Clint Dempsey today insisted Fulham will be "tough to beat this season" and told his team-mates to prove it by hitting the twin target of an extended challenge in Europe and a top-seven finish in the Premier League.
Dempsey, leading scorer as Fulham finished eighth in the table last term, made an impressive return from international duty in last night's Europa League third qualifying round win at Craven Cottage over RNK Split.
A 2-0 victory sent Fulham through to the play-offs 2-0 on aggregate and Dempsey believes an impressive first-half display has set the tone for the rest of the season.
The 28-year-old winger, who was permitted a summer break of less than four weeks after helping the United States reach the final of the Gold Cup, said: "We want to better what we did last season in the Premier League and we want to make a good run in the Europa League."
Dempsey pointed to new manager Martin Jol's penchant for attacking football as a principal reason why Fulham can emulate the success enjoyed under Roy Hodgson when the club reached the Europa League final and achieved a club-record seventh place in the Premier League.
Dempsey said: "We've now got more depth to our team and we are going to try to play with a more attacking flair.
"We've always been a team that were tough to break down. Hopefully we can maintain that but add more goals to the season.We're going to be a difficult team to play against."
That was confirmed against cautious Split, who came to Craven Cottage with a back line that often numbered six defenders during the early exchanges. It was Andrew Johnson, the smallest player on the pitch, who scored with a glancing header from a Damien Duff corner to give Fulham a 19th-minute lead.
The former England striker, reported to be the subject of a £2million bid by West Ham which will be firmly rejected by Jol, has endured more than his fair share of bad luck with injuries since joining Fulham in the summer of 2008.
Yet with three goals from six Europa League games, he has already equalled his entire tally for last season.
"That's great for him," said Dempsey. "Andrew works really hard and he deserves the goals he gets. He'll continue to grow in confidence and there are a lot more goals to come."
Danny Murphy netted Fulham's second from the penalty spot in the 57th minute.
