances. It is not [a] time for holidays, it is not time for rest, we need to push hard and to understand that it is simple because the most important game is the next game in front of us. We want to have maybe a bit of confidence and believe in what we are doing. We step-by-step, start believing now and step-by-step start to believe we can play good football and step-by-step start to believe we can win the game. When you believe in yourself, everything is possible.