Friday, 3 June 2011

How the Parker Adulation Broke Team Spirit

I am only a fan, not a player in the dressing room, but I am right royally pissed off with all this crap about how "only Parker" was trying last season. Time and again you read, "Parker was the only one who cared...Parker gave everything, unlike the other tossers...Parker was playing on his own last season, carrying the team on his back...blah Parker blah".

Tell me, how do you think that makes the rest of the team feel? Only Parker tried? So tell me, what was Noble doing when he played a week after having his appendix removed? He obviously didn't care! And what was Spector up to when he was charging around the pitch after being drafted into midfield? Did he look like a player who didn't give a toss? And Green wasn't trying in goal presumably?

What about Tomkins? When he tried to keep Drogba, Davies and Rooney at bay, trying to establish himself as a Premiership defender, he wasn't really trying presumably? And I take it that Jacobsen kept running up and down that right flank because there was a pretty woman at either end of the pitch and he was trying to see up her skirt? And Cole had that rant about Grant because he didn't care presumably?

What about Freddie Sears? He was having a kip on the wing each time he got a game was he? Bloody ran around a lot in his sleep didn't he? Boa didn't care when he played? Ba didn't try? Collison couldn't give a monkeys when he returned? Hitz wasn't bothered?

Of course there were some players who disappointed in terms of effort - Piquionne, Barerra, Behrami, Upson perhaps - but to tar the whole lot with the same brush is unfair. And if I was one of the "team", I would look at the Parker adulation and the way he was exempted from all blame because of his "effort" and think, well fcuk you! And if I was a centre back staring into the hole vacated by Parker as he charged around like a headless chicken, I would think, "Who is this floppy haired guy playing for,the team or his own reputation?"

21 comments:

  1. are we not talking about "professional" footballers on money we mere mortals can only dream of?
    Surely they should have enough back bone and pride to ignore all the Parker hype.
    I can't accept this as some sort of excuse for the abject team performances I'm afraid.

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  2. I'd never looked at it like that so thanks for giving me food for thought. I didn't subscribe to the whole 'the players don't care' philosophy anyway. As I live in Devon I don't get to many games but went to my fair share last season and the team looked like they cared they just seemed unfit, unprepared, disorganised or just not good enough. Not being good enough is no-one's fault but I felt that every time the ball was crossed into our box the opposition would score and I dreaded the last 15 minutes of every game. The players can't absolve themselves of all blame, they are adults and professionals after all and they have to do the business on the pitch, but surely this obvious lack of fitness, preparation and organisation is down to the coaching staff?

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  3. It is a good point you make regarding other players trying too HF, but I'd be surprised if any significant number of them held the kind of bad feeling towards him you suggest. Then things like his halftime team talk wouldn't have worked and we'd pick up signs of it here and there. Cole's interview after that game showed they all appreciated Parker's efforts (generally)

    The best or most lauded player in a team is not always disliked (through jealousy or whatever) by his teammates.

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  4. what a load of crap. if "the parker adulation" broke the team spirit what the hell happened half time at west brom.
    parker had to run around the whole pitch as he was trying to do more than one job i.e help defend with tomkins as he didnt have a decent partner all season, try and be a playmaker in midfield, get to the edge of the box to try and get goals and trying to lift the team as upson was an awfull captain all season and all this while playing through injuries or bereavment.

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  5. There you go again! Who put his nose on the end of Kevin Davies' boot? That would be Upson. You do sum upp how Parker failed in his duty as an anchor midfielder, however, which is why the centre backs were exposed so often. Where was Parker for the first West Brom goal in that 3-3? Wrong side, coming back too late, trying to tackle from behind. Who gave away the free kick for the third goal? Parker. Wrong side, trying to get back, tackling from behind. Had Parker HELD HIS POSITION, we wouldn't have been three down at half time so that team talk wouldn't have been necessary!

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  6. The team as you say weren't organised, end of!! silly tactics no organisation is what cost us!! Don't think it had anythign to do with Parker getting all the applause, jut the team wasn't organised! The players weren't given clear instructions so weren't sure of what they were doing. Parker hold? Really? He's not a holding midfielder, he's a box to box midfielder,all action midfielder he's not a holding player! Don't know where people get he's a holding midfielder from!! A holding midfielder, is someone who goes abotu it quielty and breaks up play, i.e Gilberto Silva, Makelele, Lucas!!

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  7. Really? Bet he doesn't play box to box for England. he didn't against Wales! He lacks the passing and shooting ability for that role which is why he has never cut it as a box to box midfielder at the highest level. Found out at Chelsea and found out for England. Capello's new 4-3-3 formation sits Parker in the anchor role, a role he is suited to.

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  8. Yet another tirade in your personal vendetta against Scott Parker eh? You're obviously short on ideas and material today?
    This one is particularly hypocritical mind, given that each of the "rest of the team" that you list, YOU personally have much maligned and portrayed as non-triers in countless critical posts!! Amnesia maybe??

    I'm very surprised you haven't posted blaming the club's unfortunate relegation for affecting your precious 'hit counter'...because let's face it, you're no longer appearing on the front page of NewsNow are you HF?!

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  9. I honestly don't think they had specific instructions as to what they should do as individual players, or as a team, which was the cause of the chaos we had to put up with. this situation will now be rectified very soon

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  10. Did parker bugger you against your will in a previous life? You have waged war on him for years. You've had endless articles about him including him leaving for Spurs. You suggested, last season, that Parker slows the team down and that we'll play better without him. I didn't witness many wins without Parker last season. Mind you, I didn't witness many wins fullstop.

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  11. Different scenario! West Ham he was probably our most creative player.. So you can't have a holding player as your most creative. England more creative players, more displined squad better manager! He can sit, as he's not the most creative player! West Ham if he just sat would have been relegated at Christmas!

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  12. parker is a holding player but thinks he is a midfield general end of. I was just reading some comments on WHTID and the amount of stick noble gets for errors he has apparently made is ridiculous then saying him and parker are similar but if you look at games like liverpool and tottenham noble played well because parker just sat and held and we got 4 points from them 2 games but when parker thinks he can do everything we lose. and parker has made at least 3 times as many errors leading to goals then noble has anyway

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  13. Hmmm... all great except one thing, MOM on numerous occasions, Player of the year, Hammer of the Year x 3 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, KUMB player of the year, Ilford recorder player of the year...

    Against Wales in the qualifiers for Euro 2012 he was universally recognised as one of England's top players in the victory, acting as a holding midfielder.

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  14. No disrespect to Wales but I don't think you have to be the best midfielder to play the holding role there. I'll judge parker as a 'holding player' when England play bigger teams. In terms of West Ham though; how anyone can have anything but praise for Parker is unbelievable! We would have been down by christmas without him.

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  15. VALON BEHRAMI insists he would not want to play under Sam Allardyce at West Ham and says club's demise began the day they sacked Gianfranco Zola.

    Hammers co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold this week hired Allardyce as boss following the Londoners' relegation from the Premier League.

    Some West Ham fans have expressed concern about the brand of football adopted by Allardyce at his previous clubs and Behrami, who left Upton Park for Fiorentina in January, could only agree with the fans' fears.

    The Switzerland international said: "I don't like to play that way.

    "I like to play like Zola wants to play, every time with the ball, every time trying to be attractive as well."

    Allardyce succeeded Avram Grant, who in turn took over from Zola after the Italian was sacked last summer despite managing to avoid the drop.

    Behrami said: "They sacked him for no reason.

    "We'd had a difficult season but we secured safety two or three games before the end of the season, even though we'd had a lot of difficult situations with the club and the takeover.

    "All the team was with him. We felt that, with him as manager, we could improve. I know that is how I felt.

    "So the players were very, very sad when they sacked him and the first day with the new manager was difficult to accept."

    Grant never managed to win over Behrami.

    He said: "It was a time when he had to change something, he had to bring something new. But he didn't give a thing.

    "We tried to do a good job but what the players needed was a reaction.

    "We needed something new and we didn't feel that we got it. We felt that the situation was the same, going down."

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3617344/VALON-BEHRAMI-insists-he-would-not-want-to-play-under-Sam-Allardyce-at-West-Ham.html

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  16. Trouble is Shaun, the hit counter has gone mad over the last week! Hits are increasing as more and more choose to read honest opinion rather than arse licking.If you read with a little more care, you would see that the article is critical of people like you - those who put Parker on a pedestal - rather than critical of Parker himself, except for his failure to protect the centre backs.

    1312, there you have it in a nutshell: you didn't witness many wins, full stop. Doesn't that suggest that something to you? Perhaps the squad needed a more dramatic overhaul which was only possible if Parker were sold.

    1638, I'm not sure if you realise that being relegated at Christmas and relegated in may makes no fcuking difference whatsoever. We were bottom at Christmas and bottom in May so please explain how Parker helped exactly!

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  17. You've outdone yourself this time. If your intention was to annoy most of us then congrats = you've succeeded. You seem to talk sense about 5% of the time- I'm being generous to you the by the way. This latest 'insight' of yours belongs to the remaining 95% of ignorant, contrary, publicity seeking drivel that you churn out. If you can't see that Scotty was head and shoulders above the rest of them (and I love the likes of Noble and Tomkins before you throw that one at me) then you need to find another sport cos you now nothing about this one. We were lucky to have him. His only downfall was timing, in that he played for us at this low-point in our history. Had it not been for him relegation would have come a year earlier- end of. The vast majority of irons fans could see what he was. Do you think we're all wrong and that the 1% of which you're a laery part of are somehow the only ones with their fingers on the pulse? Wise up.

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  18. When did our results dip? When Parker became the main man! Coincidence? Apparently.

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  19. HF- Parker only became the main man after so many of what had been a good team were sold off from around him. By default, he became the best player at the club, and he never took a backward step when it came to effort.

    Selling many of your best players has the effect of weakening a side - result? Our past two seasons.

    To suggest that the results we have had since 2009 are the consequence of Parker becoming the best player at the club is, frankly, daft.

    Dig a little deeper and you'll see that Scott Parker is not to blame. He was just the one who had to turn out the lights when he was last man standing.

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  20. Zito, I don't disagree with you. My argument is that had Parker been sold instead of, for example, Collins, we would still be a Premiership side. Obviously, it's not Parker's fault that Zola and the Board thought he was better than he actually is, but the fans are culpable as this article suggests. Far too many bought into the "In Scotty we trust!" mantra!

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  21. Behrami was paid an excessive amount of money to play football for West Ham F C not choose managers for the club or decide who he would or would not play for. The bloke is a slimey git.

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