It is not often you see a dream team of former West Ham United favourites which does not contain Mark Noble at its heart.
Yet, former Upton Park teammate Rob Green could not find a spot in his ‘dream team’ for the long-serving skipper.
Now, Scott Parker was never likely to miss out. Parker won three successive Hammer of the Year awards while sharing a dressing room with Green in East London.
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West Ham Crystal Palace combined XI
Hammers News learned a few months ago that Mark Noble was not averse to bringing Parker back to West Ham United before the appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo, with a tally of three promotions with three different clubs coming as little surprise to Green.
What may be surprising, however, is that Javier Mascherano keeps Noble out of Green’s hypothetical midfield.
Rob Green picks Javier Mascherano over West Ham United legend Mark Noble
A future Liverpool, Barcelona and Argentina stalwart he may have been, but Mascherano played only seven matches for West Ham. Still, Green remembers watching on in awe as the two-time Champions League winner almost appeared to defy the laws of physics on the training pitch.
“[Scott Parker’s partner is] someone who didn’t play a lot!” Green says on West Ham’s official YouTube channel.
West Ham football Club manager Alan Pardew with Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano
Photo credit should read SHAUN CURRY/AFP via Getty Images
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“The story I tell of him is him taking the bag of balls out on his own for training just hitting balls at a mannequin. I said, ‘What are you doing?’.
“And he said, ‘Well, I’m going to hit the ball with such spin, it’s going to go flat to make the mannequin think that it’s coming to him, but then at the last minute, it’ll go over the top of him and down into the other player’s feet.’
“Then you’re like, ‘Oh, like that’. He was just different, his understanding of how the game functioned. Something quite incredible.”
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Manuel Lanzini of West Ham United celebrates scoring the opening goal during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and West Ham United at Selhurst Park on October 15, 2016 in London, England.
Green loved playing alongside Scott Parker at Upton Park
Of all the players to represent West Ham in the 21st century, including Carlos Tevez, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard and Declan Rice, Mascherano arguably went on to achieve the most; a stalwart of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Barcelona.
When explaining his decision to include Parker over Noble, meanwhile, Green pointed to a staggering succession of in-house gongs.
“The Player of the Year award was the ‘Scott Parker Award’ basically for the period of time he was at the club!,” Green recalls. “He was just an incredible individual to keep driving a team forward regardless of the external circumstances, regardless of how the team was doing.
“He probably had a difficult six months to start with, but then just took the games by the scruff of the neck, ‘We’re going this way; the game’s going in this direction.’
“There were games against Liverpool, Man United… games where you’re thinking, ‘we are just hanging onto your coattails!’. He captained England. You forget about that. Within it all, there was a fantastic individual; as a person, in the dressing room. The most humble person.
“It is no surprise he has gone on to be a manager. He knew how to speak to people, he’d ask you questions, find out who you are, understand you.”
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