True, even VDV worked harder than him last season, even though he was carrying an injury a lot of the time. It's the same reason Pienaar is used ahead of him too. He's capable of causing defences real problems and undoubtedly is talented so I'd like to see him given some opportunities in the first half of this season. Evidently other clubs don't agree with our valuation but he was excellent for us in the previous season when we got CL football so it's worth giving him more opportunities.
At the end of the day i'd like to see harry rotate the squad better. The team would benefit and we might get a decent price for some of the players we'd like to sell, not to mention keeping squad players we'd like to retain happy
Maybe you should pay a bit more attention to the way your Dad does his job, then. Just as Kranjcar could learn from players like Modric about how to work harder for the team.
Maybe, but then i'd have less time to concentrate on the day job. Can't remember us complaining about Hoddle's work rate
Sorry. The way you phrased it, I assumed you worked with your Dad. Surely you're not trying to compare Kranjcar with Hoddle, are you? Firstly, they were different types of player. Secondly, Hoddle was one of the most naturally gifted players to ever pull on a football shirt. Kranjcar is not even in the same league, talent wise.
maybe not, but he still has that rare ability to change the game in an instant. can you name another player we currently have that scores as many goals from outside of the box or who is even prepared to have a go from outside the box? It may not always come off but he gets us vital goals. I'm sure that had he been given more time on the park then some of the many draws we had last season could have been turned into victories and hence, CL qualification
VDV isn't shy. I see your point though. I wouldn't necesarrily want Kranjcar starting every game, but he could be used as an impact sub far more often to replace tired legs and turn the game around... Ahead of the Jenas types at least. He'd be useful for cup games too, if Harry would just stop insisting on driving the same starting 11 into the ground. I think that could've been a key reason for all the injuries we had last season.
It's what I've been saying all along. Kranjcar is a good squad player. However, when everybody is fully fit, we have better options. I would be very happy to keep Kranjcar in that capacity, but he doesn't seem to be content with that, which is fair enough. If he wants to be a regular starter, however, he's gonna have to move on.
With better rotation most of the squad can be regular-ish starters. Everyone should be happier, match-fit and, one would imagine, less prone to injuries. Harry seems to have a weird attitude to team selection. A player can score in consecutive games and still only be on the bench next game, thus killing off any momentum they were starting to build.
I agree that Harry needs to be more patient with some players. GDS is one that was being discussed yesterday. I've not seen enough of him to comment, but those who have, say that he is a very talented player. If that's the case, then Harry should persevere with him, not offload him to the first reasonable bid, IMO. Any competent manager will try to pick the best team available to him. The problem for Kranjcar is, who is he going to replace? Not Modric. not Lennon. He can't sub for Sandro - he doesn't work hard enough. Maybe VDV occasionally?
I'd say rotate him with VdV, Bale and Modric. I also agree that GDS has not been given anywhere near enough time. We know he's talented so why can't we bring out the best in him?
If we rotate all those 4, we'll only have Modric, VDV and Bale (i.e. our strongest 3) playing together 1/4 of the time, which doesn't make good sense. I think a more viable approach would be to give Kranjcar first dibs on gametime when one of the aforementioned 3 are injured/have played too many games consecutively and have him in the cup games... If he'd be happy with that, of course. As for GDS, Harry has said something along the lines of: If he can pass a bar as well as he can pass a ball, I'd have a bit more faith in him. He's a party animal. I guess he just doesn't get his head down and play football. I can see why Harry doesn't have much time for him.
Didn't he also threaten to refuse to go to the World Cup after his brother wasn't picked in the squad. He's an ego we're better off without in the squad, just like Taraabt.
Well, I can assure you, if he thinks he will get away with that **** over here, in Spain, he's very much mistaken. They are far stricter on things like Alcohol, especially, over here.
I think Dos Santos alienated Redknapp when he kept on turning up late for training His parents came over to talk to the manager about their son's lack of game time and ended up agreeing with the reasons why! It's a shame, as he's obviously a very talented player, but he may need to be a big player at a team in order to remain focused. I still maintain that Kranjcar could be part of the first team, if he's used properly and we modify our line-up slightly. Van der Vaart, contrary to popular opinion, actually covers too much ground at the moment, for his role. He constantly drops deep and goes wide, chasing the ball and hunting for possession. It leaves a massive gap between the midfield and the isolated front man, who then struggles to hold up or lay off the ball when it comes his way. If van der Vaart is played alongside a more robust and defensive player in the middle of the park (Sandro, Diarra/Palacios or even Huddlestone), then that would allow Kranjcar to take up the more attacking role. His work rate and pace would then become less of an issue, as would his defensive abilities or lack of them. He'd still have to put in a bit of work on them, but his passing, movement and goalscoring ability would be utilised to maximum effect and he'd be very hard to pick up. Obviously this means that Modric would be displaced, but he played excellently from the left wing before he broke his leg against Birmingham. Putting him back there and sticking Bale at left-back would create a terrifying problem for opposition teams when we've got the ball. Not only would you have to find a way to control the Croatian's movement into the middle, but you couldn't double up on the Welshman any more, as teams have frequently done in the past six months. I'm becoming more convinced that this is the way to go, but I'm also fairly sure that Redknapp won't do it, unfortunately. It'd still leave the problem of our strikers being unsuited to the 4-4-1-1, but I think it would lessen it.
You'd then have a problem with BAE and for similar reasons. He'd probably maintain, with some justification, that he's been one of our more consistent performers over the past couple of seasons. Although it would definitely sort out cover for the left-back role.
It would be an unfortunate problem, I'll admit, but we stand to lose Assou-Ekotto for over a month if Cameroon qualify for the African Nations, anyway. If we progress in the cups, especially the Europa League, then he'd still get a fairly large number of games, too. It could be a problem with Danny Rose too, but we could always loan him out til January, bring him back while BAE's away and then send him back out again. It's a tricky balance, but I think that Redknapp got it wrong last season. Let's hope that he learned something from it.
If Harry didn't see teams doubling up on Bale coming, then he's not much of a manager. For me, Kranjcar is still a bit of a "luxury" player. He doesn't have pace, his work rate is not good, and he can't defend very well. That's a lot of deficiencies that somebody else in the team has to try and compensate for. Again, handy squad player to have - but that's it, for me.
