Fulham’s Brede Hangeland: Martin Jol has made a positive start

Fulham centre-back Brede Hangeland believes Martin Jol has already made a positive impression on the club’s training ground.

Jol joined the Cottagers following the shock resignation of Mark Hughes earlier this month, after the Welshman admitted he wanted to further his career.

The Dutchman boasts Premier League experience with Tottenham but has since managed at Hamburg in Germany and at Dutch giants Ajax.

Fulham were awarded a spot in Europa League qualifying after finishing top of the Fair Play league last year and face NSI Runavik from the Faroe Islands.

Hangeland, who says he has been impressed by Jol despite having only started pre-season training a week ago, is refusing to look past their first match.

“Obviously this game comes a long time before the start of the season,” he told the club’s official website.

“But we’ll have to approach this game as professionally as we would any game. We all know where it can end so we just want to get through.”

On his new manager he added: “Training’s been good, we looked forward to meeting the new manager and his staff so it’s all positive.
 
“The manager has made a really positive impression, we’ve done lots of work with the ball and obviously the fitness people have done their work so we’re all looking forward to the first game.

“We’re hoping for a smooth transition, obviously when a new manager comes in there’ll be some adjustments but we’re hoping to keep moving forward as a club and to get stronger as a team. I see no reason why that shouldn’t happen this year.

“The players know each other really well now, we know our strengths and weaknesses. The new manager is also very much aware of how we have played and how we can improve even more.”