Roy Hodgson has described Fulham's injury crisis as the worst in his 34 years of management.
Fulham boss believes fate is conspiring against health of players
Roy Hodgson has described Fulham's injury crisis as the worst in his 34 years of management.
The Cottagers' season has been decimated by injuries and the Europa League challengers had Zoltan Gera added to the lengthy list of casualties on Monday after the midfielder picked up a knee injury in training.
Gera becomes the sixth first team player to endure the Craven Cottage treatment table and joins Andy Johnson, Clint Dempsey, John Pantsil, Simon Davies and Paul Konchesky on the sidelines.
But Hodgson remains positive ahead of Wednesday's home clash with Portsmouth, helped largely by the transfer deadline additions of Nicky Shorey and Stefano Okaka who arrive until the end of the season from Aston Villa and Roma respectively.
Disappointed
"The injury front is very bad. As bad as I have ever experienced in football," admitted the Fulham boss, who is also waiting for Nigerian defensive midfielder Dickson Etuhu to come back from Angola.
"I've got six of our first team out injured and one who has not returned yet from the African Nations Cup.
"To lose seven players from the team which played last year is always going to take some time dealing with.
"Fortunately, we have had some players come in on loan - Nicky Shorey and Stefano Okaka - which has allowed me to plug some gaps.
"But I am very disappointed. Simon Davies, who I hoped would recover for the game and Zoltan Gera has hurt himself in training.
"To lose a further two in our current situation - it seems we are now paying for the really good form we had last season with injuries."
Mistakes
Fulham are looking to end an unwelcome run of five straight Premier League defeats against the division's bottom club.
Hodgson added: "We have to stop the rot by winning but we know it will not be easy.
"Portsmouth are a better team than their league position shows and we saw that when they played Manchester City on Sunday.
"You don't stop the rot by talking about it, you do it by playing and winning. We need that win.
"We have not been playing that badly, but we have made mistakes and we have been punished by those mistakes and at the other end we have not scored enough goals.
"That is what we have been guilty of, because in terms of football play over the 90 minutes, we have not been that bad at all.
"The morale and spirit is good but confidence takes a hit when you are not winning. We have to accept that situation because we want to win and we need to win."
