Source: Daily_Mail
Fulham revelling early Europa League start
Fulham defender Aaron Hughes insists the Europa League will not upset the Cottagers' pre-season preparations and that every game is being approached as if it was against Manchester United.[LNB]The west Londoners secured safe passage to the third qualifying round with a dominant 4-0 victory over Northern Irish part-timers Crusaders, making it 7-1 on aggregate over the two legs.[LNB]The match was Fulham's fourth competitive match of the season, having started their European campaign against Faroese minnows NSI Runavik on June 30.[LNB] Off and running: Fulham celebrate opening the scoring against Crusaders at Craven Cottage[LNB]But despite the early start, Hughes has quashed concerns that it could adversely affect their preparations for the Barclays Premier League.[LNB]'It hasn't been too difficult to adapt to the early start,' he said. 'We've tried not upset our pre-season, if you like.[LNB]'The games are slightly different because they are competitive but we're still working through things in training with the new season in mind.[LNB]'Obviously we maybe have to tweak one or two things in the build-up to competitive games, but I think once we knew we were coming back early it was definite then.[LNB]'You get your head round it and you carry on'[LNB] Early start: Fulham's Andrew Johnson helped his side progress in the Europa League[LNB]Andrew Johnson, Damien Duff, Bobby Zamora and Steve Sidwell netted in the second leg at Craven Cottage to set up a tie with RNK Split of Croatia.[LNB]Hughes admits that he knows little about next week's opponents but promises that the Whites will not take their trip to the Adriatic coast lightly.[LNB]'We go where we have to go,' he said. 'We take each game as it comes, wherever that may be.[LNB]'We're still in the competition and we'll enjoy it as much as we can for as long as we're still in it.[LNB]'We will do exactly the same as we would do if we were going to play Manchester United.[LNB] New boy: John Arne Riise made his Fulham debut against Crusaders[LNB]'We will have a couple of guys maybe go out and watch a couple of their games and bring reports back.[LNB]'Leading up to the game, we will watch a couple of DVDs, have a little chat about certain things.[LNB]'Maybe certain things that we feel they're dangerous at and certain areas where we feel we can hurt them.[LNB]'It will be no different to preparations for a Premier League game really so we will know enough about them come kick off.'[LNB]CzechRepublic Under-21 international Marcel Gecov could make his Fulham debut in Croatia next week after completing his move from Slovan Liberecthis week.[LNB]Fellow new boy John Arne Riise made his first appearance for Fulham last night and Hughes believes the former Liverpool man is settling in well already.[LNB]'He is a very, very good acquisition,' he said. 'It is almost as if he has been here for two years.[LNB]'It hasn't been a massive thing in the changing room, he just kind of slipped in quietly straight away.[LNB]'He has obviously got his brother (Bjorn Helge) and Brede [Hangeland] here already and he knows Danny from Liverpool.[LNB]'He has integrated straight away but you find that with any of the new players that come to this club.[LNB]'We've got a good bunch of lads here and people seem to fit in straight away.'[LNB] CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE FANTASY FOOTBALL GAMEFulham 4 Crusaders 0: Hot-shot Johnson set for new deal as Jol's men cruise to win Fulham lodge appeal to Supreme Court over Richards' role in Crouch move to SpursRiise's taken a decade to find Cottage after snubbing Fulham to join Liverpool All the latest Fulham news, features and opinion [LNB]
