Good morning.
Cracking interview with Pathe News Boy from Henry Winter in yesterday’s Telegraph. The quotes below merely serve to confirm some of our most positive hopes.
“It’s probably the best team I’ve played in. Look at Gareth. He has exceptional ability. He can carry the ball 60 yards up the field. Aaron too.
When the team-sheet goes in, the opposition full-backs must be thinking, ‘This is going to be a tough day today’. And Kyle Walker and Benoit Assou-Ekotto are unbelievable. I wouldn’t even class them as full-backs. I class them as wingers/defenders.
“Then we have Luka in there as well. He’s a fantastic player, technically, who puts a shift in. And we’ve got Rafa [van der Vaart] and Jermain [Defoe]. Top players.
So is Manu. He’s a real bubbly character, one of those happy-go-lucky fellas. I’ve never seen him looking miserable. He’s a joy to be around. You have people in your team who are buzzy, and you want to be around, and you sometimes have quite negative people, always moaning about something. I always want to be around Manu. Before I met him, I’d read stuff about him but he’s great. He’s a good man.”
“I’ve heard him say to Adebayor in meetings: ‘They are not going to live with you today. Today’s the day. You’re going to score two goals, you’re going to win the game for us’. I can see Adebayor getting bigger and bigger as Harry’s saying it.
“Harry makes you feel good. What you see is what you get with Harry. There are some managers who you think I don’t quite know them.
Like Mourinho. You’d need to speak to people who’ve been in Mourinho’s company to understand him. But with Harry, it’s him. He was one of the main reasons I wanted to sign. He’s a great manager. He gives you freedom. ‘Go out and play’.”
The comments about Ade are particularly interesting. My impression of Parker from what I seen over the years is that he’s a pretty straightforward, ordinary chap. An English everyman if you will. So if there were some ‘side’ to the beaming Togolese nutcase – whilst it is arguable Parker wouldn’t gossip about it to Winter – it is even less likely he’d praise him for no good reason.
I was unconvinced before we signed him. This is no secret. And in this I wasn’t alone. But he won us all over with not only a work rate that shamed so many of his predecessors but an effectiveness that dwarfed them.
He wins most of his tackles. His internal Sat Nav is permanently programmed to advance towards the other lot’s goal. If he passes laterally it’s because it’s that or stand a bloody good chance of losing possession.
There was a story doing the rounds that he gave his West Ham colleagues a ‘Churchillian’ pep talk in the dressing room when the chips were down. Having had the pleasure of him in the Lilywhite for a little while now I can completely believe it.
Good post HH. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing … but timing’s everything!
Being honest, Scott Parker’s exceeded everyone’s expectations and his form’s been nothing short of amazing thus far. My concern is that he’s become England’s ‘go to man’ as well. I hope, once Sandro’s back to his form of last season, Harry does what he did with Bale when he was struggling after injury, and give SP a mid season break and a chance to get some sun on his back. We’ve got to the point where we need to use him/look after him and Manu effectively in the tight games and allow them to stay reasonably fresh. To be fair to HR, he seems to be doing this. Can’t say I’m too bothered about our current predicament in the Europa League. Do hope we persevere with using the youngsters/squad players because our fate’s no longer in our hands, so they might as well use every opportunity to gain playing time at the different levels and continue doing so in future seasons. At the same time, hopefully Utd & City see it as a tournament worth winning and consequently flog their stars in pursuit of silverware!
Credit where it’s due, but Manu’s just as important to us now – few saw that as likely when he joined the cause.
My wishes for Christmas … a permanent deal for Manu … that we tie Luka up to the sort of deal which isn’t going to see his head turned so easily … make a serious attempt at bringing Leandro Damiao to keep Sandro happy at the Lane (especially if Heurelho heads back to Brazil) … bring in either Gary Cahill or the Ajax guy to freshen up the squad. So not much then Santa Levy … hey, I’d settle for just 2 of those!
Well said, Gilbo. Sgt Wilson always put in a shift when he put on the shirt. Would hate to be in his position coping with family tragedy …
The story about him waiting for a Godly hour in the hotel reception before waking Redknapp with the news of his brother’s murder tells you all you need to know about Palacios. Top, top bloke.
I had that in mind when I posted above about his attitude. Heartrending.
PNB has quite simply been a revelation in the short time he has been with us, just what we needed if you like. I do have a concern though, Sandro….Sandro has shown that he is just as capable as PNB but without the obvious effort that you visually get from the older man. This is because in my opinion, he has better positional sense and deals with things before he needs to rush in for every tackle….Sandro is also a threat going forward and has a good finish whereas Scotty tends to realise where he is when near the opposing goal and 9 times out of 10 fluffs his lines….
PNB is 31 and playing the best football in his career, I just hope that we don’t lose Sandro because of him…..
I’d always thought Parker would be the stop-gap that’ll allow Sandro to mature into the beast of a midfielder we all know he’ll be. The problem is how long will he accept being 2nd string? and will he (or his agent) be tempted to move on when one of the continental big boys come sniffing? He seems happy enough for now but that’s probably because he’s not fully fit, but for how long?
I’d hope that there were still players who were happy to be in and around the 1st team for spells early in their career… Sandro was recently quoted as saying how much he appreciates Parker’s qualities and hope to be paired with him.
As you say, the older man is 31, and won’t be a fixture in the squad forever… Fingers crossed Sandro will learn from, emulate and improve on what he’s being kept out of the team by.
If he wants to play in the CL with a club who have title aspirations: That’s US!
Sorry if you have alreasy heard this one, but the joke doing the rounds here is that the M62 was closed for several hours on thurdsay as police investigated a strange noise. Turned out it was the sound of scousers laughing.
When a spokesman for Merseyside police was asked what was so ununusal about this, he replied, “It’s a long time since rthe scouusers have had anything to laugh about”
what’s thurdsay?
is it crucial to the joke?
A tumbleweed just passed by…
The day after wednesday night!
(y)
:freu :daumen:
Where exactly are you, Spurredon?