Slavisa Jokanovic admits Fulham owner Shahid Khan is unhappy with the club’s start to the Premier League season.
Cottagers boss Jokanovic met with Khan following Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth.
The loss stretched the west London side’s winless run to seven top-flight fixtures, including four successive defeats.
Fulham make the daunting trip to Manchester City in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup on Thursday and Jokanovic acknowledges that his team must improve.
“After the (Bournemouth) game we were talking and he asked me about the situation, about which way we are looking for solution,” the Serbian said of his meeting with Khan.
“He wasn’t satisfied, like me, and our supporters, but for another side this is a long process and the situation is in our hands to reach our target in the end of the season.
“We cannot give up, this is completely absurd after a few games in the Premier League. We must accept all the criticism because we need to be strong enough to understand that negative comments are part of football, we must be brave and push hard to find solution.
“I believe we are strong enough and have enough quality to change the situation, we cannot change it in three days or two games, we must be available to work for many months and trust we have enough power to get our targets.”
Fulham’s early-season struggles after promotion from the Championship follow a summer spending spree in excess of £100million.
The Cottagers have the worst defensive record in the top flight, with 15 of the 28 goals they have conceded coming in the last four games.
Jokanovic says his team are working on tightening up at the back.
“If you observe the situation we try change some things, we didn’t find a good answer but we know it’s not enough and we aren’t doing a good job, we must push forward, adapt ourselves and be more solid,” he said.
“We try to find solution in different ways, we need to be more calm and understand what is the best way for us to play football.
“We are not satisfied and we can do better job.”
Fulham will once again include teenage prospect Harvey Elliott in their cup squad.
The 15-year-old midfielder, who attends Coombe Boys’ School which backs on to the Cottagers’ training ground, became the youngest player in the club’s history when he made his debut as a substitute in the previous round at Millwall.
“He will come with us. He never travelled with the first team outside of London, we want to offer him some kind of experience,” said Jokanovic.
“During the day, we are going to see if (he will) have some opportunity in this kind of game or not.
“We believe in the future this will be a normal situation for him.”
Defender Joe Bryan will miss out with a hamstring injury, while midfielder Kevin McDonald is suspended following his red card at the weekend.
ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Ed Elliot, Press Association Sport');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'a7329b87-06f6-41f4-97b5-7dc282cc446a');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:uk');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Jokanovic admits Shahid Khan \u2018not satisfied\u2019 with Fulham form'});
