Fulham ‘ticking all boxes’ in effort to end penalty woes – Parker

By

Fulham will ‘tick every box’ to make sure penalty kicks don’t become an even more serious problem.

So far, Whites have lost four points by fluffing their lines from 12 yards.


First, Aleksandar Mitrovic thundered the bar against Sheffield United – that would have brought a 2-1 win – and then Ademola Lookman trying a ‘Panenka’ against West Ham in the game’s very last kick cost Whites a point.

Since then, Mitrovic, playing for Serbia, saw his vital spot-kick saved that sent Scotland through to the European Championship finals.

Boss Scott Parker isn’t saying who will take the next penalty – but the coaching team have put things in place in an effort to make sure there are no more blanks.

“Ade was more disappointed than anyone,” Parker said.

“I hope I get him to learn from my experiences. I spoke to him the next day (after the West Ham game); had a long chat.

“We went through the processes, things like ‘what was going through your head’ – how can we change that?

“What’s going to define him is how he deals with it? There is a psychological element to it, but we need to put processes in place and make sure every box is ticked.

“There are a lot of obstacles; is the keeper good at saving them? That psychological thing.

“You can practice and practice, but you can’t replicate the match arena atmosphere, but you can go through all the processes to make sure it happens.

“But when whoever puts the ball down, he has to have all those boxes ticked.”