Coleman ready for ‘dogfight’ after dismal defeat by Blues

MANAGER Chris Coleman understood why Fulham fans booed him off and called for his dismissal after the 3-1 defeat by Manchester City left the Cottagers just four points clear of the Premiership relegation zone.

Goals from Joey Barton, DaMarcus Beasley and Darius Vassell did the damage as City all but ensured their top-flight status for next season, with Carlos Bocanegra scoring what proved to be a consolation for the Londoners.

Coleman insisted he would not “put the boot in” to his players even though he warned: “With just five games to go we are certainly not safe yet and it is no good us feeling sorry for ourselves.

“I don’t think I have seen the players like this before. They are devastated, gutted. They are only human and so are the supporters. They haven’t seen us win here since Newcastle (February 3) and they are all frustrated.

“But we need two more wins to be safe and from now on in we cannot afford to come off the pitch without getting a result.

“When you are in a dogfight you have to fight like dogs. If it is a gunfight you can’t afford to go in with just a knife. It is only results that are important now and it doesn’t matter how we get them. I will take being booed for being boring or whatever but we know we have good players. Some of them were missing today and now they have got to become scrappers as well.”

While Fulham still have to play Reading, Blackburn, Arsenal, Liverpool and Middlesbrough before the end of the season, City boss Pearce challenged his team, who have won five of their last seven away games yet struggled at home, to stay unbeaten for the rest of their run-in.

He said: “We need to finish the season strongly and I want the players to ask themselves if they can improve. You are only as good as your last game as far as I am concerned and I’ll be getting into the players again this week.

“I think we deserved to win and it took a lot of spirit. Don’t take this wrong but I can’t have sympathy for ‘Cookie’ Coleman.

“We are in a competitive business and everyone is desperate to win games down at the bottom. But I think the way managers are being treated, the phone-in syndrome, is unbelievable.

“I don’t see any danger of relegation for Fulham. When you see the interaction between the manager and players you know the spirit they have.”

FULHAM: Niemi, Volz, Christanval, Bocanegra, Rosenior, Routledge (Dempsey 73), Smertin (Radzinski 55), Brown, Davies, McBride, Helguson (Montella 58).

MAN CITY: Isaksson, Onuoha, Distin, Dunne, Ball, Jihai, Johnson, Barton, Beasley (Sinclair 81), Vassell (Samaras 85), Mpenza.

Referee: S Bennett (Kent).