The Parker Problem centred on Scotty's inability to play the midfield general role effectively and the failure of successive managers to use him in the holding role to which he was best suited. The problem presented by Nolan is that he now appears to be more of a second striker than an out and out midfielder, forcing Dooctor Evil to look for the extra insurance of a 5 man midfield for fear that we will be cut to ribbons if Nolan is included as one of four.
That was fair enough when we didn't have a striking pair that would work together but now, following the arrival of Baldock and the resurgence of Cole, we suddenly have a strike force that could fire us to promotion and beyond. None of us know how good the kid is, but we never will know if he isn't played and one sure fire way of blunting a young striker is to leave him on the bench. As Cole shows, confidence is king with strikers and Baldock arrived on the back of a goal glutted start to the season. Leave him brooding too long on the bench and he will snatch at chances when he gets on the pitch and anxiety and tension will suffocate his potential.
But if you want a holding midfielder, a creative general in midfield and two players naturally suited to playing on the flanks, how can you accommodate Nolan, Cole and Baldock? The most "natural" 4 in midfield, if looking at what they can bring to the "midfield" team, would appear to be Diop as the holding midfielder, Taylor on the left, Faubert or Bentley on the right, and Lansbury in the middle - and interestingly Lansbury is scoring goals, the job Nolan did for Newcastle.
It may seem an odd point to be making when we are smashing in 4 goals a game and some will say, if it aint broke, don't fix it, but something still isn't right. Pompey scored three and Forest would have scored three too if their strikers were better. This is the Championship, thank God, so we are not coming up against real quality but, looking ahead, Premiership teams would have a field day against us. Maybe introducing Diop at the hub of the 5 man midfield is the answer. In which case Baldock already looks surplus to requirements.
One thing's for sure, Nolan is looking like a shadow of the player who led Newcastle so superbly over the last two seasons and, already, his inclusion may be presenting problems to team shape. Sam needs to sort his captain out, and quickly.
26 comments:
Nolan's legs are gone - we noticed it towards the end of last season - we were happy to get shot.
I actually don't think he is playing THAT bad. Some of his all around play has been ok and he has knicked a couple of goals. I just think now with that bit more invention we seem to have in the team we will start to dominate games. The key to playing in that position just between the striker and the midfield is having a lot of possesion. If you have a lot of possesion then the player playing in that role will get more touches and because this is the most dangerous position on the park the player playing there will score and assist a lot if he is worth his corn. So after the next 5 games when everyone is more used to one another I think we will see the best of Kevin Nolan.
On the Baldock thing, I reckon SA is just doing the right thing and letting him bed in to the team and letting him get his fitness up to the higher standard neccesary for playing in a higher division. If he is as good as SA thought he was he won't be on the bench for long.
Onto the other point about team shape. It is a nice problem to have. I would personally give Nolan a chance in centre of midfield with Diop and have Cole and Baldock up front. This is purely because he is captain and so should have first dibs on the position. If he isn't playing well in their after about 3 games I would then put Lansbury in there.
I think Fat Sam is suggesting that Nolan isn't as fit as he should be as he missed six weeks preseason with an operation. Might explain the lack of midfield action and hanging around up front, assumming he is guilty of that as I didn't see the game yesterday.
"whereas Kevin Nolan had six weeks off with an operation, George McCartney's been bombed out at Sunderland, Joey O'Brien hadn't played for two-and-a-half years and Abdoulaye Faye didn't play for the last six months at Stoke"
Ref: KUMB.com Staff Writer, http://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=125672
Last Accessed: 11/09/11
I have to admit, as I watched the game online yesterday, I started to allow this thought creep into my mind;
Could Newcastle have been right? Could they have pulled a Wenger and unloaded a guy with the whole world wondering why, only to have been a step ahead?
I still doubt it. I hope the reason for his doldrums was the crowd created by him and Parker. So still a bit early to do any more than raise the collective eyebrow we are raising.
Nolan does seem a little subdued and out of place. But we all know what he can do and I still believe he will come good. Sam will need to fix whatever the problem is there.
Baldock should be given a chance to show what he can do and I am sure his time will come soon. The two players that were outstanding for me yesterday were Matty Taylor and Lansbury. The youngster from Arsenal has both skill and steel in him and as you say creates and scores goals. Taylor is also full of substance and skill in everything he does. I think he is clearly our best signing.
Noble is the odd one out for me and it is high time we try a starting eleven without him. We have the personnel to do that now.
Incidentally, did you see Parker's run and assist in the fist goal the Spurs scored yesterday? Outstanding!
LOL I did. Outstanding? He poked a pass five yards ahead of him through a gaping hole in the Wolves defence. It was hardly Messi! I think Adebayor deserves credit for staying onside and taking the pass personally. I'm not dissing parker here, I think he had a good game from the little I saw and he chalked up an assist. Let's see how things unfold shall we? Wolves in the Prem when you have the quality of players around you that parker has at Spurs is like playing for England against Wales. Let's see how he copes when the opposition improves. Remember, we would have won at Wolves but for Clattenbung, and Noble's pass to Piquionne for the "winner" in that game was much better than Parker's to Adebayor!
I think it's high time everyone just forget about Parker & just concentrate on our season! We had the best out of him & he's now on the wrong side of 30...
Nolan is a great player & will come good. Give the man a chance! Noble has gone backwards in my opinion, so I'd personally drop him. No player is bigger than the team.
is it a coincidence nolans best two games were both away? scoring the winner against doncaster and the crucial 2nd against notts forest. what players have performed well at home? loosing to cardiff and aldershot and drawing with leeds (because they missed a pen) and even the 4-3 against pompey was hard work. nolan has been a lynhchpin of our away sucess so surely it is a formation/home form as a team problem
I did go to the game yesterday and there is obviously still quite a lot wrong, but I think Big Sam will eventually get matters right.
Noble I thought tried very hard,took the knocks and carried on regardless. One must give him credit for that. His pass for Cole's brilliantly headed goal was also superb, whether he fits in positionally, or there is a better squad player for his place is another matter.
What really made a difference was Bentley coming on, he appears to be exactly what has been missing. He seems to find space in midfield to receive the ball from the defence beats players in the middle and feeds the attackers on the wings or through the middle with great accuracy, he was very impressive and underlined once more that Parker won't be missed.
Disappointing not to see Baldock, but reckon Big Sam will bring him on at an away game where the pressure is off.
Please don't start another of your infamous witch-hunts.
We've been through Duxbury, Zola and Parker.
I don't think I could stand another!
Same thing as at newcastle with Nolan, casual observers looking at his record over the last 2 seasons just see the goals but thats about it for his actual contribution if hes not scoring hes not doing anything, doesn't do much defensively and his passing range is only average at best and its been clear since his latter Bolton days he has not been looking after himself as a professional should, little to no pace and thats before he's 30 dare not imagine how slow he'll be when hes approaching his mid 30's. Another fact worth noting is before Andy Carroll left he scored 10 goals, after he left he scored twice and many put that down to not having Carrolls imperiousness in the air to win headers and knock downs for Nolan to get on the end of and that his form over 2 seasons can be put down to Carroll being that damn good to play alongside.
Good blog
Wasn't it Taylor who crossed for Cole John?
Thanks 2054 but I'm not sure I agree with you. 12 goals and 7 assists in the Prem is a pretty special performance when you play for an average team like Newcastle, and he didn't have Carroll alongside him for half the season!
Witch hunt? Mois? I was right about Zola and Duxbury wasn't I? I was right too about Green not being an England keeper. Two games played without Parker in the team and we have scored 4 in both. I said he limited a team's attacking threat. I'm right so far!
Can you see Big Sam dropping Nolan? It's unlikely, unless he gets really bad.
As for Baldock, he'll get his chance soon enough. This is West Ham. We'll have about 7 injuries in a few weeks.
The one you really have to feel sorry for is Collison. Just signed a new contract and now must be wondering if he's going to get a game.
As for David Bentley, maybe I missed something but I didn't feel he was anything great when he came on. Watched him lose the ball several times, though he did participate in the 'keep-ball' session towards the end well enough. I don't know what it is about him. He just strikes me as one of those players who looks like he wants to do too much with the ball at times. But hey, he was only for a little while so there's likely more to come from him.
As I said earlier though, we'll have injuries to come not to mention lots of games, (minus the Carling Cup of course). All this competition for places will come good.
Except for Carew. Can you see him getting a game?
and nani, he was burnt at the stake
Right about Zola in which regard HF? That Grant was better than him? :)
Zola inherited a decent team and created the mess; Grant drowned in the mess of Zola's making.
Scott Parker has been included in Garth Brooks' team of the week. This is what he writes about him:
Scoott Parker, Midfield
Tottenham
I'm delighted to see that last season's Footballer of the Year has been treated with the dignity his accolade deserves and is playing Premier League football again. A first-class performance by the Londoner and provided Spurs with the steel in midfield that they have needed for some considerable time.
Did you know? Is now the only player to have played for Chelsea, West Ham and Tottenham in the Premier League.
More on http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/9588112.stm
Scott was never part of the problem at West Ham. I just can't see how you could pick on Parker and not see the problem that goes by the name Mark Noble and which is still with us.
No, when Zola inherited a decent team and with it he showed what he could do. Then the flood gates of the financial difficulties opened and Zola had to stay afloat and guide his boat full of players to shore, whilst his better swimming players were sold off.
Along came Gold and Sullivan in their expensive yacht and burst Zola's life jacket because of their problem steering the ship. As the waters deepened and became choppier, Zola had to then make the decision to stay there and drown with his players or swim hurriedly to shore, pulling them along with him.
He managed to just make it to the surprise of many. G&S weren't happy so sacked Zola as Captain of the ship, bringing in Avram Grant. They gave Grant a brand new life jacket, a nice new boat, players that were much better swimmers, lots of time and much calmer waters through which to sail. But Grant still managed to drown.
I think you're right to flag up the concern, wrong to leap to the comparisons with your loathing of Parker.
Nolan has indeed been distinctly under-whelming but for me, the problem lies much deeper than his role, it has to do with the entire balance, or lack of it, in the side. I was utterly confused by the roles of Faubert and Lansbury on Saturday - we literally had no wide right width whatsoever in the first half.
At the moment the jury is out on Nolan. I believe that we will see better from him soon enough, hopefully starting on Saturday!
I don't loathe Parker and if he was at any club other than Spurs, I would wish him well. He's gone and in two games we have scored 8 goals. Coincidence? Perhaps!
I hope Nolan will come good. Perhaps Bentley is the answer on the right hand flank. Didn't O'Brien offer width on the right?
O'Brien is workmanlike and is a dependable(ish) right back. His role should never have been to offer what meagre options we did have down the rhs, especially in the first half. It really was lamentably imbalanced, HF.
At the risk of being a salesman, I reviewed it, fairly critically, on www.claretandblues.com in case any TGGC regs are up for a peek.
www.claretandblues.com is that it? is that what took you so long to creat? good grief you promised it would be better the WHTID. You and your mini me, Dave had your "thumbs down" hissy fit and told us that something better was to come our way.... well sorry to burst your bubble but I believe rex hammer does a better job and that's saying something. Utter tosh.... and you being a school teacher too. D minus, must try a lot harder.
I agree, all we had on the right was a gaping space most of the game, with the majority of play on the left, and left of midfield.Total imbalance.
This was Millwall's cup final today! we got a point - I for one am happy
and Spurs have scored six in two games with 0 against since Parker joined them.
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