The Fulham manager Martin Jol has said that he will not be blaming the goalkeeper David Stockdale for the 2-1 defeat suffered by Fulham against Swansea during the weekend. After a great start to the new season, Fulham have been struggling in the last few weeks.
As a result, they have slipped out of the top half of the table and they are currently closer to the relegation zone. The 2-1 defeat against Swansea has left the team with just one victory in the last 12 matches. This has increased the pressure on the manager, who was instrumental in bringing Dimitar Berbatov to the club.
David Stockdale did not have a great game after he made mistakes that led to the two goals scored by Swansea, but the manager refused to blame him for the defeat. He has said that it is normal that players make mistakes and he does not criticise them. He has also praised David Stockdale by saying that he is a very good goalkeeper, who just happened not to have a great Christmas. Jol has also said that both goals scored by Swansea were extremely simple, which could have been prevented easily. The defeat has now left the club in the 14th position.
“I can’t blame 90% of my players. They gave everything, they did everything. The only one who didn’t have the best Christmas Day was my goalkeeper and he’s a very good goalkeeper. I won’t blame him but you can see that we gave them the two goals – simple. I feel that the first goal we presented to them and the second goal was almost a Christmas gift,” said the Fulham manager, whose team and just four points clear of the relegation zone. They will face highflying West Brom, who are in the seventh position, next weekend.