11:00am Friday 27th November 2009
By Marc Iles
GARY Megson has warned his top stars — it’s sink or swim time at Fulham.
The Wanderers boss was in defiant mood before tomorrow’s trip to Craven Cottage, a ground at which the club have never claimed a Premier League victory.
Pressure has been building since last week’s derby defeat to Blackburn Rovers left the Whites in the relegation zone. But Megson insists his squad have the necessary fighting instincts to pull out of trouble, and said there was no extra burden placed on his shoulders from within the camp.
“When you are in this position you can do one of two things — roll your sleeves up and fight, or put the white flag up,” he said.
“We’ll get out of this. It makes me laugh — and I don’t know whether it is because we are in it — but the furore that is created at Bolton in this position isn’t the same as the furore that is created at other football clubs when they are in it.
“It won’t be allowed to have an impact.” Ricardo Gardner is a doubt ahead of the game, having only returned to training yesterday after a calf strain. Jlloyd Samuel has also shrugged off a knock, and there could be a place for Tamir Cohen, who has been out with a groin strain.
Megson has played down comments made after Sunday’s defeat, in which he suggested that some of his fringe players were having a destabilising effect on the team’s fortunes.
“Maybe I regret saying it because that was going on when we had won four games out of six, about two months ago,” he said.
“It’s still the same, if people are not in the team and it’s not going right for them, they are always bound to be a little bit down. I maybe shouldn’t have highlighted it but, fair enough, I did, and we have to get on with it.
“It’s not a big issue. Every single football club in this country will have some players who aren’t particularly happy, including the huge ones. “You see it now with people at Liverpool moaning that they are not getting enough playing time. They are things you have to cope with.”
And Megson claims there is no divide in his dressing room. “There is no ‘they’, all the players are the same,” he said.
“It’s not a witch-hunt, we’re not trying to find out who is and who isn’t happy.
“Whether I reacted at the wrong time by saying that, I am not sure. There is no ‘they’, we are all together and have a first team squad of about 21.”
* Young Wanderers striker Danny Ward looks set to join League One side Swindon Town on loan.
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