Scott Parker was proud of his Fulham side despite being on the receiving end of a 4-0 loss against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
A daunting test was always going to be lying in wait at the Etihad and after 6 minutes the Head Coach’s Fulham side was down to ten men and one goal down.
A tough task got even harder and the hosts cruised to victory. After preparing a gameplan in the build-up to the match all those plans were scuppered. However, Parker felt as proud as he ever has since taking charge of the team, with his side sticking to their philosophy and trying to play his way.
“I think we knew the challenge ahead when we came here to take on a first class team like Man City,” Parker said. “The planning and the prep work we had been doing over the last few days went out the window in the first 6 minutes.”
“We understand it would have been a hard game even with 11 men here today.
“With ten it becomes even harder.
“But I was very very proud of my team. I have been in this job now for a year and today is the proudest I have ever been of this team.
“The challenge we had today was massive. I asked for my players to show passion and be brave.
“I saw a team there today be brave. By that I mean I saw a team that wanted to show their identity and I saw that in abundance.
“It would have been easy to come here and surrender possession like a lot of teams do. We could have come here and booted the ball away and kept men on the edge of the box but we didn’t do that.
“We lacked some men in the final third which meant we lacked penetration but we showed how we play which pleased me.
“In the latter stages of the game when a bit of fatigue kicked in we made a few mistakes. When you make mistakes like this you get punished.
“Of course we lost 4-0 but there a still big nuggets for me as the coach to take away from the match.
“When you look at the bigger picture and the journey that we are on it is these moments of adversity where you can take a lot away.”
