By Fulham defender John Arne Riise has said that he is quite confident that Fulham will be making it past the group stages of the Europa League.
Even though many consider the Europa League to be a major distraction, John Arne Riise begs to differ because he thinks that the prospect of playing in the final of the prestigious European competition is simply too good to pass away. Previously, the likes of Harry Redknapp and many other English managers have criticised the Europa League competition saying that there are just too many games one has to play before getting into the final. The number of games are so huge that it would be totally distracting them from their main objective – domestic success.
Fulham have a real chance of making it into the draw for the next round should they achieve a win against their opponents Odense. Wisla Krakow do have the opportunity to capitalise on the mistakes Fulham may make in the match, as they are the second best placed team in the group to qualify for the next round. Fulham won their first match against Odense 2-0 and they will be feeling extremely confident about the result. Even though they defeated Liverpool recently at home, they suffered a confidence denting 2-0 loss at the hands of Swansea on Sunday.
“I think every competition and every game is important. The Europa League is going to be interesting now after the Champions League last week, with both Manchester teams now in and Valencia and stuff. But now I’m focusing on the game on Wednesday and after that game, we’ll see how it goes and focus on Bolton on Saturday,” Riise said. The rift between manager Martin Jol and striker Bobby Zamora seems to be affecting the squad.