So that's 3 defeats on the trot now - first time under Harry's management apparently. Despite what he says, the England talk is affecting us an awful lot now and I wish he'd just come out and say 'if they want me, I'll go' or words to that effect. I don't think we'll finish 3rd anymore this season - Arsenal are on an excellent run of form at just the right time and they'll take it from us I think. 4th? Maybe, MAYBE but it's entirely dependent on Chelsea. If Chelsea continue being inconsistent I think we have a chance, otherwise we won't get 4th at all. ----------- I seriously think we'll finish 5th now - I would say 6th but I think the current 9 point gap to Newcastle may be a bit much. It's ridiculous how our season is falling apart in front of our eyes. (This whole thread may be a kneejerk to today and tomorrow morning I may feel completely different )
fuck knows. Totally depends upon whether Redknapp pulls his head out of his arse and starts doing his job properly again or not. He's been **** over the last few weeks and he's made the same mistakes this season as he did in the last one, though I'm obviously not complaining about how he's done during his time at the club. He can't rotate the squad properly, he keeps picking stupid systems and formations and his substitutions frequently make wonky systems even more unbalanced.
Oh come on, you're hysterical Two of those games, we've been the better team and whilst we can't afford to keep losing, you'll find we're still 3rd and have the best run in out of our rivals. Hardly time to panic.
What was it you said back in January about how many points we needed to still be in contention after this heavy run? I think it required us drawing to Arsenal and beating Everton (although we'd lose against United)? 4 points better off than we are currently...
This ain't no knee jerk. To me our teams playing like they no longer believe in themselves and yes you can blame the England speculation for turning Harrys head. I'm surprised mr I chat fart when a cameras in my face hasn't spoken on wether he wants the job or not. OPEN YOUR MOUTH HARRY YOUR NOT USUALLY SHY!
have to agree once again..its the Modric saga again but with Harry leading this time....but will he admit it..will he fuk! and how unprofessional of the players if they forget to perform for Spurs due to such speculation...regardless they still have a bloody job to do and one hey get more than handsomly paid to do.
Looking at the games we've got left, I am confident about all but the Chelsea and Sunderland games. AFC still have Everton (away), £ity and Chelsea, as well as a tough tie against the Toon, tomorrow. Therefore, I'd still fancy us to take 3rd, but I was hoping that St Arsehole's Day would have come around a lot sooner, and a good more easily.
It's not the results though Lidls, it's the performances and the ridiculous team selections. Going with 3 centre-halves, two holding players and no creative central midfielder away at Stevenage, for ****'s sake?! What's that supposed to be? Why move Modric out of his favoured position, when he's our most creative player? Why keep picking two defensive midfielders, when we haven't had a single positive result using any system with that in this season? Why move Bale onto the right, when it negates his effectiveness completely? Why drop our most effective formation and system, just because van der Vaart's not fully fit? Redknapp's making a ton of mistakes right now and not owning up to it. He's not committing to the job either, despite Levy sticking by him and paying for him to have a holiday after his embarrassing court case. I'm sure you can understand why this continued speculation, combined with a run of dire results that have come because of his decisions, is starting to piss people off.
A reason Ghoddle10 should never comment about anyone else's team selections ever again, mainly. He was all for Parker and Livermore for the match. This is what I really cant understand - Modric works best through the middle, so why help out the opposition by moving him out wide? It means we have no creativity through the middle, which is what our system is based on. Against Liverpool we had an excuse, as everyone else was injured, suspended, or ill. We didn't have any reason to do so today (we could've played Kranjcar on the left, or Rose fill in for Lennon) but we didn;t. It's as baffling as it is maddening. ...especially when the like-for-like cover is Rose, not Modric. Ade and Saha up front worked against Newcastle to devastating effect - but had the first choice midfield behind them. Chopping and changing the midfield is reducing the service to the forwards, which is why we brought in 'Arry in the first place as Ramos failed to get it. As mentioned elsewhere, if the uncertainty about Modric screwed up our first two games, the constant speculation about 'Arry from the media - and certain bacon-faced ****s in Manchester when told to shut the **** up about it - is causing problems now. Levy especially, I don't doubt.
Someone has lost the plot here surely. I've said it before and I'm going to say it again. Ade needs a rest for a week or two, to get his sharpness back. DON"T play Sandro and Parker together in the same game at the same time. Because that puts too much presure on Modric to make the play for the forwards. Todays game is yet another example of what happens when you rely on one forward thinking play maker (Modric),. He (Modric) can be earlily marked out of the entire game and then the strikers get no service at all. Spurs again never looked like scoring from open play today, until VDV came on to replace one of the two central defensive midfield players. By then it was too late. Why are we beginning to look like a mid table side, when we have so many talented players in the squad ?. My answere is that.... We are in this situation partly because of the lack of tacticle astuteness. and partly because there has been too much talking-up the England job by Harry and he is trying to audition for that role. So is Harry now under too much presure ?. Harry ?.
It's a repeat of last season - we need to shuffle the deck to give a couple of players time to refresh, but neglect to do so. A couple of seasons back we qualified for the CL with some timely rotations - which led to a run of goals from Kranjcar and Pav when we did so - but we're reluctant to do so now. An excuse can be made for the defence, as we're low on numbers with Daws out whilst Gallas and Nelsen are lacking fitness and sharpness, but the decision to play Modric out of position to cover the lack of Lennon makes no sense to anyone when we have several more logical options, namely Kranjcar, Rose, or even Dos Santos.
This is why we needed to rotate more often earlier in the season Croydon, as I'm sure that you're aware. We've lost a number of useful options due to their lack of game time (Bassong, Corluka, Pienaar, Townsend, etc.) and those squad players that remain have no match-fitness. If Redknapp didn't trust a large number of our squad enough to give them a run in the team, then we should've replaced them in the summer. The likes of Dos Santos, for example, is never going to get a game, so why's he still in the squad? Rose isn't really a left-back, yet he can't get a game in any other position and he's not trusted to play at all, unless it's a cup or Assou-Ekotto's unavailable. We've got nobody to replace Walker, unless we play someone out of position, so why loan out Corluka, Naughton, Smith and Byrne?
I agree with most of what's been said. There was no creativity (again) playing Modric on the left makes no sense to anybody, but Harry. Why didn't VDV start?? Playing Parker & Sandro together didn't work anyway. They're there to protect our defence - it didn't work. The whole thing looked unbalanced, again! Winning is a habit- so is losing! We have to get out of this rut pretty damn quickly or Christ knows where we might finish. I agree with the OP that this speculation about Harry is not helping and he should clarify his situation without delay. However, I don't think we can hide behind that as an excuse for our current poor form. For me VDV HAS to start when ever he's fit. Without him we seem to lack any creative input.
I could understand Parker and Sandro starting, but only if Modric isn't fit or we have a host of injuries. If we had a midfield of Bale, Parker, Sandro and Lennon, with van der Vaart playing behind Adebayor, then that might work. Redknapp seems to have lost all perspective about the balance of our side, for some reason. If we're getting a decent amount of possession, then he seems to think that whatever system he's using is working, despite any lack of creativity.
