Jack Pooley
Fulham Head Coach Scott Parker was largely full of praise for his team after picking up another point on the road at Selhurst Park.
Giving his overall assessment of the contest, Parker said: “With the opportunities we’ve created we fully deserved to win the game, and we fell a bit short there.
“Defensively I think we were very good. Playing against a team in Crystal Palace who are very well organised and sit off you’ve got to jab and probe your way at times.
“First half we didn’t do that well enough and then second half we changed it positionally and created some big chances to win the game.
“Of course, there’s partly disappointment but in saying that it’s a clean sheet, I don’t think we conceded a shot on goal.
“I realise in my position that when you perform like today, the law of averages tells you that if you play that game 10 times you win it more than you lose or draw, so there’s a mixture of emotions.
“We move on now, it’s a big point for us and that’s the way we look at it and we keep moving.”
A flurry of decent chances came in a few second-half minutes for Fulham, and our boss knows that perhaps we could’ve profited.
“I always knew the game would probably be decided on one goal,” Parker explained. “When we were in the ascendancy and had those moments where we had them on the ropes, we probably needed one of them to go in."
The confidence and belief has been a solid constant from Parker and his men, and this is something he was keen to reinforce further with an honest insight into how his attacking talisman are getting on.
“I see these players every day and I’m confident with what I see,” he confirmed. “I see the attacking players coming in everyday, trying to improve and trying to get better.
“If there’s one thing you can maybe aim at us is that we’ve not managed to kill off games in certain situations.
“But I always say it’s a young team. This is a team that are around the Premier League for the first time.
“What I constantly want from my team and my group of players is a real honestly that we keep trying to improve and get better.
“Life tells me, and my experience tells me, that if you do that things change.
“We’ve got unbelievable quality here in that sense, I see it. It’s now trying to get that to click at the key moments when we’re playing matches.
“This is a team that are on the front foot, aggressive, want to win games, and are dynamic in those moments.
“Like any team, certainly those that have just been promoted, we’re constantly working on the next thing. That thing now is can we be more clinical and take the moments.”
With a tricky trio of fixtures on the horizon, Parker stated his big believe in his side to bolster their tally regardless.
“I see points coming from the next game,” Parker stated. “Like I keep saying I believe in this team, the team believes as well.
“I believe we can beat Spurs. We can cause them problems and go into it trying to win the game.
“Of course, I understand the challenges – that’s the Premier League.
“Every game in this division is tough, and of course we understand that some fixtures coming up are tougher than others, but I think we’ve shown over the period of the last 17 games that we can compete against any team in this division so I’m hoping that’s not going to be any different in the fixtures coming up.
“We’ll recoup now and prepare for another tough game against Spurs and try and win that."
Parker substituted Ola Aina for Antoinee Robinson at half-time but said the decision was purely tactical and the former Chelsea man was not carrying an injury.
“I just thought we needed a little bit more down that right side and I thought it worked,” he said.
“It was nothing to do with Ola but Antoinee just gave us that little bit more going forward.”
Parker did reveal that back-up goalkeeper Marek Rodak could be facing time out after injuring a finger in training on Saturday.
“He is struggling and it is a bit too early to know where we are, he will see a specialist on Monday and we will have a clearer picture then,” Parker said.
Source Jack Pooley at Fulham FC/Ian McCullough at West London Sport