JOAO Palhinha thinks it is ideal Fulham have just three days until their next game at Bournemouth after today’s surprise 2-0 home defeat to Burnley.
The Cottagers have enjoyed some positive results recently and booked their place in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday with a memorable penalties victory at Everton.
But they were beaten at Craven Cottage today in a game against a side many would have expected them to beat comfortably after second-half goals from Wilson Odobert and Sander Berge sealed victory for the Clarets.
Palhinha, however, thinks it is ideal Fulham can attempt to quickly put the result behind them on the south coast against the Cherries on Boxing Day.
“Of course, it is true,” the midfielder told FFC TV when asked if it was wrong to assume Burnley at home was an easy fixture.
“We knew that before the match.
“It is not because of the ranking of Burnley in the Premier League.
“We know that all games are tough, but we want to look for the next one against Bournemouth away.
“It will be a really tough game as well and we need to give a good answer after this match. It will be a tough game, a competitive game – like all of what we have been doing.
“We know that they are in a good moment. I think we are also in a good moment.
“It is not because of this loss that we had today that we will lose everything that we are building here. This is the most important thing.
“We know our value and we know what we can reach.”
The Portuguese ace is also confident Fulham have what it takes to return to winning ways on Tuesday.
“Yes, of course,” said Palhinha. We have the value, so this is the most important thing.
“We need to give a step (forward) again together and it is on Boxing Day.
“The good thing when you lose (at Christmas), you don’t have too many days to be thinking about what happened today.
“It is two or three days that we have to rest and start again.”
Fulham had the better chances in the opening period against Burnley but were made to pay after being unable to make it count, according to Palhinha.
He said: “Unfortunately we didn’t win. Some days are like that.
“Unfortunately we have, I think especially in the first-half, control of the game completely.
“We created the most chances in the game but unfortunately we didn’t score.
“You know that if you don’t score in the Premier League in these kind of matches you are able to suffer and that is what happened.
“After the first goal we conceded it was tough to start again.
“Like the gaffer said, we started to lose some important things in our game that we need to look for in the next one.”
