Fulham manager Jean Tigana has held a meeting at the club's training
ground and urged the senior professionals in the squad to guide the Cottagers
to Premiership safety.
A disastrous run of eight Premiership games without a win - including
seven defeats - has left Tigana's side teetering uneasily three points
above the relegation places.
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Fulham
Manager Jean Tigana has a meeting with the senior squad members
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And the downturn in form has prompted Tigana to rally his experienced players
ahead of Monday night's Premiership Plus game at Champions League-chasing
Newcastle.
Fulham skipper Andy Melville revealed that the likes of himself, John
Collins, Frenchman Alain Goma and Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar realise
they must stand up and be counted during the relegation run-in.
"The manager had a meeting with us on the training ground yesterday
and said it's up to people like myself to take the lead into games. So
now it's up to the experienced lads to stand up and be counted.
"It was the first time we'd talked about relegation, so hopefully
the lads have taken it on board and will be as positive as possible in
our last five games.
"We've got one point from eight games - and we'd call a meeting
about that whenever we had that run. Now there's five games to go and
we need points as soon as possible. I think we need two wins from five
games to be safe.
"You've got to be anxious because we're in a fight. But if we need
to work a bit harder when we don't have the ball and then I'm sure we'll
be okay."