Fulham FC — Fulham v Southampton — 6 January 2018

050505

G

ood afternoon and welcome

to Craven Cottage for our

Emirates FA Cup Third

Round tie against Southampton.

A warm welcome to the visiting

supporters and directors from

Southampton who have travelled

from the South Coast today and

to Mauricio Pellegrino and his

backroom team.

There is some respite from

league action with the FA Cup

this weekend as we entertain

Southampton from the Premier

League. The FA Cup competition is

one of the most famous domestic

cup competitions in the world and

the Third Round weekend provides

plenty of excitement for supporters

up and down the country.

In my view, there’s no other

football competition that can rival

the tradition of the FA Cup. We’ll

be giving the FA Cup the respect it

duly deserves by applying ourselves

properly and, while there will be

some necessary changes to the

line-up due to the number of games

recently played, we’re keen to do

well and progress.

I can be satisfied with our form

from the festive period coming

into this afternoon’s match. In the

four matches played during the

past fortnight, we’ve gathered 10

points out of 12. Our victory against

Ipswich Town on Tuesday evening

was deserved and enabled us to

record a fourth straight win at the

Cottage, which is great news for our

confidence in the second half of the

season. We’re really grateful to our

fans for always getting behind us;

your support has made us stronger

here at home.

We created many chances and

played a very good first half against

Ipswich, but disappointingly

conceded a goal at the stroke of

half-time.

We fought back in the second

half, helped, of course, by Ipswich

playing with one player less.

However, we were the better

team even when it was XI v XI.

Tuesday’s game was one of the best

performances from my side this

season. The team was industrious

and moved the ball very well and

fully deserved the three points to

add to the haul accumulated over

the Christmas period. This puts us

in a good position to challenge for

important targets this season.

Today, we have an opportunity

to test ourselves against quality

Premier League opposition in an

early round of the FA Cup. Whilst we

can’t make too many comparisons

with last season, the team can take

plenty of encouragement from last

year’s FA Cup Fourth Round victory

at the Cottage against Hull City who,

at the time, were also a Premier

League side.

As always, we’ve researched our

opposition and prepared in detail

for the game and we’re aware of the

quality within the Southampton

ranks. In fact, both teams should

know each other well having played

in behind-closed-doors friendlies

on two occasions this season

at Southampton’s Staplewood

Training Ground in the October

and November international

breaks. These matches were good

opportunities to provide minutes for

some players who hadn’t featured

so much this season. Unlike these

friendly matches there’s something

firmly at stake today in progression

to the Fourth Round and I’m sure

you’ll see the team competing hard

to try to win.

I can be satisfied with recent

performances and results and I

thank you for all your support

during these matches. There’s still

a long way to go this season and it’s

important to remain grounded and

to carry on with the right focus and

motivation. We’re ready for another

tough challenge this afternoon.

Thank you for your support.

Slaviša Jokanović, Head Coach.

The gaffer is looking forward to pitting his wits

against Premier League opposition...

HEAD COACH

“Tuesday’s game was

one of the best

performances from my

side this season”

v

HEAD COACHHEAD COACH

vv

Slavisa JokanovicSlavisa Jokanovic

‘

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