I see your points Luke but we should still have beaten Hull by more than a penalty kick in the 80th minute regardless of circumstances.
I think one thing to remember Redknapp had that AVB does not were genuine top quality PL players. Modric, Bale, VDV and King were all more experienced and they would most likely be better than any of the players we have today. He also never had to deal with the loss of our best players so he had a relatively consistent team to work with. Last season we lost Modric, VDV and King and this summer Bale. All huge huge losses. We may have a stronger squad but I don't think our first 11 comes close to the 11/12 team with an in-form Adebayor up front, especially in attacking areas. The football wasn't always great either. For a large part of the 2nd half of the 2010/11 season our football was just as bad apart from the big games and unlike now it was affecting the results we were getting.
I also understand why AVB's position will be under pressure if we fail to get 4th, but should we be definitely expected to finish above? From teams that finished above us last season Man City and Chelsea have both, once again, spent heavily without raising anything from sales if anything. Man Utd were champions last season have once again spent to improve their squad without having to sell. Arsenal have just spent 42m and bought one of the very best players on the planet. Even Liverpool have spent a lot more than they sold. All these teams have spent to improve their squads without losing any of their key players. They may not have sold anyone from their first 11s. In contrast we lost our best player, most likely the best player in the league last season. I think we may even have sold more than we spent. They all also can afford to spend a lot more than us on wages so can attract more and better players and most also have the attraction of CL football.
Redknapp's team of choice was usually something like Friedel, Walker, King, Kaboul, BAE, Sandro, Parker, Modric, Bale, VDV, Adebayor. How many of Sunday's starters would get into that XI? And he had Dawson, Lennon and Defoe as back up as well as Naughton, Gallas, Rose, Huddlestone, Kranjcar, Townsend and Livermore. AVB's best players are clearly worse and up against stronger opposition but he gets our best ever start and gets criticised
I totally agree that AVB has had to make do with losing basically all our best players over the last two summers. However he chose to let VDV go didn't he? Plus he, or his DOF, had 100m to spend due to Bale being massively overpriced. So that has to be taken into account. Even as someone who was mystified by both the Redknapp sacking and the AVB appointment I have said before that it's hard to see how Harry would have dealt with having the heart of his team sold out from under him. You'd hope, though, that beating teams like Hull reserves and Crystal Palace would come rather easier than to rely on dodgy pens. And yes the team needs time to gel. But who made all these wholesale changes that required a gelling period? No one forced AVB to sell/loan out loads of decent players and bring in seven players with no EPL experience. That was his/Baldini's choice for how to succeed.
Yes and if the plan was to play solidly and grind out some wins while the players gelled and then to thrash every one with our new team the first part is going pretty well!
two things about vdv going,his wife at the time,was working in Germany,so i would imagine he would have wanted to be with her,and secondly his fitness was suspect,so prehaps that helped AVB to decide to let him go
4th has to be the bottom line because that's where we need to finish and that's what the manager was hired to achieve. A trophy would change things but if 5th is where we "should" be why can't we aim to have a manager that takes us above expectations.
We get another striker in in January and see what happens. If he fails to get us CL then he keeps on for another year because he could easily win us the EL the way things are going. A new manager now would be a big upheaval and I wouldn't countenance it so we keep the faith. He isn't scared to go on the box and slam the fans which means he has some guts so if he can be that bold I think we have a winner here.
4th this year is absolutely essential. With the way Liverpool are building and spending, a period back in the CL would see them rise above us again. This is our last chance whilst things are up in the air with Utd and Liverpool still finding their feet as we are. If we carry on picking up points in a similar way, but improve slightly on the attacking front I think we will have the squad depth in the December/January games to stay in the hunt, and go for Europa league and CC. Would love another trophy, no matter what size. Especially as it will keep our record going of a trophy every decade since the 60's.
I agree to an extent that Redknapp definitely had better individuals and the 4 you mentioned were definitely top PL quality - in the end - but in fairness, Modric was new to the Prem when Redknapp joined us and I don't think anyone expected him to be as good as he became, Bale initially was a jinx then began to shine but only truly blossomed under AVB and no one expected Rafa to be as good as he was (or I didn't anyway). King was the only one who had genuine credentials as a top PL player when Harry took over. But didn't AVB choose to let Rafa go though? I know Rafa did want a return to Hamburg, he always mentioned that Hamburg was in his heart so I can respect him wanting to go back but I was under the impression he would've happily stayed if we wanted him too. I'm sure AVB said in an interview that he chose to sell him in the end... A very strange decision baring in mind we'd already lost Modric and King in the same summer.
"With the way Liverpool are building and spending, a period back in the CL would see them rise above us again. This is our last chance whilst things are up in the air with Utd and Liverpool still finding their feet as we are." Some context here ... The Poool are bringing in more than 60m of revenue than THFC as of 2011/12, and that was for two consecutive seasons out of the CL. Credit to Levy for the financial housekeeping and the Levy tax on players sold, but with no new WHL built, if Spurs do not regularly get their snouts in the CL piggy trough, it will be inevitably be a case of so near yet so far.
Established players can be a pain the arse for new coaches as he found out at Chelsea (and numerous other managers have found, such as Clough) so getting rid of someone that would expect to start, but was not fit enough to finish a game was a fairly easy decision for him i'd have thought.
But in the 70 or so minutes Rafa could last, we were a better team. Surely that is worth having rather than not at all?
"Obviously all of that was implied by what I said" The point is that they don't need CL money. Their current revenue streams are far beyond Spurs, and can probably be patient with a few more "next year is our year" . The Goons would be more interesting though IMHO. Specifically what the loss of 40m odd Euros per year would do to their wage bill, which is already quite high compared to Spurs.
Not sure to be honest, did you watch the pre-season games he featured in - the football was far from flowing, especially the Liverpool game.
I actually don't think that is true in regards to Liverpool being able to wait. They have big debts, and if we made it into CL would have to spend an equal amount or more the get the players we want (something they are already struggling with) as well as competing with Utd for 4th. I don't think they can afford to wait, given that the new stadium/renovation is still not finalised, and when it is will need funding too - but the same could be said of our plans (if they are ever finalised)
I'd never judge on pre-season to be honest mate. In recent years when we've had super pre-seasons, we've started off **** in the league and when we've we had poor/ average pre-seasons, we've started off well.
What happened to being one or two players away from being a very good side in recent seasons, thats what most of us thought. I would have also thought £85m could have done something about that. Not all of this money has been spent particularly well imo, no 'if' about that failure.
