Fulham FC

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Coleman hails his defence

17 Oct 2006 - 08:49:55

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Fulham manager Chris Coleman praised his defence as the Cottagers moved into the top half of the Premiership table after securing a 2-1 victory against rock-bottom Charlton Athletic on Monday.

Only Portsmouth and Sunderland conceded more goals than Coleman's side last term and the Welshman is pleased with the improvement.

"I don't want to put any pressure on the defence but we are better this year and that has a lot to do with Ian Pearce being fit and Zat Knight being back to his best," he said.

"We are now strong through the centre, we've not had that for a while for some reason but those two boys have been superb.

"Franck Queudrue got done by Dennis Rommedahl in the first half but had a decent second half and Liam Rosenior, who had his first full year last year, is a year older and wiser. We just look stronger at the back."

Claus Jensen came off the substitutes' bench to create the first goal before adding a second as Fulham won their third Premiership game of the season and Coleman added: "Tonight it was a hard decision whether to bring Claus on.

"I felt Charlton were bossing the game for long periods and we weren't getting close to them so I wanted an extra man on them in the middle of the pitch, especially when they had two players on the wing.

"I could have kept Boupa Diop and Michael Brown in midfield as they were going well but I decided to get Claus in there and get on the ball.

"That decision could have backfired but they were bossing the game from the start. We weren't asking them enough questions and their goalkeeper didn't have too much to do.

"Offensively our passing and attacking weren't good enough, and they were playing good stuff and we needed to stop them doing that."