Fulham Not Here For A Holiday

Hodgson's side face Gold Coast United on Wednesday  night in a pre-season friendly at Skilled Park, a game which is the start of what will be a long campaign for the Cottagers.

"This is more of a boot camp than holiday," joked the Fulham boss. "The game will be a test of how fit we are at this stage in our season.

"It's very, very early for us but we need to be fit early because of the match we've got coming up in the Europa League qualifiers on July 30."

Hodgson, who steered Fulham to seventh place in last season's English Premier League, said he expected a tight affair against Miron Bleiberg's men on Wednesday night as his squad begins to focus on the task at hand.

"We're here to do well, give a good account of ourselves and play some good football," he said. "Hopefully everyone who comes along will be entertained.

"I've never seen an A-League live match but I do understand that they are a very proactive league and we're expecting a very tough game.

"I think they (United) will be well organized, hard working with some good players and I think it's an ideal test for us, a test which comes a bit early because in the traditional pre-season in England you start off with two or three fairly easy games and then you build up to the teams like the teams we are going to play in Australia."

Striker Andrew Johnson, a former team-mate of Socceroo star Tim Cahill during his Everton days, said he expects a tough encounter on Wednesday night, citing match fitness as a key factor for Fulham, who only returned to duty last week.

He said: "It's going to be difficult for us. We trained on Tuesday and Wednesday then flew out here on Thursday. I've never flown for 24 hours before and it takes a bit of time to acclimatise, so it's going to be a tough game.

"We need games at the moment so it's good for us to get out there and get some sharpness against the teams in Australia."

Asked if he knew much about the Hyundai A-League, the Fulham hit-man revealed another former Aussie team-mate, Tony Popovic, had filled him in on the progress of the game down under.

"I've got some friends out here and I still speak with Tony Popovic, who I know from my days at Crystal Palace, and obviously Schwarz and Timmy Cahill from Everton, so I know the league is growing, which is important for you guys out here," he said.

"We all want football to grow across the world so it's good that Australia has a good competition now. The league is obviously growing and I know there are some good players over here."