Slavisa Jokanovic said he dropped David Button ‘to try and find a different solution’ to Fulham’s defensive woes following last weekend’s defeat at the hands of Brentford.
Button endured a difficult return to Griffin Park, allowing Sergi Canos’ deflected strike to slip under his body and hand his former side a precious equaliser at a time when Fulham were dominating the west London derby. The former Tottenham goalkeeper, who was axed after a couple of catastrophic errors at Derby towards the end of last season, was replaced by Marcus Bettinelli, who kept a clean sheet in Fulham’s narrow win over struggling Birmingham City yesterday.
Jokanovic told the press after the final whistle that picked the best option to help Fulham return to winning ways and that he has no qualms about the impact his decision will have on the benched Button:
It was time to try a different solution for us. I did something similar last season. Having a choice of goalkeeper is good for us. My job is to choice what I believe is better in different situations for my team.
We believe Marcus Bettinelli can improve in his distribution. Bettinelli didn’t have many jobs to do today, Against another team David Button can do a great job for us, he’s a great lad, a professional and he has to fight for his job. All our players, not just the goalkeepers, have to stay professional and fight [for a place in the starting line-up].
