Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic insists he cannot complain at his players despite their 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on the opening day of the Premier League campaign.
The Cottagers made a bright start on home soil and were left disappointed when Palace left-back Jeffrey Schlupp converted a fine counter-attacking move.
Aleksandar Mitrovic was denied on numerous occasions by Palace keeper Wayne Hennessey and Roy Hodgson’s men eventually sealed the win in the second half.
Ivory Coast international Wilfried Zaha found the back of the net with 11 minutes to go as Fulham lost their first top-flight game for four years.
Jokanovic started seven new players in the defeat and he admits they cannot be criticised after giving their all.
“Really, I cannot criticise my players because they put everything into this moment that they can offer with some players only training for one day with the team,” he told Sky Sports.
“We must adapt ourselves and work towards our goals together and we trust that we can play better football than we did today. “It was a shame, we wanted to start this competition with a positive result.
We showed some positive things, obviously we need to improve many things and we are disappointed after this result.
“But we must keep going, keep working and we know we can play better football than we played today.”
Fulham now face a difficult trip to Tottenham on August 18 and they are 10.00 to win. Spurs, who won 2-1 at Newcastle in their opener, are as short as 1.25, while the draw is 6.00.
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