Fulham boss Scott Parker admitted there was an element of relief at Craven Cottage tonight – after the Whites recorded their first Premier League win of the season against West Brom and moved out of the relegation zone.
The hosts were comfortable winners over fellow strugglers Albion courtesy of first half strikes from Bobby Decordova-Reid and Ola Aina, who struck a superb second from just outside the box. Parker professed himself pleased with Fulham’s attitude and intensity and believes his side can build a morale-boosting first victory.
He told his post-match press conference:
“We sat on one point after six games, not won a game, so of course there’s a relief amongst the team and amongst the players. I think I’ve said it many a time this year – we’ve won the game tonight – along the journey we’re going to have this year, there’s going to be many bumps.
“Overall a very, very good performance… I think for for everyone in the team, in the club, they needed the win and we got that. I thought we had a real endeavour about us, showed our quality tonight and were well worth the two goals.
“The processes [that] are in place, in terms of coming onto the training field, keep learning from our errors – which we’re going to make, coz that’s where we are this year – but good group, [that] come in every day in training, working hard, understanding where we are and where we need to keep improving. And that’s going to be the same moving forward. There’s going to be many more bumps for us this year, as long we adopt an attitude which is one of wanting to improve, wanting to get better, I’ve no doubt we’ll be ok.”
Wow! Amazing what 3 points can do to lift the spirits.
We saw a sea change in the attitude and approach from our players tonight.
Mitrovic was a revelation in that we saw him work harder than we have ever seen him do previously. At one point, late in the second half, he won a throw in and his clenched fist celebration summed up this new attitude. Long may it last!
Robinson was excellent in the second half and Cairney, in a more forward role, was a revelation and pressured the West Brom defence constantly with his willingness and tricky silks.
Great to see Anderson finally make his debut and we, hopefully, have the makings of a fine central defensive partnership alongside Tosin.
For me though, Anguissa, frustrating in the first half with a mixture of great play interspersed with sloppiness (which could have easily led to an Albion goal) was unplayable in the second half.
We have real quality in this squad. We just need the application and Scott Parker set the tone by dropping Loftus -Cheek; a very strong decision by the manager but one that paid off in spades.