Jol in good spirits despite Fulham woe

Fulham are currently 17th in the table, level on both points and goal difference with Norwich who occupy the third relegation place.

The west London club have a vital fixture against Crystal Palace on Monday but Jol is not concerned by where the club find themselves at the moment nor by any threat to his job.

He said: "I'm in a good position. We are like other clubs. We've got enough points not to worry and of course like other teams you need results and hopefully we'll get some in the next couple of weeks."

The club's owner Shahid Khan will be in London at the end of the month with his NFL team Jacksonville Jaguars, but Jol admits he has not spoken with him about their lack of success, and is not looking for assurances over his job.

"You shouldn't exaggerate. All of the owners, even Mr Al Fayed wasn't on the phone every week or every fortnight," he said.

"The Jaguars will play here in a couple of weeks and I'm invited to go there in his box. I'll see him then."

Fulham's miserable run ended with a much-needed 1-0 victory over Stoke at Craven Cottage before the international break, and ordinarily they would be expected to take all three points from Palace on Monday.

But Jol disagrees the result is so clear.

"Even when I go to Brentford for an FA Cup game it could be difficult," he said.

"In England it's different you know, in Germany if you go to a lower league team, or in Holland, nine out of 10 games you will win easily, but here in England it's a different style, different approach, different attitude.

"It's the same all over. If you score goals you have to open up, you must pressurise them to force them to make mistakes, especially the smaller teams and of course Palace are probably one of the smaller teams.

"They came up from a lower league and they want to stay in the Premier League, maybe they haven't got the resources from like Liverpool or Manchester United, but I think they did well.

"I would not underestimate one team in the Premier League."

Jol also joined the debate over England manager Roy Hodgson's joke at half-time of the Poland game that has drawn criticism from anti-racism campaigners.

He dismissed it as part of club culture, and not without a touch of irony, joked: "If the boys would tell you all the stories I would tell them, then I would be in big trouble you know."

Jol believes the Premier League is the most tolerant football league in the world, claiming incidents of racism are much more prevalent in other countries.

"I think we live almost in a perfect world here in England.

"If you go abroad it's a big problem, over here we have good and realistic people here and we try to help each other.

"Of course people will try to make stories out of that kind of thing. But if you know Roy Hodgson, if you know the reaction of the players, I think there's nothing in this little incident."

Source: PA

Source: PA