Martin Jol still hopes to hang on to Clint Dempsey despite seeing his 'new team' thump Norwich 5-0 in their Premier League opener.
Boss refuses to admit midfielder's pending exit is a formality
Fulham manager Martin Jol still hopes to hang on to contract rebel Clint Dempsey despite seeing his 'new team' thump Norwich 5-0 in their Premier League opener.
Dempsey has refused to play for the Cottagers as he bids to force a move away from the club, with Liverpool known to be interested in his services.
Jol described the situation as 'embarrassing' earlier in the week, but is optimistic the American will perform a U-turn and stay with the club.
"Hopefully, in the future, he can be involved in the team again," Jol told
Sky Sports following Fulham's emphatic win at Craven Cottage.
"Clint scored 17 league goals last season but he wasn't there today. It's not easy for us, it's not easy for the team but today they showed they can do the business.
"We were open about it - the other players have to stand up and give a bit more in their productivity and their goals," he added.
"We've always had goals in this team but, before, they never really showed it.
"Moussa Dembele is a very good player but would only score two or three goals on average, so he should stand up, for example."
Rout
Damien Duff broke the deadlock before a Mladen Petric brace either side of half-time put the hosts in charge.
Further goals from Alex Kacaniklic and Steve Sidwell, who netted a late penalty, confirmed Fulham's dominance.
Jol believes his new-look strike-force came good in the end, despite making a slow start to proceedings.
"It's a new team," claimed Jol, who fielded new signings Petric and Sascha Riether, while Hugo Rodallega made his debut from the bench.
"We've got new players up front and Bryan Ruiz came back from his injury and played in the hole.
"I don't think we started in the way we wanted to but after that slow start we picked up the pace, then we slowed it down again so it wasn't exactly what we wanted from the start."
