Scott Parker opened up on what he described as the “hardest part of the job”, admitting: “Football is ruthless at times.” Asked how he has developed the ruthless streak required of disappointing players by either leaving them out of a team or selling them,
Scott Parker said: “It’s difficult. Of course it’s difficult. It’s the hardest part of the job to be honest with you, whether that’s on a Saturday when you have to name a squad of 19, 20 players and there’s certain players who have worked hard during the week but are not in it. It’s not an easy part of the job. And then also the part of the job where you need to get to and where you need to go and when you step up levels in the Premier League, the levels are absolutely huge. There’s a combination of a lot of things. Us as a football club, what’s best for us in the development of the football club and how we move forward. Players, their personal feelings towards that. Do they want to play? Don’t they want to play? They want game-time. I’m a manager that is always very honest with players, so if I don’t feel that someone’s going to get playing time, then I’d rather give him a heads up on that to obviously move on. If I don’t think a player is for me and is not for us at this present moment in time, then again it’s an opportunity to move on. This is a hard part of the job, but football is ruthless at times and this is just part and parcel of it, of what you have to do sometimes.”
The likes of Siriki Dembele, Jamal Lowe, Emiliano Marcondes and Jack Stacey have been linked with moves away this month. Asked if it makes it more difficult because some of the players who could move on played a key role in the club clinching promotion last season,
Scott Parker added: “I was a player for 20 years in it. It was the same with me at certain moments. At Spurs, I came off the back of an incredible season at Spurs and AVB (Andre Villas-Boas) came in and wanted to go another way. In football and modern day, the way we are, you need to accept what the positions are in the game we’re in, really. So, of course, I have nothing but huge respect and appreciation for every single one of my players, for sure. But like I said, the levels go up. And for us to evolve and for us to improve and try and stay in this division, these are the decisions and the actions which probably need to take place at certain times. While they’re not easy, this is what sometimes you have to do.”
Devastated head coach Scott Parker issued a message to Cherries’ travelling fans after their 9-0 humiliation at Liverpool and said: “I’m immensely sorry.” Asked whether he had a message for the club’s fans, who made the 524-round trip to Anfield, the boss told the Daily Echo:
Scott Parker said: “Yeah I have, it was painful. And to be fair to them, to an absolute… every single one of them stuck behind the team and they probably understood where we currently are. While they didn’t come in and expect us to get a defeat like we did, they were right behind us. And I’m immensely sorry for that result, but I’d like to think that the general fan will understand where exactly it was. I think they see a team that were trying everything they possibly could and they were in their powers to try to do whatever today, and maybe some other times this season. The levels were just far too great for us.”
Asked how he would pick up his players after the record-equalling biggest Premier League defeat,
Scott Parker said: “It is very difficult, of course, and that’s going to be the main focus after today. Look. Tonight will be a long night, sleepless night, and I’m sure everyone else, the players as well, will reflect and it will be a difficult one to really process. I suppose there’s times like this when you become a little bit older and you’re trying to tell a story to the younger ones or your grandchildren. You always bring up the stories that we’ve always heard, about the adversity, and ‘we had an experience which wasn’t good’ and what probably defines someone, or certainly you want to tell the next bit of story, which is, ‘this is what we did and we regrouped and we managed to do this, this and this’. Probably that is what we need to do now. Because, like I said, not many teams have been beaten nine. We have. We need to try and tell the story in a positive one. That we showed character and showed real resolve and that’s the main drive now.”
Scott Parker described as the “most painful day” in his entire career seeing his Cherries side absolutely dismantled by rampant Liverpool 9-0 at Anfield. Asked by the Daily Echo whether the hammering on Merseyside was his toughest day in the game,
Scott Parker replied: “Oh yeah, for sure. This is the toughest day. As a player, and certainly as a coach, this is the toughest and most painful day that I have experienced, for sure. That touchline today was pretty painful and I could sense it was painful for the players on the pitch as well. I felt for every single one of them. They need some help and at those moments the levels were just too great.”
The defeat equalled the 9-0 Premier League losses suffered by Southampton against Manchester United and Leicester respectively – as well as United’s 9-0 win over Ipswich in March 1995.
Scott Parker added: “It goes without saying it was a real humbling experience and one that was pretty shell-shocking really. In the sense of the result, I am probably not too surprised to be honest with you – in the sense of the levels we are playing against here and the quality is just far greater than we have at this present moment in time, at our disposal. While of course, it’s not me making an excuse, because there’s goals in that game which were down to our own doing. The set-play goals were really poor and we could do something about that but, at this present moment in time, I feel sorry for the fans, I feel sorry for the players to be honest with you. At this moment we are just a little bit unequipped from where we’ve come from, from what we have. It’s proved a bit difficult.”
Cherries host Wolves in their next top-flight encounter on Wednesday.
