It’s difficult to be positive following a three nil defeat to team deprived of its star centre backs, and with an average age of twenty-three, but I guess as a Spurs fan I should have known better than to expect anything different.
I honestly believed we could take our Europa league form to Old Trafford, expose their young defenders lack of experience, and put an end to our twenty-two years without a win.
On reflection the backline additions of Smalling and Jones cost twenty six million alone, so Sir Alex clearly believes in them, and the early signs are promising for the English duo.
As this was only our second competitive match tiredness couldn’t be an issue so the only explanation for united running away with the match in the last half hour must be Harry’s tactical changes.
Against United we had the choice of Livermore, Jenas, Huddlestone, Kaboul or Kranjcar to operate in central midfield, but strangely when we needed to chase the points Harry opted for Van der Vart who clearly lacks the pace, stamina, and physique to fill that role.
While I can see the progress we’ve made under Redknapp’s management, what does concern me is that he’s had nearly three years to build his own team and with this talented group of players we often fail to create enough chances to win a match.
Harry may point to injuries or other factors, but as was demonstrated towards the end of last season sometimes it’s just a case of being tactically outclassed. Last season, rather than play Kranjcar or Rose, we persevered with a clearly unfit Gareth Bale. There were times when Lennon was struggling for form but was still included and as was demonstrated against United, there are moments when Rafael Van der Vart must be sacrificed for the benefit of the team.
You can’t fit square pegs into round holes, as witnessed with the England set up in recent years, but Spurs have a massive squad with an abundance of options available, so surely we should have a plan A, B and C?
Great managers make risky decisions and are never afraid to change tactics; Harry benefitted for taking a gamble last year when Danny Rose scored a screamer in the first minute against the Gunners. Sadly it appears this decision was a one-off.
Whilst managing Porto Jose Mourinho didn’t have elite players at his disposal, but by using the right players at the right time he found success. Sir Alex Ferguson also utilises the full squad when necessary and players such as Fletcher, Park, O’Shea, etc have been invaluable to United in recent years.
With Harry It may be a case of ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’, but with the ever increasing quality of the Premiership we have to improve or we’ll be left behind.
Daniel Levy has some important decisions to make this week regarding the clubs immediate future, it’s clear we need a top striker, there’s the Luka Modric scenario and we obviously need to offload fringe players and accept our losses on their value.
Regarding the clubs long term future; we have some excellent prospects such as Rose, Walker, Livermore, Kane, etc and with the right coaching and guidance they can develop into top players, but is Harry the right the manager to blood these youngsters and take the club forward to the next level?
We’ll support the team through thick and thin, but if we continue the way we did against United these are the questions Daniel Levy has to consider for the benefit of the club.
dreary cobblers
Yes, tactically unaware, but don’t worry he’ll carry on not buying what we desperately need, just talk about doing it instead of actually doing it.
Time to put up or shut up Harry!
I totally agree with you. If Harry spent as much time developing his tactical knowledge as he does developing his media portfolio and by default his bank balance then maybe he would not have made the terrible choice of subs that he did last night. Lovely bloke but not as in his words a “top top” manager. And please can someone tell me why our central defenders decided that marking a centre forward standing on our penalty spot is something they should not bother doing, stopping the cross in the 1st place would help, another defensive craft that we do not have, but my god our two center halves were abject last night. I hope the manager and the chairman can get back on the same page ASAP if we are to have any chance of landing our transfer targets before the window shuts, whilst on this matter I am becoming totally bored by the whole modders matter, someone just please make a bloody decision and lets just get on with it….
2 wins in the last 13 matches last season says it all, rotation is key in the Prem IMO, Harry is so frustrating, needs to wind his neck in and find a decent system to accomodate our best players
We need a big strong aggressive striker who can score regularly,Graham roberts to become a defence coach at the club and Ledley King is not playing again so it must be time to hang up the boots and become a coach he cannot be one of the twentyfive surely.Harry must use players in the squad the biggest squad in league and not ignore any of them,Until they are sold they are Spurs players,do not use any player not fully fit or on form.All transfers need to be in place before the season starts and bedded in before we start playing competetive games.Harry must be able to recognise when things need to be changed and make the changes.Last night was a poor second half performance and the strikers were made to look good by our poor defending……not good enough and must do better on last nights performance i would worry about us getting mid table.
Gung-ho is not a tactic. Against top teams it’s suicide. Teach full backs to cut out crosses and defenders and midfielders to pass quickly and accurately into the space ahead of Bale and Lennon for effective counter attacking! Schoolboy stuff but seems to be beyond Spurs coaching staff.
Ad….are you a coach at United because you make it sound so simple!
So we are chasing a game and you want to bring on Jenas? Not sure you will get much support for that view.
Options were limited, “bare bones” and all that!
This is the reality….we do not posess a striker that fits the 451/4411/433 formation. That is where we fall down when we play VDV. If we revert to 442, then one of the strikers has to work hard (remeber we are away at Utd) and drop into the midfield when do not have the ball, so effectively a 4411, which is basically how we played last night.
If we had Sandro, Huddlestone & Modric fit, we would have controlled the game even more than we did for the first hour. Modric’s guile in particular would open doors that Livermore/Kranjcar cannot. Huddlestone can spread play to the wingers in a an instant with a waft of either leg.
We would have been able to exert more pressure on Utd and if we just had that quality striker who offers not just finishing or height or technique, but all 3, then we could really compete with United, seriously threaten them.
They spent +£50m to add to a Champions & CL finalist squad. While their defenders may be young there is a reason why Smalling & Jones cost £28m, that is bcause they are high quality…judging Spurs on last nights game is equal folly to judging us (and the ability of Kranjcar to play CM) against a woeful Herats. You made this mistake on both occasions!
I have to disagree.
Maybe a change could have been made earlier but I’m not sure Harry’s tactics or lack of, were to blame for another Old Trafford defeat.
I felt we needed to capitalise on dominant spell we had early on in the second half. Once Lennon failed to pick out the obvious ball (yet again) after he’d beaten Evra to the ball, our chance was all but gone. After they scored we disappointingly but unsurprisingly gave up any hope of getting anything from the game.
I feel the lack of mental strength and ruthless streak within the squad is once again costing us and it is an area that really needs to be addressed. Hopefully Diarra is that man.
Also another afterthought from the game, did anyone else think Johnny Evans should have received a second yellow for a clumsy challenge in the second half?
Sky and Gary Nev’s laser pen predictably didn’t show a reply…or maybe I’m just so used to Spurs being on the receiving end to poor refereeing decisions at Old Trafford I’m clutching at straws.
I’m not so sure it’s just tactics. He cannot be instilling a can-do, winners mentality with the constant downbeat opinions of the upcoming season.
The ultimate measure of any manager is – what has been won? For the number of years he’s been in management, it would suggest he isn’t a top-top manager. Good enough to rescue us, but nothing more.
If Redknapp @ Jol were joined at the hip it would have made no difference. Both are totally useless at sending out a team with the tactics needed to get even a draw against a very young Man.Utd.
The sooner we see the back of Redknapp the better if he hangs on look for at best a 9th. or 10th. finish. We are SPURS and we deserve better than the joke that is Redknapp.
Spot on.We do deserve better.A committed manager who doesn’t have his fingers in so much pies that he cannot focus on the team. Owners who are prepared to invest some of their own money without having to spunk the club’s money on naive Olympic stadium bids and appeals.
Wanna’ make some easy money well have a bet on the Jam Tarts beating Spurs on Thursday not by 5 but that will still win at WHL.
Hypothetical but if Spurs were about to sign a new manager who should it be?.The man i had wanted is unlikely to come but in view of his behaviour in a recent game i am no longer sure he is the right man.I wanted Jose Mourinho but if his eye poking/ear pinching was a sign of his discipline i am not sure he would be a right choice in view of the frustration he would endure at Spurs ie Wage cap,funds and Spurs always doing everything the hard way.
LOL!!!!! Like Jose would sign for spurs! What fucking planet do you live on dick head? Who’s next? Rooney, Neymar and Mario Gotze?
idiot.
have said it all along, redcrapp dont know what to do when he meets top teams away. he is in all things clueles. but yesterday it was not only his fault, what am i saying?? he picked the team, and made those subs. his fault ALONE!!!
Main point: Last season was my least enjoyable season as a tottenham fan.
I have never watched so many spurs games in a season and left feeling completely robbed of my time. I think we only won once or twice by more than 1 goal last season. In all previous seasons we had atleast one emphatic , four goal margin, victory. VDV is slow, unfit and wastful. Sandro is a slow, uncreative 0-0 merchant. Livermore is completely mediocre and will never make it. Kranjcar is very creative but too slow. Remember our front 6 when we won our first 4 last seasons- Modric, Palacios, Hud, Lennon, Keane, Defoe and Keane. Notice no Bale and no VDV, notice Keane.
Why, am I pointing this out you might ask when Keane is clearly past it?? Simply because spurs fans so easily succumb to flashy moments of brilliance rather than objective analysis. Defenders have worked out Bale because he is one dimentional ( defend deep, 2 PL assists last year???). What Keane has ( and sometimes Pav) is the knowledge of how to move like a striker. Even when his finishing was poor he created chances. Pav and Keane have been treated badly by both fans and the manager. Keane’s poor from was a direct consequence of lack of first team opportunity ( he was dropped orginally despite playing very well). Harry’s Crouch and VDV favouritism has damaged so much of our football potential and it seems that if Pav plays a bad 10 mins he is dropped whereas VDV, BALE and other players Harry feels he has brought in or developed will get picked no matter what. Ok, rant over. Safe.
I can’t believe the Redknapp backlash after just one game into the season – a nice easy encounter away at the Champions.
If anyone expected us to get more than a point last night with the injuries we have then they are seriously deluded. Although we were well on our way to getting a point in the first hour and as I mentioned before we just lack the mental resolve and characters in the side to see out these tricky games or grind out gritty wins.
Redknapp is not perfect by all means, but the squad he’s assembled I think is the most exciting in years and if we sign the two former Gooners then I don’t see why we can’t be part of the chasing pack.
Dodo – Seriously, least enjoyable? are you joking? Qtr finals of the champions league, wins at Arsenal and Liverpool. We may have finished 5th but 20 games in we still had a realistic chance of the title. We may have fell away but this could only be your least exciting season if your 2yrs old.
Kols – Are you serious? – Wins at Liverpool and Arsenal I think completly contradicts what your saying, and I do believe we were robbed at the Bridge by poor officiating. Dear oh dear, sometimes I can see why other clubs have it in for Spurs fans
Totally agree with your sentiments.
One game in against the Champions and it’s a disaster.
We were in the game with 60 minutes gone and despite what people have said, tiredness kicked in.
You should never judge a manager after one game and despite winning two in weleve, a loy of that had a lot to do with injuries and a Champions League hangover, which is natural considering it was our maiden campaign.
Without getting technical what I remembered about last nights game was that the times that we had the ball and tried to run at them they closed us down almost immediately, but we either allowed them to run at us or could not stop them. Our passing was very sloppy, and but for Friedel I dread to think what the scoreline could have been!
Is the aftermatch video analysis by redknapp and bond behind closed doors going to make any diference? As good as we are the side was chasing etc…to admire what redknap has done for thfc is one thing but the talent we have needs its gameplan…….without misplacing players ….maybe redknapp needs to rethink…what is ourbhest side?….its only one game but we capitulated after 70mins…he has said we need some spine and characters
To make the side more effective.mmm
You lot make me laugh. Before last nights game everyone was saying that Krancja should be given a chance and that he could play central mid. Now he has and we lost heavily (to the best team in England) HR is clueless. If VDV was dropped you would all be up in arms, but we need to play 4-4-2. How can you play 4-4-2 with VDV? He showed last night he isn’t a midfielder and he’s not a striker, he has to play in the hole. Really clueless, embarrasing
Another clueless article about Harry’s tactics that fails to suggest where he went wrong. Are you saying we should have ‘parked the bus’?
I for one would rather we have a go.
The most annoying thing about last night’s game with Man U was that Spurs were predictable as usual. Hold on for as long as you can and once they score, the flood gates open. Surely cannot be that difficult to defend against Man UTD. Can anyone tell me why we sold Woodgate after having nursed him back to recovery after two seasons on the bench. Sorry but does not make sense. I also notice that not a dickie bird on how poor Jermaine Man Defoe played. Hearts FC okay but top 4 side no way.
2 wins in our last 13 prem games.. how much analysis does one really need ? having a go is one thing, but we are not speaking about a drunken bum in the corner being harassesd by some young menacing unbeatable thug ffs. We pack more than enough punch, why be so forgiving? and blind.. we have the players… where is your memory, harry has ran out of ideas until he throws the new toys out for newer ones, hes spoilt and highly toxic, like a brat, never accepts responsibility for anything other than random good fortune… this is bad business and rather than operating in a workman like old fashioned way ( moyes/ ferguson / o neil / coyle) its not like he has the shit that they have to work with, yet we pick up the same amount of wins. He’s broken, that’s of you ever believed he was fixed in the forst place.
CCOOYYFFFSSSS
The Jol era was far more entertaining and the quality of the football was much higher. Last season was full of long ball rubbish. If it continues this could be a long boring season for spurs. VDV has to be dropped and I was saying this last autumn when he was scoring because even when he was scoring the rest of the team wasn’t. I am not sure how many more times this season i can face watching VDV attempt a 40 yarder and it end up in stands. We scored so many more goals with two up top last season. Maybe play him on the right or left but certainly not as a number 10. He doesn’t know how to do it. He is no Teddy.
i think this blogger should be the new manaer…twat
More boring analysis type rubbish. Spurs had lots of players missing and it took its toll. Other than that we played very well and a patched up nidfield of a kid and a wide player ran the show for large periods. Harry didn’t fail to mark Wellbeck did he? Tactics? Nothing to do with it…
Look last night we put out probably our strongest possible team. You can’t play defoe and vdv together. Vdv comes from deep and defoe needs a partner so why are we playing those two together?! Why are we playing 4-4-1-1 again?! It does not work harry!! Are you thick?! Why are we playing wingers when we have no height in the box and no one in the box to put it into?! Its fucking ridiculous! Why put vdv in central mid?! Why put krancjer, our slowest RB up against young, one of the quickest wingers in the prem!! Its stupidity! Harry is walking a tight rope with about 80% of spurs fans I’d say. Any top manager, infact any good manager would have got us into champions league last season with the squad we have. Any good manager would have identified targets to bring in that we need. Harry only ever buys from the prem or over 30s club! He seriously needs to buck his ideas up!
This gonna sound crazy but I think we should play Bale up front. Pace, power and a good leaper, finisher and shooter. He would be amazing.
Actually that sounds like a bloody good idea. Trouble is Bale would be the only player who is capable of good crosses to Bale in the first place!
Simply any manager at this level need fine tuning and awareness of exploiting weaknesses of the opponent eg.. man u ‘s new keeper should have had someone stand near him for corners plus low shots and defoe following up the rebounds, injuries didnt help but it does appearthe man u game showed some supporters tactical doubts..
…redknapp is a good managerbut if ferguson was in control what wold he have done to counter manu attacking play…o