Fulham boss Martin Jol is relishing facing fellow Dutchman Robert Maaskant when his side take on Wisla Krakow in the Europa League.
Cottagers boss looking forward to meeting with fellow Dutch coach
Fulham boss Martin Jol is relishing facing fellow Dutchman Robert Maaskant when his side take on Wisla Krakow in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night.
The pair having come across one another before during their time coaching in the Eredivisie, which included a 6-0 win for Jol's Ajax side against Maaskant's NAC Breda during the 2009/10 season.
The most recent clash between the duo ended 1-1 in January 2010, and Jol was quick to praise his counterpart ahead of this evening's match.
Challenge
"I think Wisla is a good challenge for him," Jol said. "It is good for his experience because he is still a young coach [42], although he started when he was 26.
"He is one of the youngest coaches and a big prospect.
"He was champion last year so he is a very good manager.
"He was very young when he started coaching, probably the youngest ever in Dutch football.
"Even then he was pretty successful. They called him the crown prince of Dutch football.
"He is a very intelligent and talented guy."
Maaskant was pleased to see Jol at Wednesday night's pre-match press conference, but will be hoping to outsmart his countryman tonight.
Changes
"Of course, we know Fulham are a very good side," said Maaskant, whose side have lost their first two Group K matches.
"It has not been very easy to analyse Fulham because they have been changing the line-up many times over the last eight games.
"There are always five players that start but other than that we don't know - for example with [Mousa] Dembele because he had a little injury against Stoke.
"So we are not sure how they are going to play but we have to have our own plan."
