![](https://static.standard.co.uk/2020/11/07/22/newFile.jpg?crop=8:5,smart&quality=75&auto=webp&width=1000)
Ademola Lookman has not often doubted himself in tough times.
There have been a few difficult moments on his journey from playing Sunday league football as a teenager to joining Charlton, sealing a dream Premier League move and then going on a Bundesliga adventure.
The 23-year-old has always had to be tough since playing against older kids in cages in south London and he will need some of that steel after his failed Panenka against West Ham.
Lookman pulled his shirt over his head in embarrassment after his tame chip into the arms Lukasz Fabianski with the last kick of the match cost Fulham a point.
![Premier League - West Ham United v Fulham](https://static.standard.co.uk/2020/11/09/15/2020-11-07T220232Z_1701659712_UP1EGB71P87WC_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-WHU-FUL-REPORT.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
He later offered an apology on Twitter and a defiant: "I will not let one failure hold me back." He will need to show plenty of resilience to get through what are sure to be some dark moments over the coming weeks.
The winger made it into the professional game the hard way. He was playing Sunday league football for Waterloo FC until he was 16 when he was spotted by Charlton. In a trial match for a south London XI, organised by the FA, at Charlton’s training ground in 2013 he caught the eye of the Addicks and was invited to train with their youth team and play in a match. He scored four goals, signed his first contract and was in the first-team two years later.
Lookman soon caught the eye at the Valley and joined Everton for £11million in 2017. After a dramatic Premier League debut in which he came off the bench to score against Manchester City, he struggled to establish himself at Goodison Park and spent 18 months on loan in Germany at RB Leipzig before joining Fulham on loan over the summer.
When faces setbacks, Lookman often returns to his roots to speak to two of the men who know him better than most - Des and Felix, two men who coached him from the age of 11 to 16 while he was playing for Waterloo FC.
“Them reminding me what I have is always refreshing," Lookman said in an interview with the Guardian last year. "Even if there’s that second of doubt where you’re saying, ‘I’m not too sure’, they’re always like: ‘No, no, no, we didn’t start off [playing football] to doubt ourselves, we do it properly, we do it because we back ourselves no matter what the situation is.’”
Scott Parker was left angry after the West Ham game but he knows he and the Fulham squad must rally around Lookman, who has been a silver lining for the Cottagers in the what has been a difficult start to the season.
Lookman knows he made a mistake. But his spark, skill and unpredictability was what attracted Fulham to him so they must not try to remove that from his game now.
Since his switch to Craven Cottage, and across most of the 97 minutes before his penalty against West Ham, Lookman has brought a different dimension to a Fulham forward line which has relied too heavily a burden on Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Lookman's care-free and confident approach to football, encouraged by Julian Nagelsmann and now Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl during his time in Germany, is what makes him the player he is, and Parker must continue to encourage it.
"Showboating in a team that is near the bottom isn’t a good look," warned Peter Crouch, who himself fluffed a Panenka for England, said in his column in the Daily Mail on Monday.
Expressing himself is what Lookman was signed for, perhaps just not with the final kick of the game. Parker, who wants to build his side around mentality, character and hard work, must marry his freedom with an efficient, ruthless streak.
![](https://static.standard.co.uk/2020/11/02/20/Scott%20Parker%20021120.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
It is something all the best strikers come to understand, moments of brilliance can get you in front of goal with a fine chance but it is the basics which convert them. Saturday might well have been enough to cement that notion in Lookman's mind.
"Ade has had a steep learning curve tonight," said Parker. "We will get around him. And we will move on. He will, too."
Lookman will unfortunately be left to stew on his error over what will be an excruciating international break.
He should not lose his swagger or confidence to try things on the ball. But maybe next time just smash the penalty straight down the middle.