Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp believes his Arsenal contemporary Arsene Wenger is wrong not to consider employing a specialised defensive coach to help his side's current troubles. With Arsenal undergoing a poor start to the season, due in large part to some horrific defensive displays, Wenger refused to respond this week when asked whether he should consider a former player like Martin Keown or Tony Adams to improve matters at the back. Redknapp, however, believes specialised coaches for each position on the pitch could only have a positive effect - just as they do in American football, where training of players is "years ahead". "Arsene is entitled to his own opinion but I think it won't be long before we go down the American football route and have specialised coaches for every position in the team," Redknapp told The Sun. "I played out in America and got hooked on the NFL while there. They are years ahead of us in terms of coaching. They have quarterback coaches, wide receiver coaches, a coach for almost every conceivable aspect of the game. "I see nothing wrong with it. It will only improve the players and, as a result, improve the end product which is designed to entertain the fans." Redknapp admits he would welcome greater coaching resources if they were offered to him by his chairman, Daniel Levy. Although he believes football coaching has progressed significantly since his time at West Ham when he didn't even have a goalkeeping coach on staff, Redknapp remains concerned that training sessions don't do as much as they could to improve a squad. "Sometimes you have a group of about 20 players and you end up trying to do something that caters for them all and you come away afterwards and wonder what you have actually achieved," he noted. "What we must do is reassess what we mean by 'coaching'. "I'm all for drilling the lads for what they will be required to do every Saturday. If my chairman rings me today and says 'Harry, we want to bring in some more specialised coaches for you' I'd be delighted. "After all, we have expert dieticians, expert medics and expert fitness guys. Why not expert trainers to get the best out of your players?" I think he is spot on and I find is quite baffling as to why this have not been done years ago! Football is constantly evolving and we need to move forward, Arsene needs to swallow his pride in order to improve us.
As usual, when Harry talks pure football (as opposed to pure bollocks), he is spot on! This is the approach that Harry has used from day one at our club. He has specialist coaches for our strikers, our midfielders, and defence, and even for our goalies. Apart from being baffled as to what advantages our strike-coaches brought with them during last season, I think the new system has worked a treat for us.
It just makes sense Hod, if your going to employ a specialist coach for Goalkeepers, why not do it for other areas on the pitch? Arsenal are at the peak end of all aspects of football, one would have thought this would be common place at large clubs such as ours. You have to cover all the bases from diet to fitness etc.. why are we not exploring an area where we have a clear weakness and looking at some new thinking on the issue. Wengers pride and stubborness appear to be the only reason to me.
Redknapp has about 20 coaches at spurs, basically creating jobs for the boys, that's what he is all about, I bet there coaching wage bill is extortionate. The man has won one FA cup, where he pretty much took the club to the wall to achieve that one FA cup, hardly a great well respected manager (unless your a deluded Englishman), why should we really listen to what he thinks. Why don't you ask the Scottish managers what they think of this idea as they are clearly the master race of managers (pity I couldn't say the same about the players). Pat rice coached under George greahame, if he doesn't know how to coach a team in defending then there must be something wrong, he is just not being allowed to spend any time doing defensive work because wenger is so obsessed with this pass and move game.
What do you think yourself though? about having a specific coach for defence? I think is can only be a positive. If you are weak at say maths, you get grinds and focus extra hard, better tuitition, since we are exceptionally weak in defence would it not be something that we should be considering, I think Rice is gone stale and the players have heard it all from that source, we need a new face, new ideas and fresh impetus and focus.
Most managers have huge ego's and love the power their remit provides. Remember it wasn't that long ago that the manager managed all transfer dealings/negotiations and only as a result of George Grahams envelopes did that change. In England we term the man in charge of the team 'Manager', in the States they're 'Head Coach'. All financial issues are dealt with by non coaching staff over there, whereas over here there seems a 'I'm in charge' mentality where the 'Manager' refuses to relinquish control. It has to change, most clubs have employed goalkeepers coaches for years so why not centre back, full back etc coaches ?
I find it all very strange that Arsene for all the supposedly intelligent approach he has brought to our game that he should close his options in this manner. It've very clear he has become too autocratic and the sooner he realises this the better it will be for the team and his own peace of mind. He really must miss the daily input of David Dein.
There is also an argument for too many cooks spoiling the broth, what if one coach is telling the others different things, or has different ideas. There has to be a point where to many coaches will have a negative effect, I means should we have a left back coach, centre back coach and a right back coach, or an all in one all round defensive coach? We may need a new coach, if people really believe pat rice is past it, but we don't need more coaches, that's a completely different argument. We already have steve bould at the club, if need be he can take a few sessions, as I have stated we don't need someone new to coach the defence, we need to integrate defending into our current training regime so that they players get a chance to practice defending, that's my opinion anyway. We have had good defences in the past, with exactly the same coaching staff, the only thing I can see that has changed is that we just don't do any defensive work in training. A defensive coach will not make any difference if he has no time to work with the players.
In my most humble of opinons, specialist coaches is a great idea. A defense coach would work not just with the Defense, but with the defense seperately, and then the WHOLE TEAM to help them defend as a team. A midfield coach would work on close control, passing, long-range shooting, with bits of defense and attack for the style that Arsenal play. They could also work with the full-backs and wide-men on their crossing. A striking coach would focus on off-the-ball movement, shooting, heading, and definitely goal celebrations. Wenger would be an overseer, who would work with all the different sections and offer his complete and expert opinion and advice, but have in place people he trusts to do their job. In my opinion, fresh faces, and people who can concentrate soley on ONE part of the game, and evaluate a whole match from that perspective, would really benefit the team.
That's a harsh assessment. Judge him by his success, too. This system of coaching has worked wonders for us. If was purely about Harry lining the pockets of his mates (and I really don't think you know Levy well enough if you truly believe that), it would be a case of content over quality, but I don't believe even our harshest critics can accuse our system of that. Look at how well the likes of Lennon and Bale have flourished under us, as well as some of our emerging starlets, such as Livermore, Rose and Walker.
20 coaches at Spurs? I see that also as a job creating, wealth sharing scheme No wonder Ole' 'Arry was being considered for the Ole' England job
Harsh but fair, spurs were terrible before redknapp took over, it would have been pretty hard not to have made an improvement than what they were, considering some of the good players there were there. Lennon is still inconsistent and has a poor final ball (just like theo) so I don't see your point about the coaching as it has not made a huge deal of improvement in him. Its not that redknapp is doing such a great job, its just the fact that his predecessors did such a poor job that is making you think he is that good
I'm sorry, but that simply is not correct. There has been a massive improvement in Lennon over the past four seasons. Every Spurs fan, who has taken note of every single game that Spurs has played in that time (ie. as opposed to outsiders who only watch the EPL highlights on MOTD) will tell you that. The reason for Lennon's recent non-showing has been purely down to injuries.
Keep telling yourself that, you might even start to believe it your self if you keep it up long enough, im not saying he is not a good player but just inconsistent and lacks a final ball, if thats what your great coaching system has produced I would be pretty disappointed, the same way I am with walcott, both on there day are great player, even world beaters, the problem is there day only comes round once every couple of months. I personally would be disappointed with that showing.
I dont think thats true, if you read the full article he says hes got a keeper coach and that fella whose name i forget comes in to help the strikers every now n again but thats it i think
Mr Enigma seems to think that Harry has 20 coaches at Spurs. Perhaps he's getting us confused with National Express
We could have done with one of their coaches at OT earlier this season, might have helped us keep the score down
well there is redknapp, bond, jordon they also have clive allen, tim sherwood, im sure i heard les ferdinand was in there somewhere to, throw in a goalkeeping coach or 2 and that 8 straight away, and that's only the ones i know, im sure there are a few more, and thats not jobs for the boys? your having a laugh, Not that far of the mark, am i? maybe you should go down one day and count them mate. . You'll probably get a good deal out of national express on away trips, one for the player and 2 for the first team coaches
Anybody with half a brain can see Arsenal need a defensive coach, which is why 'Arry can see it but AW can't. Simples.
