We're not a massive squad but we are a team
ガーディアンにあった、ハートリプール戦についてのコラム。書き出しもおもしろいし、後半には大佐やノーブルの談話があります。
このコメント自体は既出の内容なんだけど、ただ、こっちはたぶん実際の口語に近いと思われるもので、他のメディアでは省略されたり、リライトされたりしただろうコメントが、そのままイキになってておもしろい。大佐もノーブルも、こっちの談話の方が生き生きしてる。
「ベラーズはマンチェスターに来いよなんて電話をくれはしなかったし」云々という大佐のセリフは、他の媒体ではまったく見なかったし（こういうちょっとしたコメントが楽しいのに）、タイトルに使ったノーブルの最後のひとこともそう。すごくいいセリフじゃない。
しかし、それにしてもゾラは、またたく間に選手の心を掴んでいるね。
（前略）
As Parker shivered in Victoria Park's Saturday chill, part of him must have thought that he could easily have been freshly returned from the relative warmth of Tenerife where his former team-mate Craig Bellamy spent part of last week training with City.Yet when the midfielder, so instrumental in West Ham's recent rise to eighth in the Premier League, was asked about his future, he did not appear to be hankering for a move. "Bellers hasn't been on the phone asking me to go up to Manchester and that wouldn't be welcome," insisted a man bolstered by the news that Zola has apparently convinced the Upton Park board to keep him, along with Robert Green and Matthew Upson.
"Until anyone says any different I see my long-term future at West Ham," stressed Zola's captain. "I'm playing some really good stuff, I'm in a passing team and it's really pleasing and enjoyable. We've got something really good under the new management. The manager is a really confident person and that's reflected in the way we're playing. We're not scared. Gianfranco Zola's been great for us. I honestly think that, given time, this manager can do something really good with the players we've still got here.
"We are going to sorely miss Bellers," acknowledged Parker, "but we have to forget about Craig now. Other people will come to the fore."
Mark Noble, who also impressed in midfield and registered West Ham's second goal – a penalty awarded for handball a minute after Valon Behrami's low, left-foot drive had opened the scoring – agrees that Bellamy's loss is surmountable but suspects life without Parker would be infinitely bleaker. "I don't think we could do without Scott," Noble said. "He's very important. He gets the play going, makes great tackles and takes responsibility."
Like Parker, Noble is a Zola disciple. "The gaffer and his staff are fantastic, we work really hard and are much more resilient than before," he reflected.
"We've sold a few players but the manager has accepted that and we've pulled together as a team. We're not a massive squad but we are a team." Can City say the same?
