The past month has seen us face opponents who have been a step up from those we played earlier in the season and what it has revealed is that we are nowhere near good enough to go up, let alone stay up. Harry flattered to deceive in the first ten games, our first real test, at Burnley, resulted in a clearcut defeat. Since then we have stuttered along with the wheels coming off once we took on the real contenders. Today was a stark reminder of just how big a gap there is between us and the top sides and we're as far away now as we were in the latter stages of last season. Our side is top heavy with players who are past their peak, are grossly overpaid and, resultantly, lack any desire to put a modest effort in to justify their obscene wages. Many on here say we need player X or player Y and we'll stroll it to promotion, stop kidding yourselves, whoever Harry brings in will make no difference, I am seeing the same malaise that afflicted us last season and, although some of the names have changed, the 'can't be arsed' attitude is becoming more evident as this slump continues, I really think Harry is beginning to lose them and would not be surprised if he jumps ship before the end of this month. I hope I'm wrong but I just feel today was the reality check that does for us...
That wasnt even anywhere near their strongest team either. I've felt for a long time it isn't going to change unless the manager goes. I'm praying someone comes in for him as long as we don't end up with fat Sam. We are just bandaging up our core problem, lots of overpaid, under performing ageing players. There's a few exceptions they can't do much if the rest are sleepwalking through games.
What can you do? We can't afford to sack him and even if another team wanted him, TF (who has an abysmal record picking managers) would say no and keep him. The only way it will change is not going up and the manager will resign.
i am inclined to agree with this view. Our early season was more down to the bookies making us promotion favourites and opposition taking a defensive stance against us.Now that our opponents know better I think this team wont make the play-offs never mind automatic promotion.
this 'just get the lads in to take us up' attitude is very similar to 'just get the lads in to keep us up' of last season... It seems every season we have a recyclable squad of players brought in for one last job. Simpson, Philips and Austin were a step in the right direction but around them we've seen Redknapp revert to form. What ambition and understanding of our situation it would show if he went out and got Ings or Rhodes (not assuming for a moment they would join us) yet instead all I keep hearing are yet more cast offs from the last chance saloon
Redknapp doesn't coach, doesn't do training and doesn't do tactics. All he can do is buy players and hope they are good enough. "There are no long and boring speeches about tactics, like I was used to at Real Madrid. There is a clipboard in our dressing room but Harry doesn't write anything on it. "For instance, last weekend Gareth Bale scored a header against Blackburn from my corner. "But we didn't train one minute on it, it was pure luck. Good kicking, good heading, nothing more. From the man himself. YOU can argue about formations, tactics and systems forever, but to me football is fundamentally about the players. Whether it is 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, the numbers game is not the beautiful game in my opinion. It's 10 per cent about the formation and 90 per cent about the players. If you have the best ones and they do their jobs, then they can pretty much play any way you want them to. England boss Fabio Capello experimented with a new way of playing last night, at least in the first half. Was it 4-5-1? Or 4-3-3? Does it really matter
