Fulham showing more than just grit and passion, insists Parker after Man United defeat

Fulham’s 2-1 defeat to table-topping Man United extended the winless run to seven games, but Scott Parker was full of praise for the spirit and quality his side showed in going ‘toe-to-toe' with United.

Ademola Lookman, relishing a new role through the centre of the attack, fired in an early goal but a world class strike from Paul Pogba won it in the second half after a first-half fumble by keeper Alphonse Areola allowed Edinson Cavani to equalise for the visitors.

“I’m proud but also disappointed. We managed to get our nose in front, but then a mistake and a 35-yard screamer from a world class player has defined the game,” said Whites boss Scott Parker.

“I don’t think this is a team just operating on spirit, on desire, on passion. I think you can see that in abundance, but I think it’s also clear to see there’s some real quality here. This is a team fighting for their lives, but also with a real threat about us. We’ll keep believing.

“I think we had the first big chance of the second half and a couple after that and you need to take those chances really and we haven’t managed to do that and haven’t managed to do that enough in the last few games. It’s certainly an area where we need to get better.

“We’ve worked relentlessly to give ourselves a more solid platform in games and that box seems to have been ticked. We now need to look at the other side – how we can take our chances in the big moments. I think that will probably be the difference for us.”

Parker added: “We’ve come out of a run of nine games against Leicester, Man City, Liverpool to Chelsea and a team that’s going to fight for the championship this year and went toe to toe with them, so I’m very proud of them. We’ll keep going and keep pushing on.

United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer described Lookman’s early strike as the ‘wake-up call’ United needed to kick-start their win.