Good morning.
First up, good to see Gazza on the road to Wellville. He’s been there before, but I understand he’s making great progress and the more daft characters football has, the better.
The game itself was tough viewing at times as our formation creaked uneasily as many new players and an unedifying injury list took it’s toll. Add to this the Bar Codes aren’t where they are in the table by luck. They might not quite be ‘The Entertainers’ again, but Pardew has them organised and their desire was impressive enough.
6
Highlight of the game was his attempt to smuggle the ball back over the line after their equalizer. If I had to describe that move in word, that word would be ambitious.
5
It was all a bit of a struggle. In his defense Toon were at him and this is hardly a settled, cohesive back four, so no calls for his retirement just yet.
7
Many are called, some fail to turn up, a few say in a thick French accent, ‘let’s ave it my old son.’ He was well and truly put to the test and by golly I think he just about passed.
6
The poor old girl’s legs went and so back to the Guvnor’s swimming pool with our best wishes.
5
A hectic day at the office. Considering his last two run outs were worse I’m taking this as gradual improvement and again not calling for him to be chased out the borough by an angry mob with lit torches.
6
What I would do is play him in the middle and fit everyone else around him. This is on the basis that he’s apparently worth loads more than any of the others and is really good at playing football.
6
Looking every bit like a decent first team player. I particularly liked his show of grit when having a barney with one of their lot. We need more chaps like this who are ‘up for it’ and Jake certainly is that.
6
Probably his toughest shift with us yet. What I particularly like is watching him win a ball, tap it forward, look up, forward again and pass. A fantastic signing and without him we’d be in schtuck.
5
Another distinctly average performance. I’m bored with this whole crazy right wing business. It’s like the Amstrad vertical record player. I understand it, I just don’t want it.
7
So let me just check I have this right. Our most consistent goalscorer and one of our most talented players is a nuisance to accommodate when drawing up the team sheet. Arry, grow a brain and get back to me when you have.
7
He’s rock and roll. They were three up on him at stage. Whoever plays with him will score goals and whoever plays against him will have their hands full. Classy, smiley, destroyer.
7
A lethal strike followed by an infuriatingly selfish botch job.
my pc didn’t fancy watching it so it was the radio and motd for me,
when i heard bale on the right and modric on the left i think uh oh,we are going to struggle,not sure why livermore needs to play ahead of modric in the middle,that is all a bit worrying for me,
you have to admire the geordie fight as they are not in our league of player which is my main problem with the result and honestly we should have taken the 3 points,it is 2 points squandered in the big picture of CL footy which is where we need to be,
if we relentlessy win our home games then this is a decent point away,i suspect vdv and defoe came in for some stick but at least they scored,didn’t sound like we created that much to be honest until a frantic ending
in truth Kaboom and Basoon at the back are not going to take us where we need to be whoever is infront of them
i hope we are on the normal telly for the ropa dopa so i can watch it
Agree on the CB problem. Kaboul and Bassong are bottom half quality in my opinion, I see them fitting in nicely at WBA or Fulham.
Also think that Redknapp is useless tactically. We have a much better squad than the result we got.
I also think that playing Defoe in a 442 away from home is the better option than VdV on account of his ability to close on oppo defenders.
You get the feeling that after 30-odd years in management Harry is still clueless as to what he actually wants his team to do on the pitch.
I think that’s very harsh on Kaboul – he’s been outstanding in a few games, already, this season (and last…)
He’s also forced his way into the French side, which can’t be an accident…
“You get the feeling that after 30-odd years in management Harry is still clueless as to what he actually wants his team to do on the pitch.”
Actually, I think he’s very clear on what he wants. He wants the team to make him look good.
How does he do that? By getting them to win and play attractive football.
Has he managed?
Well, he got us to the 1/4 finals of the CL last season. That’s more than any other Spurs manager can claim. 5th place is the worst his team have done in a full season (tying Martin Jol, it was the best we’ve done in the PL). All four of the Milan games were widely acclaimed by the punditocracy to have been some of the most entertaining games played in the the tournament, bar none.
Harry Redknapp. What a clueless berk.
well said there sir.. it gets a bit boring all the mindless harry bashing he has his faults and is a silly old goat who apparently dosent twit or bookface?? but im happy watching the best spurs team ive ever seen and enjoyed champs league!
If you ask me our Milan games were won almost in spite of his tactics. That attacking naivety caught Inter off-guard at our place, teams don’t normally play in champs like that. we were 4-0 down at theirs until Bale went totally ballistic on them. 3-0 at Young Boys too. I don’t want entertainment, I want victory in an entertaining way if possible…
When we faced a real tactician in Mourinho we were very easily beaten.
The only difference between Jol and Redknapp is a dodgy lasange, and no one really rates Jol. Go figure…
So all our wins are in spite of his tactics, but our losses (you mention Young Boys) are because of them. OK.
Being 4-0 down had something to do with our goalkeeper, a red card and a penalty as I remember. Yes, Bale turning on the overdrive had nothing to do with tactics. Neither did Gomes being a complete nutter.
When we faced a “real tactician in Mourinho”, Crouch got himself sent off after 14 minutes of the first leg, away at Santiago Bernabeu. I think anyone would have struggled from that sort of position, master tactician or not.
If Redknapp’s tactics really are terrible, as you say, it is strange that he has still managed to be more successful than any Spurs manager in decades. I can only then conclude that tactics don’t matter, or at least that they matter less than some other intangible at which Aitch excells in even greater measure.
More likely, in my opinion, is that ‘Arry sees all the same things we do. With this knowledge (and probably a whole trove of technical training and match data to which we are not privvy, to boot) combined with his vast footballing experience, he makes what he thinks are the best decisions.
I’m not saying I agree with everything ‘Arry does. Having VdV “covering” the right flank against Le Arse had me tugging at my hair. As it turned out, the gamble paid the rent with a “W”. I’m saying I try to accept that he knows and sees things that I can not, from the outside, and that judging him on his results is the only fair yardstick.
13 points in the last five games. We’ve put several very tough fixtures behind us and face a string of eminently winnable ties. Let’s talk around christmas, eh? I reckon useless ‘Arry with his media-whoring and his clueless tactics will have us coming up the long stretch looking likely for another top 4 and still in Europa with ease. Or we could have imploded. We’ll see
:-)
I preferred the management team of Ozzie Moses, he’s done brilliantly for us so far.
last week we were talking about the problem with playing vdv out of position. this week its bale, modric out of position. same tactical stupidity – same outcome. play players in their position – thats not harry-bashing – its common sense.
Stats show Redknapp to be our most successful manager ever according to percentage win ratios. Better than Bill Nich and better than Burkinshaw. What has the bloke got to do?
Nick – who would you have played at RM against Newcastle? And would you have gone 4-4-2?
alspur – dos santos
better than having your two best players out of position.
The main criticism leveled against VDV playing on the right is that he doesn’t track back effectively, but Dos Santos would present exactly the same problem (if not worse!) – we’d have been lucky to concede just the two goals down the right hand side… ;)
and that was a good goal from defoe a very good goal
probably wont see another for 10 games thats his problem
Just like Gooners game we were poor in midfield and when we boss the middle of the park we do much better. I think the boy Livermore has a bit of something but he was lost yesterday.
I guess Arry wanted to play Scotty and Sandro but given that Sandro was crocked Scotty and Modders would have been a better option.
Their first was appalling. It was nothing to do with cutting out the cross and all to do with leaving Ba unmarked in space in our penalty area. That’s what happens when you fail to buy a top central defender
The cross for their equaliser evaded at least four defenders and the keeper, it was a quality cross, but if King was playing I really don’t think they’d have scored, as all of our defence were drawn to the right hand post, leaving a huge gap at the left, which an unmarked Ba slid home, no-one picked him up, yet the focus is on Defoe and Rafa?, strange yet true. Kings injury is far more problematic I think, but hey ho!
If you watch the goal, you’ll see that Livermore was tracking Ba… but he stopped, giving him 2 yards of space by the time he got to the penalty spot…
The complete disarray at the back that lead up to that goal was inexcusable and most likely would not have happened with Ledley on the park. Kaboul is a strong player, but he doesn’t have the football brain that King has and doubt he will ever read the game as well. Bassong and Livermore need to be more than passengers out there if they want playing time.
didn’t the big yank make a mess of the goal and carry it over,i thoght he should have saved it really,but no one ever wants to criticise our new keepers for some reason,not on the radio anywyay
i didn’t hear livermore name at all on the radio,but i don’t really blame hime,surely modric is a better option in the middle with parker,stick giovani out wide or something,doesn’t make sense to me
i think kaboul was our best performer on the day but gradually declined after ledders had to walk.another indifferent game from benni?how can he be so good then so bad? ade caused grief but was affected by the injury.vdv was again anon apart from the pen.kyle deserves a special mention just for staying on! bale would have been crying in the dressing room ! modders look like a player as the game wore on but defending isnt he strongest suit.we missed ledders and sandro but the barcodes are a physical well balanced side who will give opponents a scare this year if they maintain current form.was disappointed yesterday but on reflection,a point won rather than two lost
COYS