Hodgson underlines Zamora importance

Roy Hodgson feels Bobby Zamora is just as important to Fulham as Wayne Rooney is for Manchester United or Didier Drogba to Chelsea. The 29-year-old - whose 19 goals have propelled him into contention for England's World Cup squad - hobbled out of the Europa League semi-final first leg in Germany after aggravating an Achilles problem and missed the trip to Everton.Zamora has not trained with the rest of the squad, instead continuing his fitness work with the Fulham medical team.Hodgson admits it will be touch and go whether the striker is available for Thursday's second leg but insists Fulham have the personnel to provide effective cover."When Wayne Rooney doesn't play for Manchester United, when Steven Gerrard doesn't play for Liverpool, Didier Drogba doesn't play for Chelsea, or when Robin van Persie is out for a long time at the Arsenal, all the headlines are about these people - and those clubs have got riches galore if you compare to us," Hodgson reflected."I can't say that it doesn't matter, that players of Zamora's quality and his importance to the team this year, don't matter, because that would be under-valuing the contributions he has made, which have been a fantastic contribution."If this does not work out, he certainly will be absolutely devastated, to have been a major influence in us getting so far, and then not be able to take part in the final stage."Hodgson added: "We will be happy if Bobby can play, but if he can't we will accept that as part and parcel of football, injuries occur."We know we have other players in the team who can keep our play going as we saw at Everton on Sunday."The Fulham boss, however, will take no gambles."The decision will be made between myself, the medical team and Bobby himself," said Hodgson."He is desperate to play, no question of that, he has played in all the games."He wants to play to help his team-mates and the club do well."But before I make any decision I would want to be sure that the medical staff are telling me if he plays there is no danger, and there is a good chance he will get through the game."I would want to hear from him 'Don't worry I shall be okay, I might not be 100%, but I'm pretty close', then I will make a decision."Hodgson feels Zamora could eventually need minor surgery to correct the problem ahead of the start of the 2010/2011 campaign."I would think if it does not clear up in the coming days, then the chances are we would choose to have a minor operation to clear up the area, around the tendon, which would help him next season," said the Fulham boss."It will clear up anyway, when you are not out running every day, things do get better - but unless you get to the root of the problem, there is always the risk that, when you start again, sooner or later, the problem is going to make itself known."Clint Dempsey - who scored the winning goal against Juventus at Craven Cottage in the second knockout round - would be the most likely to come in should Zamora not be fit, while Scandinavians David Elm and Erik Nevland also provide other options.Captain Danny Murphy has played in nearly all of Fulham's 17 European ties - a journey which began back in July against Lithuanians FK Vetra and has taken in memorable victories over favourites Shakhtar Donetsk and then Italian giants Juventus.The 33-year-old former Liverpool midfielder believes his squad have one more Herculean effort to reach the final back at HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg next month."Each time we drew big teams, people thought we were the underdog and everyone thought it would be the end of the road - but we kept jumping over the hurdles," Murphy said."If we can do that one more time and get to the final it will be brilliant because not so many years ago this club was in the lower leagues."It was only two seasons ago we needed to win on the last day of the season to stay up, so it has been a fairytale in many ways and the manager deserves credit for that."

Source: Team_Talk