Fulham boss Scott Parker reflected on poor defending at Kenilworth Road after his side had been rescued by a late equaliser from Bobby Decordova-Reid.
“I was a little disappointed with the goals we’ve conceded. Scoring four goals to win a football match is always going to be difficult. They had three shots on target and scored three goals. We put their goal under a lot of pressure, but their keeper pulled off some fantastic saves.
We were punished by two sucker punches. I want us to play, but also smell and sense the game, and I felt we didn’t do that in the first-half. Now, being in the heat of it, we’re disappointed but maybe when it all settles, we’ll be fine. The most pleasing thing for me was the character shown by the team, coming to a tough place and going one down. My team showed massive character, massive fight and a real determination.”
Parker said he was still keen for his side to play out from the back despite a disastrous mix up that led to Luton’s opening goal – but he wants his players to pick their moments better.
“It didn’t work for the first goal, certainly not. Managing the game at that moment is down to the players understanding that they’re playing a Boxing Day game against Luton Town, who are scrapping for their lives.
“We were a bit naive, but it’s still important for us to play our way. We just need to understand when it’s right and when it’s wrong. It’s a tight, compact stadium. We needed to judge the whole atmosphere of the place, smell it, sense it and paid the price. Having said that, we played well in the second-half and when you look at the stats, you hope you’d be on the winning team. We needed to mix it up without going too far away from what we are.”
