Roy Hodgson is pleased he has assembled a well-balanced, small squad at Fulham and insists it's one he believes in.When he arrived there were more than 30 senior players on the Fulham staff but that has now been cut down to 23 after a summer of extensive rebuilding.
Hodgson is pleased with the players he now has at his disposal and is confident they can compete in the top flight.
He said: "I think what I'm most happy about is that we've changed the squad around and we've got a small squad now, a squad that we really believe in and is well-balanced.
"When I came in January we really had far too many players and lots of them just trebling or quadrupling up for positions, never getting a game and obviously costing the club a lot of money, but not playing any football."
Hodgson believes the smaller squad obviously gives some talented youngsters the chance to stake a claim for a place in the side.
"Whereas now, with a squad of only 23 players, of which three are goalkeepers, it will give the younger players, like (Robert) Milsom and (Wayne) Brown, a chance to push forward and show what they can do in the first-team squad," he added.
"It will give the players on the fringes a greater chance of playing, and although the squad is at the limit in terms of size, at least it's full of the right type of players that we want to be at the club and not just players that one has inherited and that are here really by default rather than anything else."
