Hi NSS - I don't say it does tell the full story, but it tells a different story to the idea that Lennon is a magic cure. We're well capable of playing brilliantly without him, as I have demonstrated. To repeat I'm happy that Lennon is playing ATM. We can agree on that. However having Lennon in the side can give problems, eg marking at set pieces. We've not been very good at defending set pieces when Lennon is in the side, and there's an obvious reason, size and heading ability. We often line up with a relatively small side with relatively poor defensive heading ability. Having someone like Sandro or Livermore instead of Lennon, is a massive plus there. Here's a quote from YV - 'Stoke, QPR, Wolves and United all scored the opening goal against us from a set piece' Guess what - in the three of the four games where that goal came from a high cross into the area, Lennon started in every game. Specific enough for you? Now I'm not 'blaming' Lennon for those goals, I'm saying having him in the side probably makes us more vulnerable at set pieces. This in turn is probably one key reason why his ppg ain't too hot.
aah! Tactically astute manager?...is there such a thing! SAF, Mancini and Wenger have all made cockups, Mancini and Wenger some prolonged ones too. You could say those two with more quality available didn't have their hands tied with selection problems as much as Harry. I'm just trying to balance the discussion really.
Rightly or wrongly I have never thought of SAF as good with tactics but I think he knows that and surrounds himself with people who are. Remember Bryan Robson who would have learnt from SAF calling in Venables to help him out when he became a manager. All in the art of being a good manager, recognise your own shortcomings and recognise the strengths of others. If only Harry would get in a tactics wizz kid to help him out we could have the best of both worlds. The only chance of that I think is if Levy decides to bring someone in, but that would probably put Harry's nose out of joint.
Neither do I mate, it was kind of forced onto us as I said by other teams spotting we weren't very good at breaking down staunch defence, and them seeing you could nick a point of us by doing so. Sadly we couldn't find an answer with who we had available, plus poor set pieces (as you say) which unlock such teams aswell.
I still maintain that it was a combination of Harry trying to impress the F.A. and being all too willing to settle for what he thought he had - third place.
Why am I arguing with a Man U fan who insists on telling me how good the manager of Spurs is, while I am running him down and extolling the virtues of SAF. There is something not quite right here.
Dispassionate or not I can equally say that I am surprised at how many Spurs fans think Harry is a good manager. I emphasize 'manager' which anyone who has run their own company or been a manager should know are not the traits displayed by Harry. No decent manager blames his luck, his team, his chairman (for not spending) the competition, for a poor run. He might think it, he might believe it but a 'good' manager will not broadcast this to all and sundry. There is no way back for me from this view. I have watched it over the time Redknapp has been here and I can't remember a statement from him that was not to some extent self serving. I remember fans from Pompey telling us this and I thought at the time huh! sour grapes. Now I understand where they were coming from. Some are obviously bought off by a top 4 finish, not me I'm afraid.
I totally agree that Redknapp's media style is extremely annoying, Spurf, and that weighs heavily in the balance against him being a good manager. However, nobody is perfect and we could get rid of him (and if I were Levy, I would be sorely tempted by now) and end up worse off. Results do matter.
Apologies, NSS, I was trying to deal with HBIC's point and didn't get it straight. I find formations a little tedious too, but when we've got quality players like Livermore, Sandro, Parker, Huddlestone, Modric and Pienaar on the books - I'd like to see some way of getting more than two of them on the pitch where they can win matches rather than relying on Bale and Lennon as fast wingmen where we've got no cover. I just don't believe that footballers are up to playing well in different systems it takes time to learn a new one. Arsenal always play pretty much exactly the same way whoever is playing and I think Wenger gets better results out of inferior players by such consistency. Alternatively sell two of the six above and buy two more wingers.
He obviously has something about him as a man- manager or he wouldn't inspire so much loyalty in most of his players. Well, his favourites, anyway. However, I agree that we should all know by now that nothing is EVER Harry's fault. Not a desirable trait in anybody, let alone a so- called manager. Harry obviously doesn't have one of those "The buck stops here" signs on his desk. It probably says " the buck stops anywhere BUT here" !!
Sorry NSIS, but how hard is it to keep your first XI happy when you're doing well, don't make them train too hard on the boring stuff, like tactics and set-pieces and never leave any of them out? Redknapp obviously does a good line in motivating those in his good books, but that's the easy part, in my opinion. Keeping those on the periphery happy and involved is far, far harder. Redknapp's done a very good job for us, overall. He doesn't seem to be addressing any of his faults though, which is unsurprising, given his age.
No probs! I see what you say, but that list of MF'ers bar Sandro and Hudd to injury and a few others, were all getting games at the start of the season while we were in Europe. When we were out, Pienaar left, and minus Hudd still, the rest have had games. They can't all play the same amount games and nobody has played none, Lennons missed a chunk of the season, so not sure what you mean.
I agree on the last point. I don't think it's so much to do with age, but personality. However, I,would still maintain that there must be something there. When players like Modric, who can pretty much pick where they will go, say things like they would only consider staying if Harry stays, it must be something more than Modric being one of his favourites. His faults are glaringly obvious, too. Levy will presumably either accept them as part of the package, or dispense with his services. After the England fiasco, I think it's liable to be the latter.
I mean that if our first choice front six was the left column below, we could seamlessly cope with almost any injury scenario with the back up in the right column and there could be some proper rotation too Sandro Huddlestone Parker Livermore Modric Pienaar/Kranjcar Bale Lennon VdV Dos Santos/Kranjcar Adebayor Saha
Its been a good thread lads with plenty of stuff I've not considered. I'm not averse to a better manager, no doubt there's some who would like the chance with our team, but are they realistic, dunno! Till Levy makes his move I'd rather the devil I know, he may even be waiting for saturday see to if we earn CL.
Mmm a few holes in that mate, Hudd?, waste of time using him to support a case. Pienaar found it cliquey and didn't settle in London, so don't expect him to return. Krancjar has played inbetween injuries. Saha played his best stuff with Ade not instead, and I'm just not prepared to even mention the Mexican who needs to kept as far away as possible....use him in important games as a rotation exercise???, you must be mad. We've been here before so lets leave it. The theory is right, I've never said different, but with most of the personnel available, no. I did say most, not 'all'. Other than that...I see!
Not sure why you've got such a downer on Dos Santos. He's got more than 50 caps for Mexico and always looks fine playing for them, he also did OK on his couple of cameos for us this season. We are going to look very silly one day if we let him go and he fulfills his potential elsewhere. I think he'd do fine in VdV's role (but he wasn't my best target for rotation). How many times did Saha play up front with VdV - hardly at all? So how do you know he isn't adequate cover? Agree about Pienaar - he needs game time but his best position is Modric's one so its tough. But whatever system we play we need like-for-likes to come in when there are injuries or runs of bad form.
Sorry again Power, playing for Mexico means nothing, who do they play mostly? and he was crap in the last WC imo, yeah he went past people, you have to see past that, his end product was worse than Walcott and Lennon put together, and he was worse than rubbish in the EL this season, 1 goal, and that was against part-timers. He was given 6 games to prove himself against mediocre opposition and failed, you don't get better chances at this level. If you think he'd 'do well' in VdV's spot, to do that you must think he's nearly as good as him...not even to clean his boots, you can't backtrack and say oh no obviously he's no VdV, well then he won't do nearly as well Rafa...and thats why he's not picked. He probably will do ok elsewhere, but I guarantee it won't be in the PL. We signed him in 08, its now 2012, I'm not down on him at all, I made an early assessment of him, and nothing has happened since to alter that view. Saha, how many times, precisely, he did well with Ade, but then he was on his own up top v Stoke and looked like he did at Everton, anonymous. So he did cover Ade's injury and wasn't adequate, and probably wasnt good enough in training either. Again, a lot of people don't seem to consider this, if you're **** in the week you will not playing at the weekend, and that goes for Mexican roadsweeper too! who still doesn't do well in training on Monday's....I'll leave it you to as to why. Anway getting a bit bogged down in individuals now, I only answered as you asked so nicely!
How can Dos Santos have been crap in the last World Cup when he was voted runner-up for Young Player of the tournament, behind Thomas Muller? He was given four games in the Europa League, not six, before picking up a couple of injuries, and also had his moments in the FA Cup. His end product isn't as bad as you make out, given he has two goals and three assists in eleven games this season - a better return than Kranjcar. When we've loaned him out he's done well - at Santander he got 5 goals and 3 assists in 16 games, he got 3 assists in 14 games at Galatasaray, whilst Ipswich fans were calling him the best player they;d seen at Portman Road in donkey's years on Old606. The main issue with Dos Santos is he's an odd man out in our system, as he operates best in a 4-3-3 system that Barca and Mexico use, rather than as a traditional winger in the 4-4-1-1 system we used for the last couple of seasons. I wouldn't say he could play in the VDV role more because he'd simply get bullied out of games by the more physical teams, so the best position for him is on the wing...where he has Lennon and Kranjcar ahead of him in the pecking order on one flanks, and Bale on the other. He's one of those players destined to never fit in at Spurs, which is the main reason we should consider serious offers for him this summer, but be sure to include a sell-on clause.
