Fulham Head Coach Scott Parker thinks both sides will be feeling the pressure ahead of our Play-Off Semi-Final against Cardiff City.
Immediately after the final whistle on Wednesday, Bluebirds boss Neil Harris kicked off the mind games by stating that all the pressure would be on Fulham.
Parker responded to that statement by saying: “I think there’s big pressure on both. Cardiff were in the Premier League with us last year and ended up eight points better off than us.
“I understand what Neil’s saying, but he’ll be feeling exactly the same. It’s a massive game for both of us, the expectation on both clubs is huge.
“But we embrace that and we look forward to this challenge that lies ahead of us; two games against a very, very good Cardiff team.
“We understand what we’re facing, but we’re looking forward to it.”
When Harris took over from Neil Warnock in mid-November, Cardiff were sitting 14th in the Championship, and Parker praised his efforts in reversing the Welsh club’s fortunes.
“Neil’s done a fantastic job,” he stated. “Expectation at Cardiff would’ve been to be in the position they’re in now and they changed manager because of that maybe.
“Neil’s come in and got them to that position, so he’s done an incredible job. They’re an in-form team, a team which was in the Premier League only last year.”
The Whites head into Monday’s first leg in Wales on the back of a fine run which has seen us collect 17 points from a possible 21.
“We came out of lockdown with a couple of negative results despite the performances being there,” Parker said.
“But we’re now seven undefeated, we’ve had a couple of very good performances in that and scored some goals, had some clean sheets and looked pretty solid at times.
“The momentum at this present moment in time is with us, we’re in form, I sense a real good vibe around the team.
“We’re in a good place, and when you win football matches and you’re undefeated, that breeds that.
“This is the nitty gritty now. 46 games of the season have passed, and we now go into the Play-Offs where there’s a lot at stake.
“We need to worry about ourselves and worry about showing up how I want us to show up. There’s certain ingredients I want in our performance, and if we do that then I know we’ll be fine.
“When you look at Cardiff and the other two teams in the Play-Offs, it’s tough competition, but you wouldn’t expect anything less at this point.”