Jol sings Zamora's praises

Jol sings Zamora's praises

Published Dec. 1, 2011 7:15 a.m. ET

The 30-year-old has flourished at Craven Cottage since joining from West Ham in 2008, leading to several call-ups to the England team. Zamora started for Fabio Capello's side against Sweden earlier this month and Fulham boss Jol believes the London-born striker will go to Poland and Ukraine next summer. However, the Dutchman rejected the notion that Zamora could struggle with fatigue due to Premier League and Europa League exertions. "We feel we have a situation where we have players that can replace him if it is getting a problem," said Jol, whose side travel to face FC Twente on Thursday evening. "I think he has a good rhythm now and if there is a physical problem, he will tell me. We will make an assessment and I feel Bobby is a typical number nine for us. "He is different playing for England and, while you can always pick up an injury, I feel he has a great chance of going to the European Championships. "Bobby is a target man and holds up the ball. He does that very well and is probably the best in England or one of the best. "The only thing you hope for is by the end of the season he gets an average of 10 or 12 goals and I am 100 per cent certain [he will]. "Clint [Dempsey] did that before as a wide player, scoring 13 goals in the league." Zamora impressed in Saturday's 1-1 draw against Arsenal, although quotes from Jol after the match suggested he needs to become more prolific. Asked about the comments, the Cottagers manager said: "No, I said there are more goals in us, [from] Clint Dempsey, Andrew Johnson, Bobby Zamora, Mousa Dembele and Bryan Ruiz. "I think there are more goals in us but it is only about scoring once. I am 100% certain we will do that and defensively we are good. In the last 10 games away from home we conceded six. "In the last five in the league, we conceded three so we are pretty organised and we create chances, as you saw against Arsenal. "Against Sunderland and against Wigan - when we won 2-0 - we were very close. "The thing is, like we did against Wigan, we had six or seven attempts and we scored two. "Against Spurs we had 28 attempts and only scored an own goal so it is only a matter of confidence and getting it right, like we did against QPR. "We scored six and it all came together so there are goals in us." Jol will be hoping everything falls into place as Fulham look to progress to the Europa League knockout stages. The west Londoners lie second in Group K behind Twente, but know that victory in Holland will seal their progression to the last 32. "I feel that they will probably think about changing the line-up but not in the way we do in England," Jol said of the side he played for between 1979 and 1982. "There could be two, three or four other players, but they are at home so have to show what they are capable of. "Twente have developed into a very good club. When I was here they were getting [crowds of] 10,000 and now they are getting over 20,000 all the time. "It is getting bigger and bigger so getting results goes with that responsibility. "They have showed that over the past three or four years."

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