The best player in training and he sits on the bench.

Harry think before you open your mouth.

What's the message to anyone else? "You can be the best in training, brilliant, but I have my favourites so tough luck!

why are you on Harrys case ?

Ramos did not get any grief on this site and he was shocking, Rednapp has us in the top four and look at the shit he gets.

We played very well today Harry had a great game good subs ok a lucky goal but we won 3 nil comforatbly with little scares.

Actually its a good sign. If your not in the team, you train well. You get an opportunity. You take it. Then you've got a right to stake a claim for a starting spot.

I applaud HArry for what he's done, but personally, he is very limited and seems a bit petty.

I don't call him names, just pointing out the lack of logic in what he says.

I'd say it shows if u perform well in training you will be given the chance to show you can do it on the pitch, what's the problem? Pav had been out the picture for sometime so clearly he would be less than matchfit for a full 90mins (plus u don't make such drastic changes to your first team based soley on training) he was however given a place on the bench and given playing time to show he can do in a real match what he has been doing in training (which he did)

Seriously sebo_sek your comment is up there with one of the most moronic I have read on this site (and there have been many)

Don't care about all the HR comments, this is about how well Pav did when he came on and i think he was excellent - even without the goals. He and Modric changed the game completely and were untouchable by the tired wigan defenders. Well done to Pav for keeping his head up and being so sharp considering how limited his chances have been, I'd love to see him push for a starting position in the next few games and bring a different goalscoring threat to the opposition other than Defoe.

Everton next week is a vital game, City likely to drop points to Chelsea so we must take advantage otherwise even Everton will potentially only be 2 points behind us and a top half finish could be in doubt!

I heard on the BBC from the postgame interview with Harry Redknapp, that he had allready decided before the Wigan game that Pav would start against Bolton on wednesday. Maybe that is the reason why he didnt start against Wigan, despite being the best in training?

OK time for a bit of cynicism from me. Those quotes are from the official site. Perhaps there was a bit of afterthought in there because maybe someone picked up (as i did) that in the post game interview Redknapp once again struggled to actually compliment Pav and once again gave it the "when he wants to play......." scenario. I don't know but we all can see that Pav is technically gifted so not really sure what Redknapp's problem has been with him.

I can only compare Pav with Crouch as a like for like swap. Pav offers far more to the team than the lanky one all day long. Perhaps Redknapp has a problem with eating humble pie!

It's really bizarre. Everyone in the press has been reporting Harry's comments about Pavlyuchenko as unalloyed enthusiasm and positivity, except the fans who have a bee in their collective bonnet about this, who insist upon editing our all of his (obviously calculated) praise and reading only the qualifications.

What's confusing about this, or even unusual? A player hasn't been getting into the team because the manager isn't satisfied with his approach to training. The player responds by stepping it up in training and impressing everyone, so he is rewarded with a place on the bench - and this time he actually comes on for a half-hour. The player responds further by scoring 2 high-quality goals. So the manager praises him. It's the sequence of events any neutral person would expect to see.

What we need to see now is Pav rewarded further by a couple of starts this week. That would be the continuation of the same management approach.

Exactly. The official PR machine has got on to Harry to "airbrush" the impression he gave in the post-match interviews in relation to Pav.
Noticeable how much more positive the official propaganda quotes are in comparison with the actual post match interview.

Exactly, we've all seen that over the last few weeks we have been struggling for goals, Pav has been given two cameo's now and impressed on both occasions.

Time for Crouchie to have a break and give Pav a chance.

What's bizarre, David, is the unalloyed readiness to believe anything that Harry tells you, namely when he explains away the reasons why certain players were left on sidelines while certain others have been automatically selected match after match even when they have been ineffective for 2-3 months.

So now we should believe that we should be grateful to Harry that he somehow finally prompted the good performances from Pavlyuchenko, and there is no way that the player could have been involved much more earlier?
In other words, it's all down to Harry's management after all, part of the brilliant scheme to get the best out of the lazy Russian?

Never mind the question about whether the player could have helped the team put in better performances and perhaps get better results much earlier, while the manager kept his preferred player in the team game after game. Let's not think about that.

You should be in Harry's PR team, seriously.

A perfect analysis of something that has clearly been blown out of all proportion.

I totally agree with this. He should have a couple of starts. If not more.

However, surely a continuation of the same management approach would be to start Crouch on Wednesday, despite Pav's efforts. Hasn't that happened every other time Pav has played well in his limited playing time? (and yes, I know Pav was injured after the Leeds game).

Pav wasn't even getting chances in the Carling Cup. He played in only one of our three games in that competition and scored in that game. Not to mention how he was "overlooked" when we lost to Man Utd, even though he'd allegedly been told by Harry that he would start the game.

Oh jeeeeeeez, it's football, not war. Look, all that matters is that Pav got on the bench, then on the pitch and then scored. All this reading into what Harry does or doesn't say after a game is pointless. It suggests you'll never be happy until you hear what you want to hear. I take it you didn't hear Harry when he said "Pav's been the best player in training this week"?? Is that not enough for ya? The only thing that is important is that we won the game and Pav got his reward for stepping it up in training.

There does not seem a lot of happiness on the site today, we beat Wigan 3-0, that's 12 goals we put past them this season, everyone should be delighted.

I thought we played very well, we looked a class above them and that was without Lennon, Woodgate, Ekotto and Jenas even in the squad.

Umm. I went to Doncaster. He scored a mis hit shot when we were already 4-1 up and coasting. Aside from that he was horrible, lazy and wasteful.

The next game against Preson he was set to start again but he was injured. Not long after that we heard comments from Harry and Hiddink about his lazy attitude in training and lack of hard work.

Why the fuck should Harry pick a player who is not working as hard as the others? he shouldn't.

Pav has trained hard recently and was rewarded with some time on the pitch to seal the game... I'm happy for him, but I don't think Harry has done anything wrong by sticking with a team that started the season so well.

No, I didn't hear that - because he did not say those words in the actual post-match interviews. I suggest it is you who actually hears what he wants to hear - even something that was not even said...
The words about Pav being "the best player in training this week" etc appeared on the official site this morning and perhaps were for SpursTV.
Anyway, I was only responding to the argument that it was only now that this player should be considered for the first team, as if the last 2-3 months did not happen, when the team performance has become so predictable and stale and we dropped so many vital points mainly through inability to score more goals.

Yes, for me it is also important that we won the match - especially the manner in which we won it after 2 players came on late in 2nd half. One of them who was frozen out since the beginning of the season linked up so well in attack, put in good effort and scored 2 goals in 18 min.

What was also very important for me, the reaction of the teammates after the match. The teammates who also see the player in training every day. As anyone who played regular football at whatever level can tell, nothing is more annoying than someone not pulling his weight and being disrespectful to the team that way.
I very much doubt that the players reacted that way after yesterday's match if Pav was really as poor in training as the manager would have us believe.

You moan constantly, start of the season it was, why isn't Santos playing, then it was, why is Keane playing, now its, Pav doesn't play enough.

I know you don't like Redknapp, but he's doing a decent job.