Hodgson admits Fulham face tough challenge
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Your support makes all the difference.Fulham manager Roy Hodgson admits his side face an uphill struggle to stay in the Europa League after last night's defeat at Juventus, but he is not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
Alberto Zaccheroni's side looked a class apart from Fulham as they dominated last night's third round first leg clash at the Stadio Olimpico di Turin, with Nicola Legrottaglie, Jonathan Zebina and David Trezeguet all finding the net in a 3-1 win.
Dickson Etuhu's deflected strike in the 37th minute gave the Cottagers a vital away goal but, in truth, Hodgson's side will have to up their game significantly to progress against a classy Juve side.
Hodgson admits Trezeguet's 47th minute winner has put the Bianconeri firmly in the driving seat but he insists his side's European dream is still alive.
"It's not impossible. We're not out of it for sure," said Hodgson.
"There's no doubt we weren't favourites before tonight's game and we are even less favourites at 1-3 for the second leg but it will be an exciting second leg for us and for our public.
"I've certainly seen stranger things happen in my career so the players, I'm sure, will be looking forward to trying to turn the game around and I am sure that they will be doing their very best to do that."
The attacking trio of Trezeguet, Diego and Antonio Candreva proved to be a constant menace to Fulham, who failed to pass the ball around with their usual confidence.
Aside from a brief five-minute spell in the first half, Fulham rarely posed a threat to Alex Manninger's goal, and Hodgson admits the Cottagers lacked the quality that the Serie A side have in abundance.
"We showed for large parts of the game we were more than capable of matching them, but they have quality," the former Inter Milan boss said.
"That was most evident of all in the fact that from very few possibilities, they have managed to put three in the back of the net.
"We had more situations around their goal than they had but they scored three and that's due to the quality players that they have. When the chances arose they took them."
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