Montasura
Well-Known Member
- Mar 15, 2008
- 7,256
- 6,768
Came across this article on the Mirror website. Nothing particularly mindblowing but still a timely reminder for all the Harry haters I suppose....
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opi...ntage-of-Arsenal-s-turmoil-article802337.html
Why Spurs fans should get behind Harry Redknapp and take advantage of Arsenal's turmoil
Arsenal remain in Premier League meltdown with fans calling for the head of Arsene Wenger.
Quite clearly there is enough quality at the Emirates to recover from their worst start ever to a Premier League season.
But the Gunners could still leave themselves with too much to do in their search even for fourth place.
Which is where Spurs come in.
Now is surely the time to get behind the team and the manager as the club try to take advantage of the nightmare being endured by their bitter rivals.
And yet I keep reading about the growing band of Spurs fans who would gladly see the back of Harry Redknapp.
It would be laughable if it wasn't so crazy.
The reasoning ranges from the idea that he is too pally with the media to questions about his tactics.
And yet there didn't seem to be too many problems with Redknapp's tactics when they helped Spurs into the Champions League last year.
Or when they saw off Arsenal at the Emirates, triumphed at Milan and saw Spurs win at Liverpool back in May.
During the 2009 summer transfer window and in the subsequent January, City splashed out £120million on a raft of stars including Carlos Tevez, Kolo Toure, Adam Johnson and, er, Emmanuel Adebayor.
And yet Redknapp's tactics still helped Spurs them to a Champions League place.
Having seen that the style of play last season produced fewer goals than the previous campaign, Redknapp has been astute enough to change things this time around.
The result? Tottenham looked far more solid against Wolves and were the better side against Liverpool even before the Reds had Charlie Adam and Martin Skrtel sent off.
Out has gone the diagonal ball up to Peter Crouch to knock down for Rafael van der Vaart.
Out, in fact, has gone Crouch himself, with Van der Vaart and his suspect stamina on the bench.
And in has come Adebayor alongside a rejuvenated Jermain Defoe. The result? A Spurs side with so many more attacking options as Liverpool found on Sunday.
Just to address the other gripe against Redknapp, that he talks too much to the media.
It always makes me smile when I read it. Particularly from fans who spend the transfer window bombarding journalists on Twitter and other social networking sites asking what is going on at their club and who may or may not be coming in.
Give me an honest, lucid Redknapp ahead of his predecessor Juande Ramos any day.
The Spaniard may have hit the UEFA Cup/Europa League heights with Sevilla but his press conferences were a farce with his pidgin English,cryptic answers and siege mentality ludicrous.
Think Fabio Capello with far less of a command of the English language and you get the picture.
Give me Redknapp for Spurs - and for England for that matter with his reference points, his anecdotes and his feelgood factor any day.
It seems basically that fans have short memories. They don't remember the times that, under Martin Jol, they struggled to beat teams from the big four.
Jol was also the man who didn't fancy Michael Carrick as a player, allowing the midfielder to go to Manchester United where he has won four Premier League titles, the Champions League and the Carling Cup.
They don't remember the tailspin that Tottenham fell into under Ramos after beating Chelsea to the Carling Cup.
On that 2008 run-in, their wins against West Ham and Portsmouth were offset by their humbling at Birmingham and their inability to beat Newcastle, Blackburn, Middlesbrough, Wigan, Bolton and Reading before losing at home to Liverpool.
In 2004, Jacques Santini quit after just 13 games amid tales that he'd fallen out with Sporting Director Frank Arnesen - himself poached by Chelsea - such was the managerial turmoil at White Hart Lane.
At the time they'd gained a reputation as a club that could stuff up a cup of coffee.
Now, simmering tensions between Daniel Levy and Redknapp notwithstanding, they are rolling with the big boys in the Premier League.
So why would Spurs fans want to trade that for yet more instability and upheaval?
Even this argument that Redknapp is biding his time before he quits to take the England job doesn't hold water.
Firstly there are well-documented legal issues to overcome. Secondly, even if Redknapp did leave, surely fans would want the club to be in the best possible shape so that it could attract a top-line replacement. A Carlo Ancelotti or a Louis van Gaal.
The likes of Ancelotti work at Champions League level. Not Europa League.
For me though, Redknapp and his ability to get the best out of players, is good enough thank you.
Spurs fans who think otherwise really should be careful what they wish for.
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opi...ntage-of-Arsenal-s-turmoil-article802337.html
Why Spurs fans should get behind Harry Redknapp and take advantage of Arsenal's turmoil
Arsenal remain in Premier League meltdown with fans calling for the head of Arsene Wenger.
Quite clearly there is enough quality at the Emirates to recover from their worst start ever to a Premier League season.
But the Gunners could still leave themselves with too much to do in their search even for fourth place.
Which is where Spurs come in.
Now is surely the time to get behind the team and the manager as the club try to take advantage of the nightmare being endured by their bitter rivals.
And yet I keep reading about the growing band of Spurs fans who would gladly see the back of Harry Redknapp.
It would be laughable if it wasn't so crazy.
The reasoning ranges from the idea that he is too pally with the media to questions about his tactics.
And yet there didn't seem to be too many problems with Redknapp's tactics when they helped Spurs into the Champions League last year.
Or when they saw off Arsenal at the Emirates, triumphed at Milan and saw Spurs win at Liverpool back in May.
During the 2009 summer transfer window and in the subsequent January, City splashed out £120million on a raft of stars including Carlos Tevez, Kolo Toure, Adam Johnson and, er, Emmanuel Adebayor.
And yet Redknapp's tactics still helped Spurs them to a Champions League place.
Having seen that the style of play last season produced fewer goals than the previous campaign, Redknapp has been astute enough to change things this time around.
The result? Tottenham looked far more solid against Wolves and were the better side against Liverpool even before the Reds had Charlie Adam and Martin Skrtel sent off.
Out has gone the diagonal ball up to Peter Crouch to knock down for Rafael van der Vaart.
Out, in fact, has gone Crouch himself, with Van der Vaart and his suspect stamina on the bench.
And in has come Adebayor alongside a rejuvenated Jermain Defoe. The result? A Spurs side with so many more attacking options as Liverpool found on Sunday.
Just to address the other gripe against Redknapp, that he talks too much to the media.
It always makes me smile when I read it. Particularly from fans who spend the transfer window bombarding journalists on Twitter and other social networking sites asking what is going on at their club and who may or may not be coming in.
Give me an honest, lucid Redknapp ahead of his predecessor Juande Ramos any day.
The Spaniard may have hit the UEFA Cup/Europa League heights with Sevilla but his press conferences were a farce with his pidgin English,cryptic answers and siege mentality ludicrous.
Think Fabio Capello with far less of a command of the English language and you get the picture.
Give me Redknapp for Spurs - and for England for that matter with his reference points, his anecdotes and his feelgood factor any day.
It seems basically that fans have short memories. They don't remember the times that, under Martin Jol, they struggled to beat teams from the big four.
Jol was also the man who didn't fancy Michael Carrick as a player, allowing the midfielder to go to Manchester United where he has won four Premier League titles, the Champions League and the Carling Cup.
They don't remember the tailspin that Tottenham fell into under Ramos after beating Chelsea to the Carling Cup.
On that 2008 run-in, their wins against West Ham and Portsmouth were offset by their humbling at Birmingham and their inability to beat Newcastle, Blackburn, Middlesbrough, Wigan, Bolton and Reading before losing at home to Liverpool.
In 2004, Jacques Santini quit after just 13 games amid tales that he'd fallen out with Sporting Director Frank Arnesen - himself poached by Chelsea - such was the managerial turmoil at White Hart Lane.
At the time they'd gained a reputation as a club that could stuff up a cup of coffee.
Now, simmering tensions between Daniel Levy and Redknapp notwithstanding, they are rolling with the big boys in the Premier League.
So why would Spurs fans want to trade that for yet more instability and upheaval?
Even this argument that Redknapp is biding his time before he quits to take the England job doesn't hold water.
Firstly there are well-documented legal issues to overcome. Secondly, even if Redknapp did leave, surely fans would want the club to be in the best possible shape so that it could attract a top-line replacement. A Carlo Ancelotti or a Louis van Gaal.
The likes of Ancelotti work at Champions League level. Not Europa League.
For me though, Redknapp and his ability to get the best out of players, is good enough thank you.
Spurs fans who think otherwise really should be careful what they wish for.
