GRIT SCOTT
Parker: We’ve got the bottle to beat drop
SCOTT PARKER last night insisted his team have not lost their bottle, as the fight to stay in the Premier League reaches its climax.
Fulham face a must-win contest against Wolves at Craven Cottage tonight having lost their last three games after a dramatic collapse against Aston Villa last week.
The losing streak has come at the wrong time in the season.
It also halted the momentum of a promising run of only two losses in their previous ten games, which had dragged other teams into the relegation fight and given Fulham hope.
Individual errors from some of Parker’s young players have cost them dearly in recent games.
They host Wolves, three points behind 17th-placed Newcastle and safety, having played a game more.
But Parker fiercely denied that in the face of this pressure, his side were losing their nerve.
The Fulham manager don’t think so.
“The nearer you get to the end goal, the pressure does crank up. But I don’t see any pressure in this team.
“We’ll keep fighting, keep pushing. We need everyone now showing guts on the pitch, having the bravery to stand out.
“We have lost against some good said:
“I
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teams in the past few weeks. The players have done incredibly well.
“They should understand where we are, the position we are in and the opportunity we have got. They should relish it.”
Parker revealed ‘there have been honest conversations’ since the Villa game last Sunday, when defensive errors cost his team three late goals and three points.
He added: “One thing we have always been this year has been brutally honest. Without honesty, you can’t ever move forward.
“If you are an individual or a team that is in denial and don’t want to point the finger then you are never going to learn.
“The one thing we have had here when things have not been good enough and people have been dug out, nine times out of ten we have reacted in a positive way.
“Players here take things on the chin. But we need to act quick. What happened at Villa can’t happen again, with seven games to go.”
One boost for Parker is that winger Ademola Lookman, who tweaked a hamstring at Villa Park, is expected to be fit.