
Scott Parker is prepared to manage the fitness of new Fulham forward Josh Maja – but revealed that his decision to substitute the goalscoring hero at Everton on Sunday was a precaution rather than a reaction to an injury.
The Fulham boss has been delighted with Maja’s start to life with the Whites after moving to Craven Cottage on loan from Bordeaux on transfer deadline day. Maja grabbed both goals as the Cottagers recorded a first ever league win at Goodison Park last weekend and was replaced by Ivan Cavaleiro in the closing stages of that tie after reporting soreness in his calf.
Parker told his pre-match press conference before tomorrow night’s trip to Burnley:
“He didn’t play a lot of football [recently at Bordeaux]. He was stretching his calf which is why we brought him off at the weekend. n the squad where we are, that is fine. We may have to manage him. He seems a very fit boy. Condition-wise, credit to him, that’s the work he must have done even though he has not been playing. It is something we will need to keep an eye on.”
Parker wants his side to use the excellent display at Everton as a yardstick for the remainder of the campaign and he knows that the Clarets will represent a serious challenge as Fulham look to find the consistency necessary to cling onto a place in the Premier League.
“I don’t think the issue is repeating the performance from Everton, I think it is repeating the result. The performance has been there a million per cent. There has been a big thing that we have not managed to put the ball in the net, but the performances have certainly been there.
“Now it is the result, and I think we need to understand that the feeling amongst the group, is that it is just part of what we want to do this season. We can’t get too carried away, of course, you can build on that. What is now important is the next game. This is a tough week we have, we said at the start before Everton, knew what we faced and I wanted us to be very professional, very clear, laser-focused in what we are doing. Everton is done, we got a result, perfect, now is another massive challenge, Burnley, and we move on and we go from there.”
We have been playing well enough to remain in the Premier league for more than half the season so far; once all the new players were able to gel it was evident we had the skill, balance and confidence to do pretty well. I think also it is evident the players play for Scott Parker.
Clearly we were struggling to turn good performances over 90% of the pitch into wins, I think we have drawn 8 of our last 13 games, which with some luck and better finishing could have seen 6-8 more points. If Maja is the final piece of the jigsaw there is every reason to feel we can overtake at least one of the current four teams above us. One is enough and I feel cautiously confident we can do it although this season with no crowds has created some strange results so no result looks certain (perhaps apart from Manchester City carrying on winning)!