And the result is a better player! The all energy style remains but Parker is thinking more. There was that wonderful saving tackle against Everton, perfectly timed, as it had to be otherwise it was a nailed on penalty, but, for the most past, Parker has contented himself with closing and tracking and shadowing - which 99% of the time is all you need to do, funneling players into cul de sacs rather than setting up an unchallenged attack with a needless foul and resultant free kick.
I'm not sure of the rules. I know the yellow card count is wiped at some point. Is the cut off at the end of 2010? If so, Parker has avoided a suspension that seemed inevitable and his yellow card count clocks back to zero. Hopefully, however, he will not come over all headless chicken again. The vast majority of Parker's cards are picked up for stupid, needless challenges. Let's hope, like a puppy, Parker's brain isn't just for Christmas!
29 comments:
Again you post the thoughts of other people aired on west ham forums!!!!
Do I? Which forums? I only look in on the Org occasionally and there is very little in the way of brain waves on there these days. You still felt the need to follow the link here I see. Must be the fresh take on things you crave!
This post is as clueless and unnecessary as the time you said parker and noble need to become more professional.
It would have been more accurate to say parker has been one of the most intelligent players in our side since the day we signed him.
Again it begs two questions.
1) do you go to games
2) are you a spurs fan
(going to watch spurs play doesnt mean you can answer yes to the first question)
So you don't think Parker has adapted his game then? If he has, why did it take 4 bookings to bring him to his senses? If he hasn't, how do you explain him collecting less bookings and commiting less fouls?
The influence of Wally Downes?
You make a fair point HF,PARKER'S game was hampered by his ,lets say,over boisterous tackling.His approach to the game is excellent,I think he has been one of our best players, but there were two areas in his game that holds him back from international duty.1.His lack of goals as a midfielder,where this season he has made improvement and 2.His giving away needless fouls,especially in critical areas of the pitch.Again he definitely has worked on in his game.
Yes I think so Essex. there is a third area of his game that holds him back though - he plays with his head down too much. As a result his awareness of the movement of others is restricted. Noble has a greater passing range than Parker, and so does Obinna.
HF,
You know you adjusted the markings of a couple of players after having viewed on t.v? Can you go back and adjust Cole's too. You made fun of the header of his that Green had to save but it was not his fault.
View the MOTD footage again and you will see that Cole is getting ready to volley it out but it takes a deflection just before and he is left helpless.
Jarvis takes the corner and Milijas flicks it with his head. You probably wont be able to see it but if you turn up the volume you'll hear it just before it goes off Cole towards Green.
Also, you keep arguing with me about my moaning about the manner in which we take corners so go and watch Rooney's one for Hernandez's header again. See how he delivered? That ball was in the middle of the six yard box but it struck with whip and curl that the keeper has no time to try and come for it. Our lot just float 'em up for practice catching.
Can't adjust Coole's rating. He missed TWO absolute sitters. That could have lost us the game for pity's sake. It is not his sole job, but as a centre forward it is a pretty key job!
As for the Hernandez header, he was COMPLETELY unmarked in the 6 yard box! Even Cole would have scored from there and it would not have cleared the first defender if West Brom had defended it properly. Watch the react of the West Brom player who, too late, sees the absence of marking and deperately tries to close the corner. He gesticulates at the ground. He's amazed that nobody cleared the corner and that Carson didn't come to take it! I was laughing as I watched it and said, defending like that, West Brom will go down. They were good on the ball and awful without it. Teams who can't defend get relegated!
Coole's rating? Why do I keep double typing vowels? Cole certainly aint cool!
The defending was bad but look at the corner, that is what I am saying. Put it this way; if the one of our corners was aimed at that very spot, with the very same defending, it would never have led to a goal because our crossing gives defenders and keepers time to react accordingly.
You'd wanna get that vowel problem seen to.
We attempt those corners and they never clear the first defender! Stanislas tried a couple in the Fulham game and was taken off corner taking duty! If you get the corner into the mix you stand a chance. If you don't clear the first defender, it is completely wasted.
Stani, am I right in saying u mean as to take free kicks in the same way you would take a direct free kick? That is by far and away the beat technique for successfully effective corners, I'm afraid we jus don't have the personell of the calibre to execute them, especially while Obinna, and to an extent Noble, are stuck on the bench.
Diamanti could do it nicely.. Wonder what happened to him?! 1.5 million you say!! Madness..
Jack
The trouble there Jack, is that Diamanti hit the first defender so often that he was taken off corner duty and it was given to Noble again! And Stani reckons Noble is a hopeless taker of corners!
That's right Jack. Only Obinna and Stan try it. Nobes chickens out. I'm not saying he can't do it but he doesn't try for fear of cocking it up so just floats them in. Hardly a reason for not wanting to improve oneself.
HF,
I completely agree but we shouldn't stop trying for goodness sake. The chances of causing trouble with a well taken corner increase exponentially so why settle for just getting it in the mix when you can try whipping one in and causing havoc? And I'm not surprised Stan gets it wrong if he always has that fear of being removed from corner duty at the back of his mind. If I can do it, they bloody can. They have a ball at their feet every day. What the hell do they practice in training? Are the coaches dumb?
Those floated corners are such an irritating waste.
Of course they CAN do it, but the margin of error is so minute that even Beckham hits the first man 75% of the time he tries it! So does Obinna, and Stanislas. How many goals have we scored from a whipped in near post corner this season?
How many whipped corners have we tried? Not many.
How many have we scored from floaters? Not as many as we would have had we tried whipping them in.
Beckham doesn't get it wrong 75% of the time HF.
If we practice of course we'll improve. Some teams have better bloody throw-ins than we have corners!
The hoofers of our league, the likes of Stoke, Blackburn, Bolton have better corners than us. We're like the old Wimbledon. This is just another one of your old fashioned views on Footy HF :) But I suppose they couldn't whip them in in those days with their concrete footballs and lead boots!
Is it alright if I call you granddad?
Thanks God Noble's corner cleared the first defender against Tottenham eh Stani?
25th September 2010? Yep I remember, more than 3 months ago. That's a great conversion rate. What was I thinking? I really should be less greedy HF.
Can I just add that you agreed with me that that goal was primarily down to Piquionne's great leap and not the cross which you had to watch again and correct yourself on. But I suppose with corners like that, our attackers' leaps do have to be out of this world like Upson's was against Wolves.
Floated corners are fine, if you have the tallest players in the box.
Whipped corners are fine, I you have taller players than the oppositions 1st man, because they come in so fast they don't have time to get back down to head height after beating the first man.
Half of the blame is on the delivery. The other half is on the attacking players movement. We are too static when we have attacking corners, how hard can it be to Mark someone who doesn't move?!
This explains a lot how Tim Cahill scores so many headers, he starts most corners ranging on the edge of the D.
Jack
You are spot on Jack. Variety is the key. One thing I never understood under Zola was how frequently we took short corners, with Diamanti the worst offender in playing it short to Faubert of all people. They NEVER worked, but we kept doing it. The same with free kicks. We would get one in the opposition half and play it five yards to the left or right. We still do this sometimes and it bloody infuriates me. If you have a set play, get it into the box and see what happens!
But you are right. You need movement, set plays and options. If you have somebody like Piquionne, who has a great leap, then you look to exploit it, but you also try other things to keep the opposition guessing. Parker's cornners have been poor because they have been dollied into the box. Noble is much better at it. The ball has far more pace on it, if not the "whip" that Stani is calling for. The Stanislas corners were AWFUL. He took three, two failed to beat the first defender and one was sat up for the keeper to catch, lacking the pace and height to bring Piquionne into play.
When you have Cole, Piquionne, Upson, Ben Haim and Tomkins to attack the cross, you should be getting the ball into the mix as often as possible - hitting a space two to five yards outside the six yard box to put the keeper into a state of uncertainty.
Jack,
I agree on your first point about floated corners. I disagree on your second point about whipped corners not being able to get down in time. If it is possible to whip the ball up and down for a direct free-kick, then it's even more possible to do so for a corner.
As for floated corners, I think they are still useful but only if you have a tall player like Zigic or Crouch or if you have someone who has a great leap like Da Costa does. Or, if like Liverpool do with Gerrard or Man Utd with Scholes/Rooney, you float a surprise corner to the edge of the box for a first time volley.
I also agree with your last point abut getting in a run before you leap for your header. It gives you a clear advantage, not only in terms of height but also momentum which can keep a defender down and out of the way. This run is something usually only seen done by the attacker though. I have suggested on here before that not enough defenders use this trick to defend corners. It's such an advantage.
HF,
Youre exaggerating the number short corners Diamanti took mate. Noble dollied them just like Parker!
It's about positioning as well surely?
Ah Jill! I was wondering where you were. Where's Jack gone now? Hmmm
You mean positing of the attackers?
Sorry for my absence, I fell down and broke my crown :-(
Stani, I accept that the ball can dip after the first man, and at head height for the crowd in the box, but that takes unbelievable tekkers, which I'm afraid that doesn't exist in the lower regions of the prem! (MG Pedesen may be excused)
To conclude, whipped crosses are undoubtedly better, IF you can do it.. Big IF!! lol
Unberrrlieeevable tekkers!
Yeh, we need to work on our tekkers. We, our club, need to be associated with that kind of play. It is something we should aim for. Let the youngsters (Obinna/Stan) do it I say. Practice makes....
... a lot of lost points and a position in the bottom three.
So that's what we've been doing!? :)
By the way HF, 'Tekkers' is 'technique'. (He's got a few years on us Jack...to put it kindly)
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