Scott Parker is not '100% sure' why relegated Fulham's form dipped so dramatically after his side closed the gap on Newcastle United but the Whites' boss has acknowledged that his team have 'fallen short'.
With Newcastle a dozen points clear of the drop zone, 18th-placed Fulham had to beat Burnley at Craven Cottage on Monday night to keep their awfully slim hopes of survival alive but the hosts were sent down after losing the game 2-0.
While Newcastle have belatedly hit form at just the right time - the Magpies have claimed as many points (10) in their past five Premier League games as they managed in their 15 matches prior to this run - Fulham have lost six of their last seven fixtures.
You have to go back to March for Fulham's last victory, a 1-0 win against Liverpool at Anfield, which saw Parker's side move within a point of Newcastle albeit the black-and-whites still had a game in hand.
Jamie Carragher touched on that win when he interviewed Parker for Monday Night Football and the Liverpool legend said there was a 'belief right throughout the game that you were going to stay up at that point' before he asked the Fulham boss why results had 'changed so dramatically since then?'
"To be honest with you Jamie, I'm not 100% sure." Parker said after relegation was confirmed. "I was the same. The performance levels have been there. For sure, they have been there.
"The fine margins of this division and the difference and the gulf at times in class are so small.
"The performance was there. They're a young team. Is there an element of that with the pressure that brings? Maybe that's the case but when you look back, I'm really one never to talk about luck because this is nothing to do with that in terms of being on the wrong end of things.
"We've been so close at times but yet so far. I think that's my residing factor really over the course of the last five or six games really. We've just fallen short."
