Fulham of England winger, Ademola Lookman has come out with a down-to-earth confession of his regrets, following his inability to convert a penalty kick that could have saved his side from defeat during their last match in the English Premier League.
Megasportsaena.com reports that the former Everton of England and RB Leipzig of Germany wonderboy flopped the chance from the spot kick when he tried a stylish panenka effort, which earned condemnations from a cross-section of analysts and commentators.
Dramatically, though, Lookman won encouraging support from many of Fulham’s fans, such that the Nigerian-born former England youth international was left emotionally drained and quickly disclosed how hurt he was to disappoint The Cottagers’ supporters.
However, that did not stop caustic words being hurled at him by many pundits, with Liverpool legend, Steve McManaman leading the gauntlet heading into this weekend’s tie against the youngster’s former club.
Without holding anything back, the former Ral Madrid of Spain star slammed Lookman for taking the penalty in the closing seconds of Fulham’s 1-0 loss to West Ham United in their last game before the international break.
Lookman was handed penalty taking duties at the expense of Aleksandar Mitrovic, as the Serbian striker was carrying a knock, and the Nigerian-born lad would have become the hero for Fulham but saw his paneka attempt saved by The Hammers’ goalkeeper, Lukasz Fabianski.
While Lookman was close to tears after the final whistle, McManaman insisted that the 2017 FIFA U20 World Cup winner with England was the architect of his own misfortune and labeled him an arrogant player.
McManaman said: “I think anybody who plays this game as a professional footballer knows that this was awful, wasn’t it? It was arrogance, you’re 1-0 down away from home, you’re somewhere near the bottom of the league, you’ve got a penalty with the last kick of the game.
“You just go and blast it in the back of the net. You do not do that. Just go smash it in the net, if you miss or the goalie saves it, fine, but you can’t do that and then lie on the floor and shake your head as if it was somebody else’s fault.”
In his response, though, Lookman has now thanked Fulham’s fans for backing him following his missed spot kick, while also recalling how much encouragement he got when he was comforted by his teammates.
Lookman said: “The fans backed me 100 per cent, and I want to tell them of my appreciation and love for all of the great messages I received. I was devastated after the game, but now it’s one of those things that I’ve got to learn from.
“That’s what I’m going to do, and I’m going to embrace the challenges ahead. I’ve used it as motivation, and now I’m just looking ahead to the next challenge.”
