Fulham boss Scott Parker has slammed Ademola Lookman for his poor penalty miss in stoppage time which cost Fulham a point in their 1-0 loss to West Ham United on Saturday.
The 23-year-old had the chance to claim a vital and deserved point for Fulham after they were awarded a 98th minute penalty.
But Lookman attempted a Paneka, with so little power that West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski had time to dive and stand himself up once more before catching the ball.
West Ham scored late themselves through Tomas Soucek, robbing Parker’s side of a vital point and a run of three games without defeat, making Lookman’s mistake all the more agonising.
Speaking after the game, Parker said: “The penalty – the boy has made a mistake, that’s clear. You can miss a penalty, but you can’t miss a penalty like that. He knows that. When you’re young you have to learn quick.
“He’s disappointed and rightly so. Everyone can miss penalties of course but in a certain way. This is football, growing as an individual and we’ll learn from this.
“I’m not going to shirk away from the penalty miss, I’m angry, and he [Lookman] is as well. You just can’t miss a penalty like that. If you take one like that, you have to score.”
The defeat place Fulham in 17th place on four points and are just a point outside the relegation zone.
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What was Ademola Lookman thinking of yesterday with his penalty cheap cheeky chip that was well saved by West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to make him look silly and deprive his team of a valuable point.
Fulham would lose the match 1:0 as a result after Tomáš Souček’s late strike for West Ham.
It is a funny one though: had his cunning chip sneaked into the net, it would have looked glorious and we would all by now be praising Lookman to the high heavens.
Instead, his paneka trick backfired big time to leave everyone linked to the club seething, more so his manager.
“I’m not going to shirk away from the penalty miss, I’m angry,” said manager Scott Parker afterwards as he added that Lookman will learn quickly for this malarkey.
And it does seem like the Super Eagles prospect has indeed learnt his lesson after taking to social media to say: “After yesterday’s mistake, I take full responsibility and onus for it.To everyone concerned, I vow to put the next one in. I will not let this mistake hold me back.”
Lookman’s teammate Harrison Reed then said on television:”He has apologised so we will brush it under the carpet and move on; he’s gutted in there – we all are.”
The defeat means that Fulham are hugging the lower parts of the English Premier League table with 17 points.
Since returning to England after a wretched time in Germany, Lookman has clocked 5 Premier League appearances, notching 1 goal and several sterling performances thus far.
His switch from England to Nigeria remains shrouded in mystery to me with owngoal.com reporting that its slow pace of progress is frustrating Lookman.
Some Super Eagles fans are starting to have sleepless nights that Lookman’s stellar performances thus far will attract interest from England gaffer Gareth Southgate.
Lookman on his part will be hoping to draw a line under the sand of his penalty farce in weeks to come with delicious displays that will continue to make him the toast of Nigeria and England managers and fans.
https://youtu.be/_boUWPRwkD8
Indeed, a moment of utter madness from the otherwise incredibly gifted Lookman. Attempting a panenka at such a critical time is simply indefensible. Speaks to his mental maturity. This perhaps explains why he languished on the bench at RB Leipzig. Based on talent alone, Lookman should have been starting games over there.
He deserves the tongue-lashing he is currently getting. A word of caution to coach Parker though. At the moment, Lookman and a few other players represent Fulham’s biggest hope of surviving in the premier league. Instead of dampening Lookman’s resolve, and by so doing, denying the club the opportunity to get the best out of a player that is proving himself to be a prized asset, Parker should be looking to use this disappointment as a means to unleashing the beast lurking in Lookman.
He will be desperate to get back on the manager’s and fan’s good graces after the international break. Parker and Fulham could benefit immensely from this circumstance.
what an entertaining analysis from the one and only Deo, nice one bro, I expected lookman to have don better on that penalty, that would have boasten his confidence, he truly have the potential to become great, I admire his game. England politics will not allow his change of allegiance come quick so as that of ejiara, their own must different(old pusycat) must morethan 5 officials sign for just to change national FA for a player? like say na family land, when they are able to complete over hundreds of clubs transfers within weeks, I bow for britico and their wayo. it didn’t take Germany that long episode to respond to players legal right of switching allegiance. The British fa are trying to slow the process in order to observe what may comes up from the players, perhaps they could need them back. wayo wayo people
well… frankly speaking, you can’t blame England. after training youngsters, investing so much in them, hoping they would bring you world cup then the next thing you hear is they want to play for a country that has no hand in the player’s development.
I’m not justifying England for such politics, especially when you consider Germany and how quickly they released akpoguma and Kingsley ehizibue (Nigeria passport is what is holding him now).
as for lookman, let him keep improving. I wasn’t too impressed with the match, as I expected. for me, lookman was at best average yesterday.
while for me, ola aina is currently our best fullback, especially putting to mind his superb creativity, second only to iwobi at super eagles. quick, skillfull and technical are his dominant qualities. I know he doesn’t like playing as left back, but if I’m the coach I will play him as left wingback in a 3-5-2 formation. with that he can use his right foot to shoot when he gets into attacking space, while use his left to cross ( he has excellent crossing skills, I don’t think it will really be bad using his left, right?)
for tosin adarabioyo, someone in this forum once said he plays similarly to Ajayi, I agree. though tosin has better potential obviously. he still needs to improve, because I will still go for awaziem over him as a centre back