Martin Jol praised the all-round performance of Dimitar Berbatov after the Bulgarian netted twice on his home debut for Fulham.
Fulham boss delighted with Bulgarian's display against West Brom
Martin Jol praised the all-round performance of Dimitar Berbatov after the Bulgarian netted twice on his home debut for Fulham in a 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.
Berbatov opened the scoring with a fine finish just after the half-hour mark, before Fulham's task became easier with the sending-off of Peter Odemwingie.
It was 2-0 on the stroke of half-time when Berbatov tucked away a penalty following a foul by Billy Jones on Alex Kacaniklic, and Steve Sidwell added a third in the 89th minute.
Jol believes Berbatov has shown throughout his career that he is a force to be reckoned with, but it was his willingness to accept responsibility and work hard for the team that most impressed the manager.
"It is almost a habit because we had the same with (Pavel) Pogrebnyak last season and Mladen Petric in the first game against Norwich," Jol told
Sky Sports.
"I think he was different than I have seen him before. He was all over the pitch, he was heading balls away from his own goal, he was in midfield, he was winning balls, he was up front.
"He had to play in the hole and be the sort of anchor man and he did that, so I was ever so pleased because we did not have a No.10."
Dominated
Asked if Berbatov was unplayable when he is in the mood, Jol replied: "I don't know about unplayable but when I had him at Spurs he was a top striker, when he was at Leverkusen he was a top striker and I think he did ever so well for Man United.
"He was their top scorer all the time so hopefully he can do the same here."
Jol was pleased with the way Fulham started the match but expressed disappointment with their second-half performance after West Brom battled hard with ten men.
"That was the only criticism. We were two goals up and should have taken the game away from them, but we didn't do that," he explained.
"We should have scored the third goal earlier, but I thought we dominated the game even before the sending-off."
