Club or Country?

Roy Hodgson has once again brought up the hot topic of club v country. He says his preparations for the key match against Derby has been ruined with call ups for international friendlies.

The Fulham boss said: "We are a little unhappy that 13 out of the 15 players that went away have played 90 minutes and some other clubs seem to have got away with their players being substitutes at half-time. Six or seven of those players are not back in time for this afternoon's training session. So our preparations for this week's game are the worst they have been since I came to the club because we will only have Friday morning to work with the team before we travel to Derby."

Adding, about the game: "Victory is the result we want. They are the bottom club and a few points behind us. But we are both in a very difficult situation. Both are showing we are not that easy to beat but if we want to get rid of this away record we have, then it has got to be done on the field of play."

He also says that Fulham obviously need more points and have to take them off the teams around us in the scrap at the bottom of the league. "The message to the players has never changed. It has always been the same, until we are mathematically out of the race we are very much in it."

Before warning, "We have to believe we are good enough to do it and then show we are good enough to do it. This game is every bit as tough as it was to have beaten Newcastle last week. We were not good enough to do that. I hope we play better this week and we will be good enough. I don't subscribe to the theory they are bottom of the league and therefore we should easily win the game. I don't subscribe to that view at all."