It’s operation open net at Fulham! Out of four bitter own goals registered since the beginning of the season, three have emanated from the legwork of John Paintsil. The Ghanaian international defender is on his way to setting a record in the Premier League.
Is John Painstil a double agent? That’s what Mark Hughes, Fulham’s Welsh coach, must be wondering as the Ghanaian defender scored his third own goal this season against Aston Villa.
A record for the highflying performing 29 year-old Paintsil who since joining the Cottagers in 2008 has become a real joy to opposing forces! After Blackpool (2-2) and Liverpool (1-0), Aston Villa (2-2) has become the recent benefactors of the heroic Black Star international’s largesse.
And surprisingly, Fulham is never able to recover from the shock every time Paintsil’s legs carry a ball into the team’s own net. It is no secret that the Ghanaian international’s unrelenting blunders have undermined any hopes of a good start for the Cottagers.
Out in June
But Hughes has run to his defender’s rescue. “John was disappointed at half-time. It was affecting him so I made the early decision to take him off (…) It was a difficult ball for him to deal with but he got it wrong and it can affect your confidence (…) You always review every goal you concede to try to erase any little defaults (…) We picked ourselves up from the own goal and restricted Villa to very few opportunities in the first half.
Paintsil, whose contract expires in June, has a difficult task to stop sending goals flying into his own net. He has become the second player in the history of the Premier League to have scored three times against his own team since Jakobsson (Southampton) during the 2005-2006 season.
