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'Selling Bobby Zamora was the best thing we could do' - Fulham manager Martin Jol
Manager reveals that the new QPR striker wanted to move away from Craven Cottage for some time after hosts slump to a draw following a late West Brom equaliser
1 Feb 2012 23:38:00
By Joe Doyle at Craven Cottage
Martin Jol has revealed that Fulham had little choice but to sell Bobby Zamora following the 1-1 draw with West Brom in the Premier League.
The manager claimed that Zamora wanted to leave for a considerable period before the deal was completed, but he is pleased with the England striker's replacement, Pavel Pogrebnyak.
Despite wanting to leave, Jol isn't clear why the former West Ham wanted out, but admitted that accepting QPR's bid was the best thing for everybody.
"You’d have to ask Bobby [why he left], but for us it was the best that we could do," he told reporters.
"It was a decent offer and we decided to accept it. It was lingering on for months. He wanted a move.
"You always want your players to keep on the ball, especially during the transfer window. But this was not happening over the last couple of days.
"It’s always a possibility [that Fulham might have won with Zamora]. He scored four or five goals this year; if he had scored today he’d have been here and we’d have had a better result but he’s not here.
"I think the timing was probably ideal because Bobby left and then we could get Pavel [Pogrebnyak] in – last year it was a different scenario. But now we had a candidate for Bobby, [Pavel] came in.
"[Pogrebnyak] has got a good record, he’s had good spells with Stuttgart, played 45 times for Russia under Guus Hidding and Dick Advocaat. He’s a good boy, works hard for the team.
"I was really happy to get him in because it’s not easy to get players like him in on loan."
Fulham looked decidedly short up front after the departure of Zamora and the injuries to Andy Johnson and Moussa Dembele, but Jol insists that under the circumstances, he was happy with a point.
"Andy Johnson was not here, [Moussa] Dembele was not here so under the circumstances with Clint [Dempsey] up front and Bryan [Ruiz] in a different role, a win would have been fantastic.
"It was a different lineup. Simon Davies came back and it was three different players in three different positions so under the circumstances it would have been fantastic but I can live with a draw because they’ve had three wins out of the past four away from home; they’re a well organised team."
West Brom manager Roy Hodgson was also happy with the match after his side secured a late equaliser thanks to Somen Tchoyi's strike, and admits a draw was the least his side deserved after controlling the match.
"I was really quite pleased with the performance," he said. "If you take away maybe the last five or six minutes where I thought we did our best to let them back into the game when really for large periods, I thought we were fully in control to be quite frank.
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The manager claimed that Zamora wanted to leave for a considerable period before the deal was completed, but he is pleased with the England striker's replacement, Pavel Pogrebnyak.
Despite wanting to leave, Jol isn't clear why the former West Ham wanted out, but admitted that accepting QPR's bid was the best thing for everybody.
"You’d have to ask Bobby [why he left], but for us it was the best that we could do," he told reporters.
"It was a decent offer and we decided to accept it. It was lingering on for months. He wanted a move.
"You always want your players to keep on the ball, especially during the transfer window. But this was not happening over the last couple of days.
"It’s always a possibility [that Fulham might have won with Zamora]. He scored four or five goals this year; if he had scored today he’d have been here and we’d have had a better result but he’s not here.
"I think the timing was probably ideal because Bobby left and then we could get Pavel [Pogrebnyak] in – last year it was a different scenario. But now we had a candidate for Bobby, [Pavel] came in.
"[Pogrebnyak] has got a good record, he’s had good spells with Stuttgart, played 45 times for Russia under Guus Hidding and Dick Advocaat. He’s a good boy, works hard for the team.
"I was really happy to get him in because it’s not easy to get players like him in on loan."
Fulham looked decidedly short up front after the departure of Zamora and the injuries to Andy Johnson and Moussa Dembele, but Jol insists that under the circumstances, he was happy with a point.
"Andy Johnson was not here, [Moussa] Dembele was not here so under the circumstances with Clint [Dempsey] up front and Bryan [Ruiz] in a different role, a win would have been fantastic.
"Clint scored again, he’s our top scorer. He did what I expected of him: score a goal, do a job there. You can’t say that we haven’t scored goals this year, but of course you always want more and hopefully we’ll do that in the next couple of weeks.
"Clint is capable of that. Bryan set up. We have to work on that."It was a different lineup. Simon Davies came back and it was three different players in three different positions so under the circumstances it would have been fantastic but I can live with a draw because they’ve had three wins out of the past four away from home; they’re a well organised team."
West Brom manager Roy Hodgson was also happy with the match after his side secured a late equaliser thanks to Somen Tchoyi's strike, and admits a draw was the least his side deserved after controlling the match.
"I was really quite pleased with the performance," he said. "If you take away maybe the last five or six minutes where I thought we did our best to let them back into the game when really for large periods, I thought we were fully in control to be quite frank.
"When they did score it was the result of one or two little errors on our part, which let them back in. They took advantage and scored and I thought, oh dear me that could be harsh on us. Then you get back to 1-1 you think at least some justice has been done.
"But these things are sent to try you and further more I think it’s a point that this year we haven’t really been that lucky. Our 25 points is quite a poor return in terms of what the team has been able to do.
"Missing those three, four or five points that we possibly could have had affects the confidence because the result is so important.
"But it’s nice to come here and get a point. I was absolutely delighted with the way we played the game and I thought the reception I got from the crowd was fantastic, that also made it a very nice evening for me.
"It’s a happy ground for me and it’s great to know that the times we had here and greatly remembered and appreciated.
"Now it’s time of course, that the club moved on and they have and done extremely well in the last year and a half to become a lot more stable perhaps even than in those two or three years I was here.
"But it’s nice to know that the work you’ve done in the past is appreciated in the present."
The former Liverpool boss is also happy with his side's current form, but is wary they need to improve results at home if they are to establish a safe position in the league.
"[The away form] has been very good, but funnily enough it hasn’t changed a great deal. What you saw tonight has been pretty much what we’ve been like in most of our games.
"But where we’ve let ourselves down is we’ve conceded late goals and goals due to horrendous errors, which suddenly transforms draws into defeats or wins into draws, and it’s been those points lost there that have served us so badly.
"It would be easier in some ways if you were able to say ‘our form is good away from home, but poor at home’, but it’s not as simple as that.
"The actual way we’re playing is pretty much the same, but the type of mistakes that led to their opening goal are the things that have happened to us but cost us a point or more sometimes.
"But we do need to start getting results at home because it’s going to be a tough task if we’re going to get all our victories away from home to get us in a safe poisiton."
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
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