There's a certain irony that some people were calling for Martin Jol to return a few weeks ago, given he and 'Arry have similar strengths and weaknesses - they have us playing good football, yet neither can manage a squad effectively and have poor man management skills.
I never get why people would want to go back to Jol. We would never have got higher than 5th with him and his tactical skills can be seen in the FA cup game v Chelsea that we were 3-1 up in. People moan about how we have faded out (including my self) but that's nothing compared to a team under Jol. We used to fade after 60 mins into a game, let alone 2nd half of the season. Also people say how we haven't won anything under Harry. We won the CC with Ramos... doesn't mean you'll be happy
The 3-1 was ridiculous. Chelsea played at home in the CL on Tuesday giving them 4 days to prepare, we played on Thursday night in Portugal giving us half a day before travelling back on Friday morning and 1 full day on Saturday to prepare. You could see the players tired and couldn't match a reorganised Chelsea in the second half and even then Defoe(I think it was) should have won it. Tactically it was a stroke of near genius that led him to move Lennon to playing behind the striker for that game as Chelsea were totally taken back by it and it took them a long time to adapt to it. It's easy to forget that Jol had only a small group of players that he could really trust to perform as he wasn't given the right players. I'd be happy to have him back with the kind of transfer control that 'Arry enjoys.
As Jol has only spent about a third of the time in pro. management that Harry has there is the strong possibility that he would have improved his performance whereas Harry is the finished article. Plus Harry did not have a Director of football tinkering in the background and in fact the foreground. So not a fair comparison IMO Jol wins hands down on media performance though.
Chelsea got back into that game the only way they know how - scything down our players until they go off injured, but in a rota system so they get away with the first couple of kicks. Even though Jol had a small gorup of players, he couldn't manage them particularly well - Defoe and Mido were habitually sidelined, and his handling of Reto Ziegler was nothing short of shambolic. Also, just like Harry did at Pompey with David Nugent, Jol would freeze out players he didn't want - on Boateng's first day in training, Jol walked up to him and said he didn't want him at the club, which is hardly going to help team spirit (especially given KPB hardly needed an excuse to act like an arse anyway)
My delightful namesake refers to that as machine gunning, in probably his only worthwhile contribution to journalism: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...Poll-reveals-secrets-footballs-dark-arts.html
i see alot of people who were certain of getting rid of Redknapp have stuttered now that he wont get the England job...how does that change how he has behaved since January? and why cant some of us seem to let go of this Martin Jol hype? its like a juggling act between MJ and HR like we are not capable of emplying anybody else...this thing seems a bit stale to me..we need to start a fresh.....if we are serious then we should be looking to get someone in like Capello...Bilic to a lesser extent since he is young however he seems like he knows what he is doing....Moyes would be a safe transition..but to be constantly juggling between HR and MJ is embarrasing and shows how much ambition we do have. when we regurgitate the same managers then no wonder we cant bring fresh ideas in.....even if we get top 4 i want HR gone....next season will be the same...us complaining about players being burnt out...HR falling out with half the squad,calling Spurs fans stupid for having expectations.....etc etc..whilst those around us are strengthening...Chelsea,Arsenal....all we are hearing is...such a such player wont fit into our system or the complete oppo and we want to bloody sign Messi! does anyone know what day the last day of the summer transfer window falls on? i cant wait for myself to get a cuppa and switch on transfer watch from 5 pm that day...as whilst everyone else has done thier business..we will start looking! and then blame..wages....timing etc etc...HR tried to sign Tevez my arse........he must think we are daft...i bloody know im not!
Our transfer dealings over the last couple of windows has been a little farcical, hasn't it? Questions about Redknapp's future probably haven't helped, though.
As early as 5pm - more like 11pm Already Podolski and Marin have moved - players who may have suited us?
im not happy about this lads for the simple reason that all of us are going to be anticipating something in the transfer market..and Harry will be selling us red herrings by throwing names in his column..then those of us that still have some optimism will get all happy only for us to be left disapointed....and your right STID...it usually is 11pm when we start hearing rumours about Harry still being in his office making frantic phone calls to Ronaldo's agent ffs! what are the odds that he will be chasing someone who he has alredy managed?
Speaking for myself I've always remained positive about Spurs and maintained that 'Arry wasn't a certainty for the England job. The games against Norwich and QPR made me briefly very negative and I couldn't see us having a chance in Hell at getting 4th or 'Arry not getting the England job, hence why I thought we may aswell get rid early. 'Arry has lead us to 4th and 5th in the last two seasons and if he gets us 4th I'd keep him. We were never going to turn into top 4 regulars overnight so I have no problem with us being top 4 challengers rather than top 4 certainties like there were in the "big 4" days. If 'Arry showed more loyalty and proffessionalism in the period of intense speculation I'd be in favour of us keeping him even if we finished 6th. As it is I don't think we owe him anything and if we lose players in the summer he should follow them out and we can bring in a new manager with a long term future to build with the club.
its like wanting to keep a girlfriend because every now and again she cooks a good meal....but whenever she can she bad mouths you and flaunts with other potential suitors and in her spare time she loves gossiping....id rather have someone whos loyal and a steady cook.
That's a good point about the transfers but that was happening before Harry but I guess it will show, that if he stays & we get CL, how well our season will pan out. Last minute transfers = same problems as before. Transfers done in good time = We might finally have dog that can learn new tricks I won't hold my breath!
