Posted:
Fri Jul 17, 2009 11:49 pmby Cool Hand Luke
Alonso is irreplaceable so we must get out of the mind set that we are going to get someone as good as him. If we get Parker for 4 million and spend the other 26 million on a fantastic left or right sided midfielder then we may not suffer from the exit of Alonso too much.
Parker is not a bad player at all and he seems to have got over his injury problems and racked up a good few appearances for West Ham last year. As long as it on the cheap and we spend the rest of the money from the Alonso sale on a really good player I will be content.
Posted:
Fri Jul 17, 2009 11:49 pmby NANNY RED
An here was me gonna change me sig for a nice new midfielder , feck that right off , im not being anyone lady Penelope , im fecking disgusted here ,
Posted:
Fri Jul 17, 2009 11:58 pmby Bammo
He's a steady player who is consistently good. He's not Alonso's class but I'd be comfortable having him in the team because he would give a 7/10 performance which is more certain than the youngsters.
Posted:
Sat Jul 18, 2009 12:29 amby LFC2007
Good solid player but I can't believe he'd be going for anything like £3-4m because he's just about their best player. Sounds indicative of Uncle A. if you ask me.
Posted:
Sat Jul 18, 2009 1:08 amby bigmick
I'm not convinced it's genuine, but even if it is I think people are adding two and two together and not getting the right answer. You need four central midfielders who are credible, just like you need four centre halves and four strikers. Now if Alonso goes we have Mash who is a no argument, Lucas who still has something to prove, Plessis who isn't good enough, and Gerrard if you don't mind being a striker short. We almost certainly needed a central midfielder even if Alonso stayed, and we will probably need two if he goes.
see if he goes, we are presumeably going to bring in a very good player from abroad who's never played in the Premiership (Cambiasso or somebody like that). He's got to settle which can take time, and if he doesn't we have Lucas who many remain deeply unconvinced about. As an insurance policy, you need a good quality, experienced, no nonsense midfielder who you can absolutely rely on to come in and do a good job when needed.
Rafa has already said we need to be almost perfect next season, and we do. We all remember the "I don't fecking believe this place" comments each time we drew with relegation fodder at home and someone said it wan't a great result, but the reality was and is that those results cost us the title. We can't afford three months while some Carlos Kickaball finds his feet in central midfield. You'll get away with it at left midfield, but not central mid. Far better to get your overseas schemer in and let him settle gradually, someone like Parker could dove-tail with a new fella perfectly. Blackburn Away, Everton Away in the first three months of the season, lovely jubbly for Parker. Let the new bloke play against Burnley at Home and the like to get his bearings.
I think if Rafa sees Parker as a permanent and like for like replacement for Alonso it says two things to us. Firstly it says that Rafa doesn't or didn't consider Xabi's "unseen" work and tempo setting abilites as being overly important, and secondly that he intends playing with two defensive midfielders despite the evidence last season that a more attacking approach is called for. I don't think either of those is the case, Parker is going to be an "option" and a "possibility" if he comes. I'd be all for it myself under those circumstances.
Posted:
Sat Jul 18, 2009 1:27 amby NANNY RED
Still not good enough even if he is dressed a Spiderman . Feckin Scott Parker ha
fact, I can swing me leg better than him an thats when ive had a bevvie 
, the fickle b'stards