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Fulham will learn from mistakes and avoid overhauling squad after promotion to Premier League, says Scott Parker

Manager’s side defeated Brentford 2-1 on Tuesday in the Championship play-off final

Arvind Sriram
Wednesday 05 August 2020 10:31 BST
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Scott Parker guided Fulham back to the Premier League at the first time of asking
Scott Parker guided Fulham back to the Premier League at the first time of asking (PA)

Fulham will bring in new players for their campaign in the Premier League next season, but there will be no wholesale changes to the squad that sealed promotion on Tuesday, manager Scott Parker has said.

The London club were relegated from England’s top flight at the end of the 2018/19 campaign despite spending £100 million on players.

They secured an immediate return with a 2-1 win over Brentford in the Championship play-off final on Tuesday, and Parker said that – while the squad did need strengthening – too many additions could do more harm than good.

“You can’t build teams with drastic changes, drastic swings of players coming in,” Parker said after his side’s triumph at Wembley.

“This team has been around myself now for the best part of 15 months and they have improved and improved and improved. I’m happy with where we are.

“We are going to need additions, we are going into the biggest league there is, but no drastic changes.

“Some clear errors were made last time and we will learn from that. We are going into the best league in the world ... and I realise the challenge ahead.

“I want to try and enjoy what we have done so far, but we need to learn from those mistakes.”

After a goalless 90 minutes on Tuesday evening, Fulham took the lead midway through extra-time when left-back Joe Bryan’s quick thinking saw his long-range free-kick catch out ill-positioned Brentford goalkeeper David Raya.

Bryan then added a second on 117 minutes, finishing off a neat forward Fulham move, before Brentford pulled one back through Henrik Dalsgaard deep into added time.

Reuters

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