Ademola Lookman banishes his Panenka woes to perplex Liverpool in deserved Fulham draw

CRAVEN COTTAGE — Could smaller stadiums provide an unexpected advantage with Covid-reduced crowds? The two thousand socially-distanced at either end of the 25,000 capacity Craven Cottage sounded, for example, louder than 2,000 at Tottenham Hotspur’s new 62,000-seater stadium for the north London derby, the Sunday before.

The Fulham players responded in kind to the energy, the boos and jeers at the Liverpool players, the cries of cheat when Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane went down easily in Fulham’s penalty area, the elation when Bobby De Cordova-Reid thudded them in front in the 25th minute. 

A man in a neon orange high-vis jacket and trousers and hardhat stood in one corner of the stadium, next to the giant lime digger helping to rebuild the stand currently covered in scaffolding, and waved a black and white chequered flag valiantly.

Perhaps no player thrived more from it all than Ademola Lookman, who set up De Cordova-Reid for his strike with a deliciously succinct through-ball, one that he tried successfully on numerous occasions all game.

The goal coming, even, from a corner that Lookman had won, bringing the ball down and under control on the left where he skulked all match, cutting inside and forcing Liverpool’s goalkeeper Alisson to push his effort wide. Liverpool failed adequately to clear the subsequent corner and Lookman opened them up, allowing his team-mate to drive the ball past Alisson.

Six weeks ago, there was a stage when Lookman could have sank or swam, following the Panenka penalty eight minutes into stoppage time that cost Fulham a point they so desperately needed against West Ham.

There is confident, and then there is misguided, and it was the worst possible time for the 23-year-old to get those two concepts mixed up, dinking the ball from the spot into Lukasz Fabianski’s welcoming arms.

Scott Parker, his manager at Fulham, says that Lookman has a tendency to be easily disappointed if things do not go his way, and the torrent of negativity that was aimed at him online via memes and videos could have set Lookman back.

Lookman (right) was a danger for Fulham all evening (Photo: PA)

Maybe that inclination to let the head drop is why the Under 17 World Cup winner with England is yet to produce these kinds of performances on enough of a consistent basis to propel him higher than a newly promoted Premier League side. Instead, he has drifted: from Everton to RB Leipzig and now on loan to Fulham.

Maybe it is just timing. Of that group who beat Venezuela in the final back in 2017, Dominic Calvert-Lewin is only now excelling in the blue half of Merseyside, while Kyle Walker-Peters is also establishing himself at Southampton.

For a winger, Lookman is not too arrogant to defend – a trait that modern managers at the top come to expect. When Fulham were pinned back by Liverpool in the second half Lookman pitched in with dogged defensive discipline, and he was the main outlet to launch any counter-attacks out of their half with his pace.

He is rapid when needed: adopting his constant style of jogging or near-walking, his wide shoulders rotating as though winding up a spring-loaded clockwork inside that he can activate at any moment.

It certainly left Liverpool’s players perplexed. Trent Alexander-Arnold struggled to cope at right-back. Central midfielder Jordan Henderson and centre-back Joel Matip regularly had to come across to cover. Salah even joined in at one stage, and Curtis Jones was eventually booked for hustling Lookman over when he crept in behind them all.

Lookman has recovered well since his West Ham penalty error earlier in the season (Photo: AFP)

The nutmeg on Alexander-Arnold and subsequent strength to hold the Liverpool defender off the ball. The way he left Georginio Wijnaldum behind. With one particular move, that left Matip complaining and the rest looking at one another in bewilderment, Lookman almost scored or set up another, flashing the ball across Alisson’s goal from a tight angle and narrowly missing the far post.

Alexander-Arnold was substituted midway through the second half, probably exhausted from the afternoon’s work.

Credit should go to Parker, who did not pull Lookman out of the limelight after that most high-profile of mistakes. He has started Lookman in the four games since, and his man scored the first of their two goals in a narrow victory against Leicester City.

With two minutes remaining of the 90 on Sunday, Lookman was substituted to a standing ovation from the 2,000 Fulham supporters. It was just fortunate that in current times at least a few thousand were allowed in to witness his performance – and a well earned point against the reigning Premier League champions – live in west London.

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