Lukas Hornicek makes 'not nice' Newcastle United claim after Everton woe & Fulham heroics
Fulham 1-1 Newcastle United: Lukas Hornicek reflected on a point at Fulham on Saturday afternoon.
Lukas Hornicek experienced the highs and lows of goalkeeping for Newcastle United over the past week as he turned from villain against Everton to hero against Fulham.
The £26million summer signing spilt the ball for Everton’s winner at St James’ Park last Monday night before making several fine saves in the 1-1 draw at Fulham.
“My performance is much more positive because I think I did good,” Hornicek told the Gazette. “Of course, the goals like the one against Everton, it's part of my job, unfortunately.
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“It's not the nice part, but we have to keep moving, we have to keep working on and be trying better every game.
“I think we started really well [at Fulham], I think the first 15-20 minutes we were in a better team. Then of course we saw their qualities, they started to make some trouble for us, but I think we handled that kind of well.
“Then in the second half I think from the first moment I feel like we dominated the game and it just wasn't much missing from us taking three points home.”
While Newcastle took the lead through Jacob Murphy 10 minutes from time, their lead lasted only a few minutes before Rodrigo Muniz drew Fulham level. And the Magpies ultimately had Hornicek to thank for avoiding defeat as he pulled out a stunning stoppage-time save to deny Ryan Sessegnon’s powerful strike.
When asked what was going through his head in the moment, the 24-year-old smirked: “Don't freaking hit the corner! That was even what was going on in my head, but I was just ready, I was waiting for the shot and thank God I got my hand on it.
“Positive, 100%. We showed ourselves that we are able to play against a team like Fulham. We made them play the style of game they don't like, they usually like to play tiki-taka.
“This time their option was to play much more direct. We showed ourselves that we are able to play against everybody and there wasn't much missing from us to be more happy tonight.”
Hornicek will now join up with the Czechia squad for the international break before Newcastle host Premier League leaders Arsenal at St James’ Park on November 21 (5:30pm kick-off).