Yannick Bolasie and Oumar Niasse are two of Ademola Lookman’s former Everton team-mates who have stuck up for the Fulham star after he missed a penalty on Saturday.
With Lookman’s Fulham side, who lie 17th in the Premier League, having conceded the opening goal of the game to Tomas Soucek in stoppage-time, the Cottagers were awarded a spot kick that seemed destined to allow them to square the game.
Lookman was charged with the responsibility of taking it, but saw his effort stopped by home goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
It was not that he was denied that riled fans, however, it was the manner in which he took the kick. Rather than electing for a safety-first approach, the 20-year-old tried to execute a Panenka and lob the ball down the centre of the goal. He got it horribly wrong, however, and afforded the goalkeeper the easiest of saves.
The outcry over his apparently nonchalant attitude was immediate, but former team-mates Niasse and Bolasie have stepped up to defend the player.
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"Top, top player," Bolasie wrote on his Instagram stories. "Sometimes we learn the hard way." Meanwhile, free agent Niasse added: “Just a lesson and you move on.”
Manager Scott Parker said in the aftermath of the game that he was “angry” with the style of penalty that his player elected.
"The boy has made a mistake, that's clear," he said. "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 attacker will have two weeks to stew over his miss because of the international break, with Fulham slated to play his former club Everton when play resumes on November 21.
Lookman is on loan at Fulham from RB Leipzig, scoring once in five Premier League appearances this season.
