Parker: Look and learn son

I PLAYED with some of the best penalty-takers in Stuart Pearce, Robbie Fowler and Dwight Yorke.

And two of them had a cheeky little something in their repertoire – Fowler, the John Aldridge-esque check in his run-up, Yorkie, a Panenka in his locker.

But neither of them, even as young men, would have done what Ademola Lookman did against West Ham on Saturday night when he tried a Panenka in the 98th minute of a game his team were losing 1-0.

At that stage of any fixture, it doesn’t matter how old you are or what level you’re playing at, you just have to stick the ball in the net.

Having said that, I hope Fulham boss Scott Parker hasn’t taken the old-school approach, which would have been to hang, draw and quarter him. That could kill Lookman’s confidence for the rest of the season and potentially do some damage long term.

Instead, I hope Parker went into Fulham’s dressing room and said, ”No one says a word to this lad. He’s messed up and we’ll have a little chat later, but at least he put his hand up to take it.”

Then he must say to Lookman, ”This is what the situation called for, so finish it, and only if we’re 5-0 up can you feel free to try what you tried.”

ANOTHER weekend marred by VAR and what’s clear now is that the latest rules are making the law-makers and those who administer the laws — the officials — look like jobsworths.

In fact, when referees go to look at their monitors and then run back on with their decision I’m reminded of traffic wardens looking at a car, taking down its number plate and sticking a ticket on the windscreen.