Slavisa Jokanovic has challenged his players to "defend the Fulham crest" and use it as motivation after they crashed out of the Carabao Cup to Bristol Rovers.
The manager made eleven changes to the side that lost 1-0 the Sheffield Wednesday on the weekend, with Marcus Bettinelli returning in goal, while there was a debut for on-loan Liverpool man Sheyi Ojo.
Ellis Harrison's 13th minute goal was enough for the League One side to knock out their Championship opponents, and Jokanovic has said he knows his players can do better and must push to achieve that level in their next game against Ipswich.
He said: “The players must defend the Fulham crest - this is enough motivation for them.
“We haven’t started in the way we wanted, and in front of us is a chance for us to show something different and find a better level, and do everything to try and enjoy a first victory.
“We can work hard and improve our level. We know we are not at our best level and we must push hard to be closer to our best level.
“We know we can do better, and we must push harder still to do that.”
Jokanovic once again bemoaned the side's inability to finish chances, but explained the reasoning behind making wholesale changes for this tie.
He added: "Yes, it’s disappointing - we didn’t play a good enough game, we didn’t create enough clear chances.
“With the chances we did create, we weren’t clinical enough. We wanted to progress in this competition, but we didn’t do it.
“All we can do now is rest, then work hard and prepare for the challenge that’s in front of us.
“I had a similar team and used similar players in the first League Cup game, we played well in the first game.
“I used some new players, some players who needed minutes in the competition. I tested some players too. I used this night to win the game, to progress in this competition with some different players.
“This is our sixth game in 18 days, something like this. I am disappointed, I must think about this night and analyse what we didn’t do well enough, and I must think about the game that’s immediately in front of us.”
