Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Parker’s a loan shark We’ll NEVER stop trying
FULHAM BOSS HAILS BORROWED STARS KLOPP WON’T PRIORITISE EURO GLORY
SCOTT PARKER reckons only a big loan injection has given his side a fighting chance in a tough season.
Fulham head to Anfield this afternoon with their Premier League survival hopes still very much alive thanks to a crack contingent of Craven Cottage loan stars.
Fulham chief Parker fielded all of his ‘magnificent seven’ loanees in the midweek defeat by Tottenham – as the relegation-threatened hosts came within a disputed handball decision of grabbing a crucial point.
Parker signed Alphonse Areola, Joachim Andersen, Ola Aina, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mario Lemina and Ademola Lookman during the close season, and added Josh Maja from Bordeaux in January.
The Fulham boss admitted: “It would have been difficult for us without the loans.
“We made a decision to try and stay in the division this year without over-expenditure.
“We’ve not spent a lot of money. The likes of Tosin Adarabioyo and Antonee Robinson, a couple of million, Kenny Tete as well – so we decided to get some quality players in on loan.
“They have all done fantastically well. That’s really been a deciding factor.”
There has been talk of scrapping the loans system – but those who are against such a move claim that if used correctly it can benefit all parties.
Parker would surely agree. He insists that given the position his club was in after earning promotion via the Championship play-offs, loans came to the rescue.
He said: “It definitely helps you to bridge that gap.
“We were a team who finished fourth in the Championship, stepping into the Premier League, so it’s huge.
“We were stepping into a league where clubs have the finances.
“They’ve been around it for a long time and they have had that money coming in for a long period.
“So certainly for a team like ourselves, only the loan system gives you a chance of being competitive.
“I think we have used it pretty well.
“In terms of giving us hope, and a chance of staying in this division, it’s been a big help.”
Fulham go to Liverpool today just three months after nearly causing an upset in the reverse fixture.
Liverpool needed a late Mo Salah penalty to cancel out Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s opener at the Cottage.
After losing five home league games in succession for the first time in the club’s history, there’s no question that Liverpool are wobbling.
But Parker is convinced that there are several factors in play behind the fluctuating fortunes of Jurgen Klopp’s side in the season they are defending the Reds’ first league title in 30 years. He added: “I think this is an unprecedented season. It’s had a big effect on Liverpool, especially with the standards they have set for themselves.
“We played very well against them in December. We caused them problems.
“But the main factor at play is the same reason everyone’s struggling – it’s injuries. “There are a lot o f things Jurgen and his staff could look at – not making excuses – and say why that might have been a problem for them.”
JURGEN KLOPP believes Liverpool’s American owners have got his back.
Boston-based Fenway Sports Group have remained silent while the Kop’s bid to retain the title has disintegrated on the back of a run which has seen the Reds lose five home games for the first time in their history.
Klopp himself admits the experience has been worse than his last year in charge of Borussia Dortmund – when he quit the Bundesliga club towards the end of a season when they finished seventh.
But he insists that there has been no suggestion from FSG he will lose his job if he fails to save Liverpool’s season from total failure.
Klopp said: “We cannot do other than our best – and that’s how it always is.
“And if there is somebody who thinks there is another one (manager) who can do better, then they have to make the decision.
That is clear.
“I don’t think that’s the case.
Not that nobody else can do it better, but because I don’t think any of the directors have that opinion – at least nobody told me.
“When we win football games we are not constantly partying and if we lose we are not punching each other’s face. It is somewhere in between.” Klopp added: “I had a situation at Dortmund after a very successful spell.
“At Dortmund, it was not even half as bad from an injury point of view as it is here. We had much fewer points after the first part of the season. “The difference was that we had injuries in the first part of the season and in the second part they all came back. “We had a winter break and I knew that all the players would be back, so it was a completely different situation because pretty much nobody comes back here.
“So you can’t compare it.” Liverpool RED ALERT Nagelsmann’s Leipzig stand in Klopp’s way face a huge fight to finish in the top four – beginning with today’s clash with relegation-threatened Fulham at Anfield.
On Wednesday they travel to Budapest to face Julian Nagelsmann’s RB Leipzig in the Champions League holding a 2-0 first-leg lead from their first clash in the Hungarian capital.
Klopp is taking nothing for granted in his side’s bid to reach the quarterfinals.
And he insists it cannot enter his thinking to sacrifice Premier League games to give his team a better chance of winning the European crown to once again qualify for the money-spinning tournament.
Klopp said: “We are playing Fulham on Sunday and three days later we play Leipzig – and we are not yet in the next round.
“I cannot think about winning the Champions League because we have to go through difficult rounds – including this one.
“We are not giving up on the Premier League – and that will never happen.
“There is no game we can play and lose and people say ‘look at that line-up, Liverpool are not interested’ because we are not really playing any game behind closed doors because there are always cameras.
“We feel the responsibility that in every game we have to give absolutely everything to win it. When it doesn’t happen, it is not enough. But that doesn’t change our attitude.”