Little mistakes costing Fulham – Scott Parker still upbeat despite 11-match winless spell

BY DANIEL MARSH

Scott Parker bemoaned the “little mistakes” which are costing Fulham following their 2-0 defeat to Leicester City.

Two first-half goals from Kelechi Iheanacho and James Justin were enough to seal all three points for the visitors, with Parker feeling that the visitors first strike came about from a mistake on the ball.

The Whites boss explained: “You make little mistakes and you can get punished, certainly in this league. That happened for the first goal with a mistake on the turnover – then the ball is on the button and the header is executed into the goal. I often say that this is what’s going to happen with this team at times.

“What I am pleased about is that this team are constantly in games at certain moments. I thought we had enough tonight. Without really causing them too many problems, we were trying to get back in this game. But in this division you get punished if you make mistakes and that’s certainly what happened with the first goal tonight.”

Tonight’s defeat to Leicester means Fulham’s winless run in the league has stretched to 11 games, but Parker stressed the importance of staying upbeat with so much of the season still left to play.

“There’s still 17 games to be played. My whole demeanour and message to you may be a lot different in five or six games time. I understand that. It also may be different if I was looking at a team that didn’t have quality.

“I also see where we need to get better, and the players do as well. What one win or two wins can do is massive. That’s exactly what we need to look at now and we will do. I won’t allow us not to. I’ve said many times this season that we need to be comfortable in the position we are. This position doesn’t surprise me – this is a young team who are finding their way in the best league in the world.

“This game has now gone, the next focus is can we go and beat West Ham on Saturday? I believe we can. I believe we could have got a result today. We didn’t get that, but I believe we can get one against West Ham. We get a result through a real clear mind and a confidence about us. We can’t let these defeats sink us too much. We’ll do that – we’ll come out fighting like we have done for the majority of the games and we’ll go again.”