Arsenal (A) - THE Game of Two Halves

[Archibald&Crooks]

Of course the quotes were correct. But the content was a mixture of hyperbole, dramatics and nonsense. You don't coach a team of high-strung budding stars into the Champions League and into an FA Cup semi-final by completely ignoring tactics. It's patently absurd.

I posted the other day that Redknapp doesn't appear to trim and tweak his approach very much depending on the opposition. He just sets out his team to play his way and then waits to see if it works. It's ambitious and it's in danger of proving a bit arrogant if the players are not up to the calibre of our current squad. Fortunately, Harry seems to have become much better at changing things around when it isn't working, as we saw on Saturday - this has not always been so.

If you adopt a managerial approach that your team is going to play in your own style and try to impose it on the opposition, then scribbling tactical diagrams on a white-board right before a match is otiose. That work should have been done on the training ground over the previous several months and it should be possible to send the players onto the pitch, secure in their roles, with just a few words of instructions.

Agreed. But those looking for something to beat 'arry with will still cling to the quote like shipwreck survivors to driftwood.