Scott Parker remains confident that he is the man to keep Fulham in the Premier League, despite another damaging defeat against Crystal Palace this afternoon.
The Whites have picked up just a single point from their first six fixtures and were beaten at Craven Cottage this afternoon even though they enjoyed the overwhelming share of possession in the London derby. Fulham had started brightly but went behind to Jairo Riedewald’s first Palace goal and Wilfred Zaha doubled the visitors’ lead in the second period. Captain Tom Cairney’s late consolation did little to lift the mood afterwards.
Asked if he will get enough time to turn things round, Parker told his post-match press conference:
“I can’t control that. What I can do is what I have normally done throughout my career and life, during these hard times, it is the time to front up and keep working as hard as I can to get the rewards that I deserve. It is out of my hands but I will keep working hard.”
“We are a young team, still trying to gel but there were some big positives today and this is when the chips are down you have to face up and keep working hard and I am sure we will come out of the other side. I felt we need to learn from exactly how this game panned out. We had a dominance but at times in the final third lacked a real intensity about us.”
Without wanting to be too negative the problems today are the same as they have been fir some time, lack of tempo and intensity, too many back or across field passes giving the Opposition time to regroup and a lack of dynamic forward play. I also don’t understand why our best crosser of the ball has not featured in the last few games. Think him and Robinson would make a good combo . We should have spent big in buying a fast tricky striker like Defoe, ie Josh King.
Scott just wont accept that slow build up does not produce goals. He complained that Palace created a wall – no surprise when you give them so much time to react.
What happened to through passes and quick breaks? Our opposition does it to us and defeats us.
Agree 100% with comments. This was like watching a ‘better version’ of Parkerball in the Championship. Slow, sideways play with players taking 3 or 4 touches and taking all the impetus out of our play. Massive possession but hardly any chances created. We need a break to get in front in a game and build some confidence. Nearly happened today but in the end no cutting edge.
PS say it quietly but we should have bought a pacy striker. I’m really worried that Mitro is looking a bit of a lump at this level.
Do we not have a plan B or C what as happened to Cavaleiro when are we going see the real one Certain other players as well Mitro something is wrong there, why is Joe Bryan not starting?,Cairney is actually playing the ball forward Kamara is not good enough as also Bobby Reid,why not go route one for a change the opposition already know how we play or line up 4 4 2 as Palace did play two up front, but try something different, defence is paramount at the moment and not nice football
Fine margins! If Parker says that agin I’ll scream!
We spent all of last season playing a slow passing game-more concerned with possession than having an actual cutting edge. Virtually every fan complained about our lack of attacking intent-especially away from home-but Parker constantly defended his choice of tactics.
Now, Parker tells us that we are not showing enough attacking intent. Seriously?
I wonder why.
Apart from Lookman, Fulham have not signed any attack minded players. We are forced to rely on the same individuals who couldn’t hack it in the Championship and, now, at the highest level, he expects them to be “shooting from outside the box”, “going forward not back”. His words from yesterday.
It sounds as though he is expecting miracles.
Wake up, Scott. Playing a lone, static striker like Mitrovic is not going to cut it in this division, especially with his negative attitude as soon as things start to go wrong.
You should have signed one or more quality strikers when you had the chance but, now, you can’t do anything until January. It was a huge mistake that looks likely to cost us dearly.
Until then, the best we can hope for is to try and pick up enough points to ensure we still have a chance of survival after Christmas.
The problem I feel is that Scott Parker is a disciple of Slavisa and he knows no other way of coaching or playing. This is the reality when you employ such a young manager. He needs to learn on the job so to speak but the premier league is a harsh climate for that scenario. Unfortunately you can’t train one way and play another come the weekend or the class of opposition. We as fans were delighted to earn promotion but it will take time to mould the new players in. Let’s get behind the club in every way and please Mr Khan don’t change the manager as we saw the debacle the last time we did that. Enjoy the games for what they are and hopefully these bunch of players can turn it round. COYW
The squad has little Premier League experience and is not talented enough to fight for anything beyond survival. Y’day’s team is probably about the best that we could field. You might argue that Tete – not a defensive starlet either, Reed, Andersen or even Bryan might improve it, but really in terms of offensive firepower that’s all we have. Of course if our defense were settled for once you might argue that the guys in the front could play more freely but honestly, I have no clue how we are going to score goals given our slow pace when we try to control the game, and our lack of adequate players if we intend to counter with Mitro (who has been abysmal) as a non-mobile striker…
So the question is: can any other manager fare better with these players? Do the Sheffields, West Broms, Brightons, Burnleys of this world really have better players than us? What we know is that between the 18-19 campaign and the current one, he has managed 16 games and just 3 wins and 1 draw with 13 goals scored and 32 conceded. These are not very encouraging stats, nor is this or last year’s style of play. If we don’t beat West Brom, I believe that Parker will have to go. What worries me is who Tony might bring in…
John only wish he could get the team playing like Jokanovic did. Still I suppose the disciple is second rate to the master.
18-20 points Max
Supporting Fulham Fc for over sixty years i have never known my beloved team play such boring football.
Supported this club for fifty-plus years. The ability is there but the coaching is stifling it. I can see us getting a record low points tally over the season if the club doesn’t “wake up” and let the players PLAY. I dont want Scotty to go but I also dont want FFC to be a joke team.
I totally agree with all the comments Parker’s possession style doesn’t work and by the time we get forward is to slow, I hate watching the sideways and backwards playing style we now have, we should play with 2 up front preferably Lookman as Mitro is too slow, why we didn’t bring in another proven striker I don’t know, I blame Tony Khan for that he left it too late as usual, and even the defenders he brought in are injury prone does that sound familiar (Masson) ring a bell, Kongolo? Parker has to change our tactics back to 4,4,2 because his way is not working we are so predictable and the January window can’t come fast enough we have to try and finish 17th surely we can do that.