Is your job at risk? Fulham boss Scott Parker supplies answer after Crystal Palace reverse

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Scott Parker was asked if his job was at risk after Fulham’s poor start to the Premier League season continued with derby defeat to Crystal Palace.

Jairo Riedewald and Wilfried Zaha scored in either half at Craven Cottage as the Eagles ran out 2-1 winners.

It leaves Fulham rock bottom of the top flight and with only one point on the board after six matches.

Parker signed a new long-term contract after winning promotion from the Championship last season but the west London club have struggled to adapt to the rigours of the Premier League.

Asked about his own role – and whether it could be under threat – he said: “I can’t control that. What I can do is do what I’ve normally done throughout my career and my life – during hard times and when things aren’t going well it is a time to front up and keep working as hard as I possibly can to get the rewards that deserves.

“It’s out of my hands….we’ll see.”

Fulham are at home to West Bromwich Albion next.

“It’s a massive game for us, but today [Saturday] was a massive game for us,” said Parker. “Last week was a massive game. Every one is going to be big for us.

“We need to learn from today, [Saturday] learn from the mistakes – we need to do that every game.

“The dynamics of this division and what this division brings, we need to learn and we need to pick up. You never want to concede goals. For the first 15 minutes – pure domination – we probably lacked a real threat on them but had a real control.

“The first time they go forward they score – and the same second half.
We came out of the blocks and put them under pressure and then again – 2-0. You’re playing against a team which is really happy and comfortable without the ball and they know what their threat is.

“At that point it became very difficult for us.

“We need to learn from exactly how this game panned out, in the sense that we had a dominance about us but at times in the final third we lacked a real sharpness or dynamism about us, although we’ve hit the post a couple of times.

“It’s a young team and one still trying to gel. There were some big positives but ultimately I sit here and we haven’t got any points.

“We need to dust ourselves down. I’ve been in these situations before when the chips are down – you have to face up and keep working hard. Hopefully we come out the other side, I’m sure we will.”