Sunday 18 October 2009

Zola Looks Down And Out


Anybody else note the physical state of Zola yesterday? It didn't help that he hadn't shaved - C&B Holdings have apparently taken to selling any old metal they find lying around for scrap, they started with any Irons they could move on and have progressed to the shiny steel razor blades - but it was more than that, his cheeks have collapsed in and he has significantly aged. The stress is clearly getting to him so much that it looks like he has taken to sleeping on the bench - a park bench!

Now I am not concerned for Zola the man. He is a big boy now - OK he isn't a big boy I accept but he is old enough to have to accept the consequences for his own actions and decisions. If he can't stand the heat, he can get out of the kitchen - like Keegan and Curbishley - and the beauty about football is that somebody compensates you with millions afterwards! My concern is the message that this physical deterioration gives to the team. Zola looked unwell to me yesterday, a mirror image of the team's performances. What once was dapper is now dishevelled, what once was smiling is now gloomy, what once suggested progress now suggests decline. I suspect that it is all getting a little too much for Gianfranco and it is beginning to show - and that cannot be good news for the confidence and morale of the team.

It must be time for a smiling Duxbury to pop up on a friendly blog site to explain why everything is still running along exactly as mapped out in the project!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

cheer up you wham fans, it could be worse, you could have a keeper who can't deal with crosses, a defender who gives away penalties and a striker who can't score!!

Still there is hope, Spurs had only 2 points after 8 games last season and look at them now. Perhaps the rumours about Rednapp are true and he is about to leave the lane - to replace poor old Zola at upton park. You wish!!

Anonymous said...

He might actually be ill, did you think about that? I had a nasty cold last week, felt and looked terrible. Nothing to do with stress at work, just ill.

Hammersfan said...

Or he might actually be dead 1649. A betting scam may have gone wrong with that late Stanislas goal at Upton Park against Fulham. Maybe the Mafia came knocking. Maybe the real Zola is at the bottom of the Thames in concrete boots. Maybe that guy at Stoke was an imposter, a dishevelled look alike who knows nothing about tactics and how to win a game in the Premiership. It's a possibility isn't it? So Zola isn't looking stressed, he's dead! It all makes sense! Why assume the obvious when there a mirriad of possibilities eh 1649?

Winston said...

He looked like he'd been drinking out a brown paper bag & picking up bumpers off the ground to smoke. He must be under immense pressure. Personally Hammersfan, i do feel for the bloke, yes i am a nice fella, you are correct. He is an idealist who wants to manage a side that plays the beautiful game,but we are not the Italian U/21's & everything appears to be against him at the moment. The next three months is the most important part of his managerial career. He is in the two metre end of the pool now with virtually no swimming experience. I should imagine that he is of the mind to just keep his head above water & hope that things get sorted out & he can go back to his ideals. However, that may not work. As Micky Doohan used to say, sometimes you gotta get the mongrel in ya. On paper we still have a good squad despite losing Neill & Collins. My gut feeling is that we will be bought by the right people, which will refuel enthusiasm. Don't forget a few years ago Redknapp took Portsmouth from almost certain relegation to knocking on Europes door in about the last dozen games. As you say, he's a big boy. He needs to have a shave, put things in perspective, get the gloves on & come out swinging.