Hodgson - Pressure Telling On Players

Last updated : 14 November 2008 By Sam
Last weekend's home win against Newcastle saw Fulham rise to tenth in the table but even so they are only threee points ahead of bottom placed side West Bromwich Albion.

"Our task is to keep the players focussed on one thing and one thing only," Hodgson told the club's official website ahead of the London derby against in-form Spurs this weekend.

"That is the game they've got to play against the opposition and try to put out of their minds the league position.

"Individually we can still get more out of our players, but we'll probably only really start to do that when the pressure comes off.

"Unfortunately, you see it all the time at the moment, because players are being constantly reminded of the perilous situation they find themselves in and it affects the quality of their performance.

"We're just going to have to accept that after every game we're either going to be told by the media to get our passports ready and stamped for Europe, or we're going to be relegated and we better get ready for the Championship."