Without speaking for him I read the luck aspect as in a player of his calibre becoming available with hours remaining, and just signing him in the first place. He needed football, and had little time to pick n choose, so perhaps there's an element of luck there, had VdV been available mid-window I doubt he'd have come to Spurs.
I get that Notso, I just think that there were probably a few negative points to the signing for Redknapp. He didn't fit the system that we were using, he didn't naturally integrate with the strikers that we had at the time and he basically had to pick him and get performances out of him. Van der Vaart's quite a Redknapp player though, in my opinion. He does his best stuff when he's just allowed to play his game and not have to think too much about it.
There's another thing, Harry chose his no'2, avb had his chose for him....what happened there??....I'd love to have seen what Harry would make of Freund!
Agree, I thought he lost his way with VdV toward the end too, we were horribly unbalanced at times in important games just to get the names on the teamsheet.
So Avb has his number 2 picked for him. The players picked for him. What else Lol!! IF Freund was handed to Redknapp. You would have seen Arry driving out of Whl. Window down. Big grin. And a noise coming from his boot!
For me it will always be this line-up: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/9009940.stm Bentley on the left Pletikosa debut sandro-livermore-Palacios midfield - no creativity Gio never played, wasn't match fit Pav - no service Only 2 players from that game are still with us - only 1 that should be 5 of Arsenals are still with them This the year after our second CC final apearance At least AVB has some respect for the cups and will actively look to win them.
AVB did bring Rocha, Martinez and Sousa with him. Granted they're not his number 2 but they are his own choices. I'd like to think Andre was asked about Freund coming anyway, highly doubt the club would hire Steffen without Andre's approval... Would they? The DOF was apparently something Andre wanted too, granted it took a season to get done but I suppose it's a case of building up the trust between him and Levy. DOF's can be very hit and miss (like anything in football I suppose! ).
But going back to Redknapp and coaches and number two's. Look at fergie. He has had many an innovative number two. Great up and coming number two or forward thinking coach. He also fired brain kidd when he lost trust in his judgement. Redknapp prefers the 'jobs for the boys' type approach and that definitely held him back.
You might be right, SG. Really annoying selection. Bentley got a lot of stick for that game, despite clearly giving 100%, despite being out of position. Wasn't happy about that. Why did Pletikosa never play again, too? Did nothing wrong and has looked pretty decent everywhere else.
Surely it's about priorities as Avb last year not resting players was one of the reasons we blew 4th. This year he benefits from a deep squad yet still tires out players. Redknapp definitely had his moments of strange line ups but he never had a deep squad and Redknapp wanted to win trophies but knew the priority was top four. Looking back we all used to criticise Redknapps lack of rotation but he had players on the bench he didn't trust anymore and it was harder to use the squad but still play a quality team.
Bit of a Catch 22 though, Boss. Did Redknapp's squads lack depth because we had bunch of out of form, out of favour players or were those players in that position because he never played them? Some were clearly not up to it, but it's hard to say the same of others who've gone on to do well elsewhere. Bassong went from forming a strong partnership with Dawson in the 09/10 season, playing 38 times in all competitions as we finished 4th, to barely getting a game the next. Pienaar, Boateng, Dos Santos and the like were and are clearly good players, yet they couldn't get a look in. I don't think that it's fair to claim that Redknapp didn't have a deep enough squad to choose from. I just don't think that he ever wants to.
Fair points Pnp. But when I say deep squad. Redknapp teams tended to have more star players. Take out them stars and we had a lack of backup. Namely in his final season as we had a superb first team but take out Vdv. Modric. King. Bale. Was there viable options? With Avb. He could lose Dawson. Paulinho. Dembele. Siggy. Townsend. Soldado. And replace them with Kaboul. Sandro. Holtby. Lamela and Defoe. Some would say the backup is more proven and of better quality in certain areas. But I definitely accept your point about certain players under Redknapp. He did change his mind and lose trust quickly.
He had plenty of options, but given the way that his previous squad players hadn't been given a shot, why would Levy bring in more? The likes of Bassong, Pienaar, Dos Santos, Boateng, Kranjcar, etc. were under utilised in the previous campaigns probably didn't go unnoticed.
Do you think dos Santos was good enough? I don't and think Redknapp was right. kpb was a funny one as he's proved to be a talent but was full of attitude here. Bassong granted was treated badly. Kranjcar I know was liked but blew hot and cold and Pienaar never settled. So I know that's just my view but if Redknapp never rated these players high enough to use them more then I understand why he never trusted them. I guess we will have to agree to disagree as I think I've made points on how Redknapp never had a deep squad. Not in comparison with our current squad especially when you consider our final season under Redknapp who had to bring in neilsen and Saha in January.
I am surprised at the bitterness towards harry by a few. There were loads of pros and cons with him but what a roller-coaster ride. What a team with the Holy Trinity , we may not witness that ever again, We were for a year or 2 everybody's 2nd fav team which sums up that it was pretty good.
Those are the sort of players that Redknapp wants, though. Experienced Premier League professionals who can do a job for you. Dos Santos has shown that he's at least good enough to get time from the bench, though he did have off-field trouble, by all accounts. Pienaar didn't settle because he was never played. Kranjcar came back from the summer fat and didn't get back in. He's certainly good enough for Redknapp right now.
Arry's been quoted as saying that the FA are not football people and compared to him they're not. Arry is typical of what a football man should be and one of those attributes is to be in touch with what the fans want and expect, and he most certainly is.
As long as there is faith. I, as Spurs fans. I believe he's everything would be fine. Tomorrow is another day.
I was thinking the whole series of events made me overreact to the West Ham loss. A part of me is convinced that after all this bad luck, Spurs are due for a golden era when everything goes right. It's nice that posters here for the most part have reacted to disappointment with good humor, philosophy and interesting writing. It's fair to say also that what looks like terrible luck is also an inability to close the deal, which tends to happen to anyone trying to move up in the sports world. Teams that win things are able to overcome stomach bugs, Harry for England movements and key injuries. We'll get there eventually. I hope.
Absolutely. Can't see too many neutrals purring over the football Spurs play nowadays. So let's hope we at least start winning stuff.
