Here's a stat. After his goal rush in the first third of the season, Parker has returned to type and has gone 15 games without scoring. Hitz, on the other hand, started for the first time and scored immediately. In 115 starts for West Ham, Parker has scored just 10 goals, or an average of just 3 goals per 38 Premiership games. That is not good enough for a midfield player, unless he is playing the anchor role; which Parker refuses to do.
In the first half at West Brom and last night against Burnley, it was the same old story. As soon as we lost possession, the back four were utterly exposed because there was no screening offered by our midfield. Why? Because nobody accepted responsibility for sitting and holding: Parker, Noble and Hitz all wanted to play the game in the opposition half.
But why is Parker the one to hold? Simple, Noble and Hitz are better at the other jobs. Der Hammer has the potential to slam home crucial goals so you want him breaking forward as often as possible; and Noble has a far superior range of passing than Parker. Meanwhile, as he showed against Denmark, Parker is perfectly equipped to sweep up in front of the back four.
So what is going on? Basically, Parker doesn't want to do the blue collar job, he wants to be the main man, to be the midfield general and to run around like a headless chicken, like Beckham when he was pumped up against Greece all those years ago. Beckham, of course scored that glorious equaliser in the last minute, so all was forgiven, but up until that point, he played like a junior school kid, forgetting he was part of a team. And that is true of Parker too. Time and again, he surges forward with no regard for what will happen if we lose the ball.
The solution to our woes is simple. Parker needs to sit and hold. His job should be sweeping up and releasing short passes to Noble, who is our true play maker. Hitz's primary job should be to link midfield to attack, operating as much as possible in advanced positions, aka Van der Vaart at Spurs.
We still have a problem, in that Ba and Cole probably cannot be accommodated in the same team. Given Grant is fixated, like Zola before him, on 4-3-3, only one of Ba and Cole can be sensibly accommodated, with Sears and Stanislas or Obinna (when fit), the natural choices to play as the wide men.
So, we end up with a formation that reads
Green
Jacobsen, Tomkins, Da Costa, Bridge
Parker
Noble Hitzlsperger
Sears Stanislas or Obinna
Ba
That team would be defensively sound, with Sears and Stanislas dropping back when not in possession and Parker screening the back four. There would also be plenty of attacking potential too, with Sears and Stanislas coming in off the flanks and Hitz offering goals from midfield. As the more natural goalscorer, I would go for Ba over Cole.
However, is anybody brave enough to tell Parker to do the dirty job? Somehow I doubt it!
40 comments:
Parker has always been a a problem since being identified as a precocious talent when he was a lad. He's never settled into a regular role at any club and despite obviously having energy, passion and some talent, no coach has settled him into working at doing one job well. He always reminds me of my daughter demonstrating her ballet skills; charging across the floor before pirouetting and falling over! Far too often runs into a space that he should pass into and at the end of the day; looks as if he's done well without really contributing to the team performance. I would have sold him and bought two or three players to create a better balance. Ironically he may be better suited to playing in a better team although having said that he didn't exactly pull up trees at Chelsea. One thing I would say in his favour; he's a much better captain than Upson!
Well we chime there Marty!
I'm not sure if I have suddenly skipped to an alternate universe in my sleep.... coz this article is clearly from another planet. Do you actually watch and understand football. If Parker isn't a holding midfielder then the Pope isn't Catholic! Holding midfielder doesn't mean you're not allowed to leave your own half. Lets be serious, Parker came on second half for England against Denmark and put Gareth Barry to shame by showing him how a holding midfielder really plays. Parker isn't there to score goals. That's what forwards are paid for. Parker is there to drag this extremely under-achieving West Ham team out of the dumps for the majority of the season as he does every season and in my opininon we don't deserve him. Open your eyes and ears and actually talk to Scotty Parkers team mates. They will tell you the real reason why we clawed back to get a 3-3 draw against West Brom - and that reason was Scott Parker and his half time team talk (not Avram Grant funnily enough). Tell Parker's team mates that he isn't worth a carrot. I bet I can tell you what their response to you would be!!!
I tell you what Rob (any relation to Neil?), if Parker is playing as the holding midfielder, he is shit at it because he is never in position when we lose the ball! That's my point, he SHOULD be holding, but he doesn't. He surges forward regardless of whether there is cover behind him!
Interestingly, when Barry and Parker came on against Denmark, Capello clearly instructed Barry to play the more advanced role of the two. Parker's job was restricted to sweeping in front of the back four and releasing simple passes, which he did very well. Did he surge forward against Denmark? He barely got into the opposition half and only once in 45 minutes ventured as far forward as the edge of the opposition penalty box. That is NOT the role he plays for West Ham, unfortunately.
great post HF and exactly what i have been saying and anybody who talks about collison atthe oment i dont even think he will be back this season and also think its better tha tway the nrushing him back and he has to a dean ashton. parker definteley has let all the captain marvel stuff g oto his head and we couldve got rid of him for 12 mill in summer and bought 2 quality players. Oh dont forget HF you will soon have Stanie chasing afte ryou about your comments to do with noble
Oh well..... not long to go before you post your usual 'Parker is leaving' blog. You're eventually get that one right...... and tell us that you told us so.
Stani has gone quiet on the Noble front! Are you Asian Fred as another poster claimed?
if that is Barry playing advanced for England then Capello has got some serious communication issues (although that is already obvious)! I feel somewhat sorry for a player who is criticised for having a natural personality to try and take the weight of His team and pull them through matches when other players clearly aren't pulling their weight. I think maybe we should tell Parker to adopt their mentality and let him get away with only giving 40per cent like the rest of the team. The fact is he wouldn't have any of it because he doesn't know how to give anything less than 110 per cent. If due to frustration, Parkers tenacity as an individual means that he feels the need to try and make up for the lack of effort elsewhere in the team then I admire that, if you see that as a negative then we are clearly on a different page. The benefits far outweigh the negatives. You talk about Capello's instructions, I dread to think what instructions, if any, Avram gives his players before a game.
were you actually at the game last night..Parker was holding and allowing both the hammer and Noble to float and go forward. He was dropping back when either Lars or Bridge went forward. He also interlinkex play and swopped around with Noble and Parker. He is instrumental and I think you getting carried away with a good 66 mins of Der Hammer
But Rob, as you say yourself, he is not a goalscorer and by surging up field he leaves us so vulnerable. That is why I ask if he is the problem. Look what happened to England against Germany when Barry pressed forward, we were ripped apart by Germany as soon as they won possession, and isn't that what happens to us game after game? We need somebody to fit and hold, not lose his head.
Second half, Parker held much more, and how much better did we look because of it?
The fact is we lose the ball far more than most teams and I don't care who you had playing in the holding role, it would look like they were out of position too. For a holding player to hold good position, the whole midfield has to work together and compliment them. If you lose possession as West Ham do in nightmare positions Makelele would have struggled to look good. I'm not talking about him pushing forward, like I say that is down to his personality and frustration as a player. And whoever said 2 quality players for 12 million quid???? FIrstly West Ham only get players who no one else wants and I doubt you could replace Parker for 12 million. Attacking midfielder Van der Vaart and an 8 million pound price tag doesn't come round very often so to buy a good holding player for that would be very difficult.
Any midfielder would struggle to look good when West Hamgive the ball away so much in awful areas. Makelele would struggle to look good. the whole midfield has to compliment the holding player. its not all down to the holding player. him pushing forward is borne out of frustration and his personality to try and help out in lacking areas.
no i am not asian i am english who has claimed im asian
He mustn't get frustrated Rob, simple. Trott and Cook didn't get frustrated because others were giving away their wickets, they stuck to their jobs. If Parker did that, we would concede far fewer goals and so we wouldn't need to score as many to win games.
Parker is not the problem and never was. Noble coming back and losing the ball in midfield was always a problem, however. Granted, last night Mark made some very good assists and had a rather good game. But if you want to blame someone for our defensive frailties don't start with Parker. Parker is and always was part of the solution, not part of the problem at West Ham. Hitz is the player we always needed to make us team up front. It is player we have been missing since letting Benayoun go and more. I hope he stays healthy because he is our ticket out of this hole.
you take away parkers whole hearted style of play and you lose the player himself. Parker can't change the way he plays and then still manage to possess all the qualities he has. It's like trying to tame a lion. I'd be frustrated playing in that team. Everything he does is in order to get results for the team, the fans everyone. Just think of the people he was playing with before Noble and Hitzlsperger came back from injury...boa morte, kovac and spector alike. now if I was the senior role model player like Parker is playing with them I would also have very little faith that we could support the front play effectively. Its an innate part of Parker and I wouldn't change it for the world. The midfield is strengthened now so let Parker shine shine shine!!!!
I think I agree Sav. I don't want Noble dropping deep, I want Parker there so Noble can play higher. But if Parker is playing the holding role, he has to hold!
As the holding midfielder? If so, fine. But will he do the job we need him to do or will he continue to play gungho?
I am sure Parker can play the role. But, he is who he is and we don't really want him to change. With Noble in front and not dropping back too much to defend and Hitz being the lubricating oil we have been missing we may be able to be a coherent team and more threatening in attack. Let's hope so. You see, we do agree sometimes!
I hope Stani is well. I can't imagine him not making a comment on this!
19:17 British English or English English? be careful how you answer.
In direct answer to your question , no, you are. You know nothing of football have an inate ability to stop yourself admitting when you are wrong. The man is outstanding saved us and won us so much, whilst u are simply a myopic prick!!
Give it up move on and say out loud for us all to hear "i am an annoying cock who knows very little about football and could not pick a good player out of my own arse if he shagged me up it"
2150 Now Bishop was a good player! Was never convinced by Morley however!
Damn Blackpool beating Spuds makes our job that much harder.
like you team speak to brady maybe the end of the season the job could be yours
"Hitzlsperger delivers a smashing response to great expectations" nice article in the Evening Standard.
Alright ladies? Been missing me?
Bloody hell HF...you cant fill the previous posts with how crap Burnley are and then on the other hand laud Noble for doing two passes in the game against them. He will simply not be given that kind of time, space and room in behind opposition defences in the league, which is why he doesnt do it there consistently enough. I have no qualms if he produces this week in week out in the top flight but the fact is he doesnt. Let's not get too excited, it was Barnsley remember!
I would personally have Hitz in the playmaker role and Parker holding. If Parker had a twitter account, I'd have told him already. And in answer to your question "Is Parker the problem?", no, it's still Noble! :) I agree with Sav, Parker has never been the problem.
Now the reason Parker feels he needs to go forward is because we're so crap and he feels like he has to do everything. This ties in with Robs point on Parker feeling the need to pull us through matches. It also ties into Marty's point of Parker doing better in a better team. He would, like he did for England, because automatically he knows that he no longer is the main man and will fall into doing his natural role of clearing up as he knows other people are much better at going forward and creating AND he can rely on 'em.
.......Ba... Cole/Keane when fit
..Obinna..Hitz...Sear/Coll/Dyer
..........Parker
Bridge..Da Costa..Tomkins..Jacob
...........Green
*By the way, how nicely would Eagles fit in on the right there!
I think my team would beat yours HF. If you disagree with me, I'm gonna come 'chasing after you'. Wrong blog Fred...it's on WHTID men go chasing men!
Fred,
This may come as a shock to you, so sit down before you carry on reading, but a person can be Asian AND English at the same time.....despite what a certain 'political' group may say. You should have helped Fred out there HF. You have a duty of care.
Stani, it was Burnley not Barnsley. And it was also West Brom at the weekend. And before you dismiss them, you quoted them in your evidence when you claimed we scored more goals when Noble wasn't in the team. You can't have it all ways mate.
*Burnley ;)
Yep I'm happy with your team too Stani
I noticed.
But we do score more goals without him HF. That is not in dispute and you know it.
You know he wont get that time and space in the league. You know he is slow.
I'm more than happy if he does it.
i can not believ what i am reading. it is blatant that the people saying parker is your porblem do not watch football or have had a bad experience on football manager and hate parker for that reason etc. i am a west brom fan and against us parker from start to finish showed his amazing ability. i was impressed with noble (skillful and intelligent player) but parker is such a great player. his techincal qualities go unoticed (even by his own fans byt the looks of it). he reads the game well, picks the right passes, loves to get stuck in and going forward can look rather good. his leadership skills are top class aswell. for me he is englands best dm at the moment for doing the so called 'makelele'. for me your problem is obviously your awful defence and those two overrated players (upson and green). your defence is diabolical and you can't blame parker for that!
As a West Brom fan, of course, you would know that Upson wasn't playing in the game you talk about.
dont bloody act smart about the asian english thing. i am full english, born in england and have no links to any other countries
Fred, you sound like a breakfast! I have no idea where the idea that you were Asian came from, some idiot suggested it. Not that it matters in any way. As Stani says, you can be Asian and English, or even "Full English" and Asian. Not that many of us are "Full English", most of us have Angle, Saxon, Norman, Viking or Roman in there somewhere, even before the new wave immigration that followed the Second World War when Commonwealth nations fought for our freedom and this country needed to suck in working age men to replace those who had died in conflict.
Is that ok Stani?
That's better HF. You could maybe tell Fred more about the commonwealth nations and allied forces. He probably thinks my granddads were sitting on their behinds in WW2 but they weren't.
Fred, I wasn't making fun.
This blog is really just 4 blokes talking to each other with HF playing the radio antagonist clown. Get some real quality and evidence based judgements and you might make the site almost as sticky as your sheets. Total crap thus far.
P.S. Parker is simply in our hall of fame already!
12:41 fred don't be a pillock mate - of course you have links to other countries, you can't even use the Queen's English, Queen's spelling or the Queen's punctuation so how can you claim to come from here?
Anyway we're all mongrels.... no one is pure 100% pure anything.
21:58 I have to say you are right - freds command of the English language is not what it should be.
Post a Comment