Fulham boss disappointed by Euro refs

Hodgson insists he agrees with Everton boss David Moyes, who is questioning the value of playing in the Europa League.

“At the moment, I would agree with David Moyes entirely,” he said. “I don’t believe Fulham have been able to play on a level playing field.

“The only reason I am at that point is because of the way we have been treated in the Europa League.

“We play at home against Amkar Perm, and I witness one of the worst challenges I have ever seen in football – and the referee decides to punish it with a yellow card.

“In the next match against Basle, [Andy] Johnson is pulled down from behind in the penalty box – and the referee decides to give neither a penalty nor a card to the player.

“Then we play against Rome at home and have a player sent off when he is clearly not the last man and actually doesn’t foul him anyway.

“Finally we go to Rome and have two players sent off – one of which is the most laughable decision I have come across in many, many years of football.

“When I weigh all those things up I’m very, very disappointed because we have taken the Europa League very seriously and wanted to play well.”