Rene Meulensteen has challenged Fulham's players to take responsibility for their own form, starting against Tottenham on Wednesday.

The former Brondby manager, who replaced Martin Jol following the Cottagers' 3-0 loss to West Ham, is looking to turn around a run of form which has resulted in six consecutive league defeats and landed them 18th in the table.

"We need to make sure the players take responsibility, with work-rate and their discipline," Meulensteen told BBC Radio 5 Live. "Fulham have had too many poor results and we must now create a platform to get away from our position."

The Dutchman, who previously worked under Sir Alex Ferguson as a member of Manchester United's backroom staff but has limited experience as head coach, has moved quickly to bring in his own men behind the scenes, including the former United academy coach Jonathan Hill. Kit Symons, the current development team coach, will be assisting with first-team training.

The club has confirmed Jol's brother Cornelis, who worked as football operations manager, and coaches Michael Lindeman and Billy McKinlay have left Craven Cottage.

Sascha Riether will return from a three-match suspension in Wednesday's fixture with Spurs, after he was handed a retrospective ban for stamping on Manchester United's Adnan Januzaj. Brede Hangeland could be available after recovering from a sciatic nerve problem, while striker Dimitar Berbatov is expected to be fit following illness.

"We have just got to keep going and believing in ourselves", said Aaron Hughes, the Cottagers and Northern Ireland defender. "When you are in the middle of a bad run the last thing you want to do is let your head drop, feel sorry for yourself and make excuses.

"We just have to pull together and try and get through this busy period coming up when there are a lot of games and you can pick up a lot of points quickly. We have to try and be positive and take the things we are doing on the training pitch into games.

Hughes feels that Fulham's two successive home games, the second a visit from Aston Villa on Sunday, will help the Cottagers turn a corner.

"We will look at the West Ham game and figure out where we went wrong, and then prepare for Spurs and Villa. If we can take six points from the next two games the table would look completely different, so that is what we are aiming for."