BOBBY ZAMORA has revealed he and his team-mates are concerned Roy Hodgson’s success in guiding Fulham to the Europa League semi-finals may cause the manager to be poached this summer.
Fulham beat Wolfsburg 1-0 on Thursday courtesy of Zamora’s goal after 22 seconds, which took the team through 3-1 on aggregate to play Hamburg in a fortnight.
Tomorrow’s visit to Liverpool will be Fulham’s 55th game of a standout season, which may yet finish with Hodgson leading his team out against Rafael Benitez’s men in May’s Europa League final.
Hodgson, who lost the 1997 Uefa Cup final (the Europa League’s previous incarnation) to Schalke on penalties when in charge of Internazionale, has never managed a major club on these shores. But with Benitez’s future at Liverpool still unclear, Hodgson’s continuing success could even make him a target for tomorrow’s opponents should they require a replacement.
Zamora said: “A lot of other clubs are looking at him and rightly so. He’s a great leader, everyone has seen it, (and) an excellent manager. He has done a great job. He has made us far more organised, everybody knows their jobs and we’re so well drilled. You only have to look at the way we line up now on the pitch to see the impact he has had on us.
“Sometimes we are sick of it in training but he leaves us in no doubt about what he wants from us and he gets results.”
Zamora contribution to Fulham’s success has been 19 goals (Thursday’s winner was his eighth in Europe) plus an all-round game which includes the ability to play as a target man who can link play. His form has caused speculation that Fabio Capello may give him a first England call-up ahead of the summer’s World Cup, and Zamora was again asked if there was any more he could do to impress the Italian. He said: “You will have to ask Mr Capello that.”
Zamora, who will wait to see how his achilles problem reacts to playing against Wolfsburg before seeing if he can face Liverpool, may also interest clubs this summer, according to Danny Murphy, the Fulham captain. “I’d be surprised if there aren’t clubs coming in for him this summer,” the midfielder said. “The way he’s playing will have shown a few people his strengths and his qualities, especially in the European campaign. He’s scored a hell of a lot of goals in the competition.
“Fulham can’t compete with a club like Manchester City (for example) so you have to be realistic but Bobby is an important part of the team and I think it’s important that we keep all our best players at the club. Of course the flip side of that is if a so-called bigger or more successful club than Fulham come in for him then you can’t stand in his way but I think that Bobby wants to stay.”
Guardian Service
