[cite]Posted By: Stu of HU5[/cite]Im glad so many of you are happy to forgive parky for last season and blame it all on pards, just dont forget who his number 2 was!
Who blamed it all on Pardew? No one did. I said a lot of it was down to the mistakes he made. Parky made mistakes but so far he looks to have a lot more of an idea about building a balanced squad with good characters and organising a team than Pardew. It takes far more time than you seem to realise to build up confidence and belief as well.
In this league we're ok with Burton up front, in the Championship we needed a goalscorer in there, and that may well have been the difference in many games last season. Semedo was also out injured for most of the season and we now have a balanced midfield with him taking ZZs place.
Jeez, can't we just celebrate the fact that we have won five games on the bounce, set a club record in the process and are playing great football and are top of the league, with all abr Leeds trailing in our wake? After three poor under-performing seasons I'd have thought most people here would be happy with that.
A year ago and trips up north were dour affairs where we either played defensively to snatch a draw or a win against the run of play or more likely we rolled over and timidly surrendered the points. To date we've had two away games, won them both - and both were against northern teams and in the process we've rediscovered our club. Undoubtedly there'll be tougher times ahead but sometimes you have to take stock of your achievements and appreciate that in L1 this season that we (and Leeds) are the team to beat. Let's concentrate on that and celebate the fact that right now other teams are afraid to play us.
As for Parky he's doing a great job, had he left the club in the summer I'd have not missed him, but the guy has worked hard and if he's been lucky then perhaps it's one of those cases where he's deserved his good luck.
Parky has engineered the tea, who would have thought in december Bailey would do so well on the left, Semedo and Racon look a class apart in this league and he has improved the defence no end with excellent signings. Parky was in no way flavour of the month at the start but he did inherit a complete farce with our best players injured, others unfit and with no confidence. Players such as Burton, Basey and Elliot now look leaner and fitter. If he had taken over earlier then maybe he'd have proved that he can manage in the Championship with more success. Towards the end of the season the team began to take shape and even though there was nothing to play for, we looked capable of competing well in the second tier. Parkinson deserves the success he is getting after acting with great dignity and slowly building a team we can be proud of again.
Parkinson had the opportunity to do much better last season, he got the job on the back of no wins, and in terms of results, and eventually finishing bottom of the league, could any method of management have done worse? I feel that by losing from winning positions, and not perhaps 'parking the bus' a few more times, and disrupting the club with loads of loan players, we lost point after point that may well have saved us from relegation.
BUT
Given the circumstances we're now in obviously nobody could have done any better. Parkinson has reacted very well to our lower status, organised the team well, and most importantly helped us to win points.
Personally I will be conscious throughout this season that promotion, if we're fortunate enough to achieve it, will only get us back to where we were when Parkinson took over. However if we do go up, and see the team playing good passing and winning football, and also see the team perform convincingly in the FA Cup against higher placed opposition, and there is continued good evidence of good managerial decisions, then he will have gone a long long way to win me over.
Some recent positive signs have been subtle pressure on Sam that has made Lloyd up his game, the deployment of Tuna and Wagstaff, the tolerance shown towards Jonjo where he recognises talent and youth often comes with inconsistency, and indeed his wireless interview yesterday where he said he went to see Tranmere play against Bolton to prepare for our game.(really impressed with that actually, because I don't believe Pardew bothered...and still doesn't). Parkinson has also found a system that for now uses our resources well, and gets results.
I suppose the thing to do is judge game by game result by result, yes every game is a pressure game in this league, and the approach taken to the Brentford match is very important...points won when confidence is high is money in the bank against future problems. As for future problems, they will come, but possibly no worse than other managers in this league will face, how Parkinson reacts to them will also tell us a lot about his ability.
You simply cannot judge any manager until they have had a full pre-season in charge of a club in which time they can mould the side they want and ship in and out the players that they want for that team, if they don't have that time then they can only offer a patch-up job.
It is absolutely crazy to blame Parkison for last years relegation - that was 100% down to that dickhead Pardew who left us with a crap defence (only two senior centre-halves and one of those was the injury prone Fortune), a surfeit of central midfielders but almost no wide players, and a plethora of dog-shite "strikers" having sold our previous seasons leading scorer to Wolves.
Oh, add to that the fact that Pardew had destroyed morale in the squad by bringing in dozens of loanees - most of whom could not have given a feck about Charlton Athletic - and who were lacking any confidence whatsoever.
Parkinson could not even bring in any new players because the club was (and is) skint - how he was supposed to turn that around I simply have no idea!
However, in the off season he offloaded some expensive deadwood (Holland, Hudson & Ambrose) and brought in some very cute freebies in Richardson, Dailly and Llera - that's shrewd business in anyone's book.
There are very likely still some bad days ahead - the winter months will make it harder for our brand of football - but Parky has clearly re-built the side very well and we are looking like we are finally on the right path again after an awful three year period.
no one could have done worse than parky did at the time he came in
i believe most would have wanted somebody fresh when pardew departed and that would have given us a chance of survival
but finances or the blindness/ineptitude of the board meant we kept him , hence we're in a position to be wetting ourselves about tier three victories, when i know i would have preferred to have survived in the championship
parky then under difficult circumstances has rejuvinated the troops and with some wise acquisitions has got us performing to the max, we have a decent starting XI no one could have done better than parky has since the end of the season , for which i'm happy to say fair play
but once we get back to championship status i'll be happy to drool over parkys achievment but he was part of a disastrous run for this club the only way to redeem it is to return us to where he found us imo
Who cares if we're 'only' top cos we've played rubbish teams. Its about confidence and we had none last year. There were glimmers but like others say - it was against us last year. I remember one season in the prem we had the top 4 in our first few games we never recovered from the bashings and I think that was the year we were relegated. It may have been different if we'd played other teams first few games. Why not enjoy being top for having played the easier teams first which has bred confidence and may give us the confident edge over other teams similar to us as we could win the psycological battle before the game kicks off!
I don't think its fair to say parky has found his level - he may not be prem standard - yet but he's obviously worked hard with the players over summer which has enabled us to win the first game - that was the biggest game of his life for a while as it had a shaky 2 month build up and I'm sure fans would have called for his head within 5 mins of us going a goal down. The fact we won the first meant it was easier to motivate for the 2nd. I think confidence is the main issue with football - more than skill. There are teams in the prem with bags of skill and little confidence (everton? Until yday) and once you're down it must be v hard even for the top managers to inject confidence in a side that is at a low point. Rarely been done I think.
So well done parky you beaut! Keep up the good work!
Who cares if we're 'only' top cos we've played rubbish teams. Its about confidence and we had none last year. There were glimmers but like others say - it was against us last year. I remember one season in the prem we had the top 4 in our first few games we never recovered from the bashings and I think that was the year we were relegated. It may have been different if we'd played other teams first few games. Why not enjoy being top for having played the easier teams first which has bred confidence and may give us the confident edge over other teams similar to us as we could win the psycological battle before the game kicks off!
I don't think its fair to say parky has found his level - he may not be prem standard - yet but he's obviously worked hard with the players over summer which has enabled us to win the first game - that was the biggest game of his life for a while as it had a shaky 2 month build up and I'm sure fans would have called for his head within 5 mins of us going a goal down. The fact we won the first meant it was easier to motivate for the 2nd. I think confidence is the main issue with football - more than skill. There are teams in the prem with bags of skill and little confidence (everton? Until yday) and once you're down it must be v hard even for the top managers to inject confidence in a side that is at a low point. Rarely been done I think.
So well done parky you beaut! Keep up the good work!
I'm with Suzi on this one. Seems to me that it's money which basically dictates the league you're in, and it's the manager and staff that largely determine the club position within the league. Gordon Strachan was interesting last night when he was commenting on managers understanding the psychology and confidence of teams. PP first halted the decline, which took longer than we had hoped, but since then he has built upon it. We may have been lucky for once in that the first games gave us a chance against poorer teams, allowing wins that have undoubtedly helped to build confidence. Going into the tougher games with higher levels of confidence has to be a good sign, but it's still Parky that has got us this far against a background of huge uncertainty and a liberal sprinkling of doom and gloom. I reckon that's pretty good by anyone's standards.
For me the important issue is that he seems to have the dressing room on his side, something Pardew lost.
It takes time to build up a good relationship with any team as a manager, whatever the industry, and football is no exception. He appears to have the respect of the squad.
Parky is not there yet, far too early in the season, but he deserves an enormous amount of credit for the dignity he has shown in very trying circumstances - he also has my respect at the moment.
Parky appears to be truly managing his team, not only playing his way, but also playing as a team. Because of this, the results so far are consistantly coming.
If you focus on failure, you get failure.
If you focus on success, and do the necessary preparation and get everybody in the right frame of mind - you get success.
Comments
Who blamed it all on Pardew? No one did. I said a lot of it was down to the mistakes he made. Parky made mistakes but so far he looks to have a lot more of an idea about building a balanced squad with good characters and organising a team than Pardew. It takes far more time than you seem to realise to build up confidence and belief as well.
In this league we're ok with Burton up front, in the Championship we needed a goalscorer in there, and that may well have been the difference in many games last season. Semedo was also out injured for most of the season and we now have a balanced midfield with him taking ZZs place.
A year ago and trips up north were dour affairs where we either played defensively to snatch a draw or a win against the run of play or more likely we rolled over and timidly surrendered the points. To date we've had two away games, won them both - and both were against northern teams and in the process we've rediscovered our club. Undoubtedly there'll be tougher times ahead but sometimes you have to take stock of your achievements and appreciate that in L1 this season that we (and Leeds) are the team to beat. Let's concentrate on that and celebate the fact that right now other teams are afraid to play us.
As for Parky he's doing a great job, had he left the club in the summer I'd have not missed him, but the guy has worked hard and if he's been lucky then perhaps it's one of those cases where he's deserved his good luck.
Parky was in no way flavour of the month at the start but he did inherit a complete farce with our best players injured, others unfit and with no confidence. Players such as Burton, Basey and Elliot now look leaner and fitter.
If he had taken over earlier then maybe he'd have proved that he can manage in the Championship with more success. Towards the end of the season the team began to take shape and even though there was nothing to play for, we looked capable of competing well in the second tier.
Parkinson deserves the success he is getting after acting with great dignity and slowly building a team we can be proud of again.
BUT
Given the circumstances we're now in obviously nobody could have done any better. Parkinson has reacted very well to our lower status, organised the team well, and most importantly helped us to win points.
Personally I will be conscious throughout this season that promotion, if we're fortunate enough to achieve it, will only get us back to where we were when Parkinson took over. However if we do go up, and see the team playing good passing and winning football, and also see the team perform convincingly in the FA Cup against higher placed opposition, and there is continued good evidence of good managerial decisions, then he will have gone a long long way to win me over.
Some recent positive signs have been subtle pressure on Sam that has made Lloyd up his game, the deployment of Tuna and Wagstaff, the tolerance shown towards Jonjo where he recognises talent and youth often comes with inconsistency, and indeed his wireless interview yesterday where he said he went to see Tranmere play against Bolton to prepare for our game.(really impressed with that actually, because I don't believe Pardew bothered...and still doesn't). Parkinson has also found a system that for now uses our resources well, and gets results.
I suppose the thing to do is judge game by game result by result, yes every game is a pressure game in this league, and the approach taken to the Brentford match is very important...points won when confidence is high is money in the bank against future problems. As for future problems, they will come, but possibly no worse than other managers in this league will face, how Parkinson reacts to them will also tell us a lot about his ability.
It is absolutely crazy to blame Parkison for last years relegation - that was 100% down to that dickhead Pardew who left us with a crap defence (only two senior centre-halves and one of those was the injury prone Fortune), a surfeit of central midfielders but almost no wide players, and a plethora of dog-shite "strikers" having sold our previous seasons leading scorer to Wolves.
Oh, add to that the fact that Pardew had destroyed morale in the squad by bringing in dozens of loanees - most of whom could not have given a feck about Charlton Athletic - and who were lacking any confidence whatsoever.
Parkinson could not even bring in any new players because the club was (and is) skint - how he was supposed to turn that around I simply have no idea!
However, in the off season he offloaded some expensive deadwood (Holland, Hudson & Ambrose) and brought in some very cute freebies in Richardson, Dailly and Llera - that's shrewd business in anyone's book.
There are very likely still some bad days ahead - the winter months will make it harder for our brand of football - but Parky has clearly re-built the side very well and we are looking like we are finally on the right path again after an awful three year period.
i believe most would have wanted somebody fresh when pardew departed and that would have given us a chance of survival
but finances or the blindness/ineptitude of the board meant we kept him , hence we're in a position to be wetting ourselves about tier three victories, when i know i would have preferred to have survived in the championship
parky then under difficult circumstances has rejuvinated the troops and with some wise acquisitions has got us performing to the max, we have a decent starting XI
no one could have done better than parky has since the end of the season , for which i'm happy to say fair play
but once we get back to championship status i'll be happy to drool over parkys achievment but he was part of a disastrous run for this club the only way to redeem it is to return us to where he found us imo
I don't think its fair to say parky has found his level - he may not be prem standard - yet but he's obviously worked hard with the players over summer which has enabled us to win the first game - that was the biggest game of his life for a while as it had a shaky 2 month build up and I'm sure fans would have called for his head within 5 mins of us going a goal down. The fact we won the first meant it was easier to motivate for the 2nd. I think confidence is the main issue with football - more than skill. There are teams in the prem with bags of skill and little confidence (everton? Until yday) and once you're down it must be v hard even for the top managers to inject confidence in a side that is at a low point. Rarely been done I think.
So well done parky you beaut! Keep up the good work!
I don't think its fair to say parky has found his level - he may not be prem standard - yet but he's obviously worked hard with the players over summer which has enabled us to win the first game - that was the biggest game of his life for a while as it had a shaky 2 month build up and I'm sure fans would have called for his head within 5 mins of us going a goal down. The fact we won the first meant it was easier to motivate for the 2nd. I think confidence is the main issue with football - more than skill. There are teams in the prem with bags of skill and little confidence (everton? Until yday) and once you're down it must be v hard even for the top managers to inject confidence in a side that is at a low point. Rarely been done I think.
So well done parky you beaut! Keep up the good work!
It takes time to build up a good relationship with any team as a manager, whatever the industry, and football is no exception. He appears to have the respect of the squad.
Parky is not there yet, far too early in the season, but he deserves an enormous amount of credit for the dignity he has shown in very trying circumstances - he also has my respect at the moment.
Because of this, the results so far are consistantly coming.
If you focus on failure, you get failure.
If you focus on success, and do the necessary preparation and get everybody in the right frame of mind - you get success.