He may not exactly be renowned for his tactical acumen, but like a broken clock hitting the jackpot ‘Arry has stumbled upon something of a platitude in his assessment of that Adebayor chap, noting a few weeks back that if he scores goals he’ll eventually worm his way into our affections – and if he doesn’t he won’t. Adebayor is rather like an on-field, Togolese reincarnation of ‘Arry (stay with me) in that the majority of the long-suffering in the White Hart Lane stands recognise him as a mercenary, but will grudgingly applaud him as long as he delivers various things bright and beautiful for the lilywhite cause.Still, he can have six arms and be on loan from Mars as far as I’m concerned– ye gods be praised, we now have someone in our ranks bounding around with a nose for goal and a cockerel on his chest. The pleasingly retro feel of a Spurs team in which the strikers actually scored had the four walls of AANP Towers rocking like it was pre-January 2010 on Saturday night.
Superfreak
Back to that broken clock. Being correct twice a day, ‘Arry nailed another indisputable truth in his post-match summary, when he spake thus of our glorious King: “He’s a freak”. The minimal-training-and-copious-amounts-of-booze combo is an approach occasionally adopted by yours truly in the days preceding a crucial 5-a-side fixture, but there the similarities end, for Ledley remains so far beyond superlatives that the manager has now given up and started apportioning abusive epithets instead.
On-Pitch Leadership. Crikey.
The mind boggles at the prospect of accommodating Modders, Parker, Sandro and Hudd alongside one another, but ‘Arry probably need not worry, as suspicion mounts that our lot have signed a contract with the FA to ensure that at least half a dozen personnel are injured at any given time, and on Saturday the Modders-Parker combo had a pleasing balance. Moreover, with Ledley, Friedel and Parker all bounding around doing precisely those things for which they are paid, at times we almost looked like we had leadership out there, which frankly is a bit unnerving to behold as a Spurs fan. The hope remains that the United and City results can be dismissed as relatively anomalous, but I suppose Liverpool at home next week will give a better idea. For now however, the post-match toast is to a job well done. Given the circumstances (injuries galore; shaky form; unbeaten opposition) a no-frills victory that ticked various boxes was precisely what was needed.
7 replies on “Wolves 0-2 Spurs: ‘Arry Gets It Right. Twice.”
A little something from award-winning, vet journalist Norm Giller on ‘Arry: “I spend much of my time defending my old mate Harry Redknapp, a pal from way back in the Bobby Moore-school Black Lion drinking days at West Ham. I have never known anybody as hungry for tactical knowledge than Aitch, but to read the unkindest of the Spurs fans, you would think he doesn’t know an overlap from an underpass. He has provided Spurs fans under 45 with the two most entertaining back-to-back seasons of their lifetime, but many of them give the impression they would like to hang him from the nearest crossbar.I have a mantra on Facebook and Twitter: conversation not confrontation. But I found myself getting dragged into on-screen arguments with the idiots bringing in personal references to Harry’s face and occasional twitching. They are too ignorant to realise that this is the result of a tragic car crash in Italy during the 1990 World Cup, when he was dragged half-dead from the wreckage, the only survivor from six people involved. It was touch and go whether he would pull through and he had to have facial surgery and several life-saving operations. He was in Italy at his own expense, driving to as many venues as possible to increase his tactical knowledge. What character he has shown to achieve so much after surviving an horrific episode that would have had most people seeking a quiet, sheltered life…”
http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/sport-on-the-web/chitter-chatter-on-twitter-beats-facebook-banter/
Hoping to read a decent article and I just find another Harry hater with no coaching badges and no experience of management trying to tell us he knows better. Pathetic.
“Ashley Collie”.. What a great comment. Thank you.
At 27 years young, I love Harry and the football we have played under him. The best I can every remember and hope we keep him as long as possible, until we replace him with another Gross or Ramos.
People who comment on him like some some do must not have a real idea of football. How could Harry play and then manage as many clubs as he has and not have a simple grasp of tactics?
The history of the twitching is obviously sad and I wasn’t aware of the accident, so I can only condemn anyone who makes further such comments if they are aware of the history.
My dad is 65 and he is a Pompy fan, 15 years ago I am sure he would have thought that he would never win anything again during his lifetime, yet Harry achieved this for them and hopefully can add to this success with us.
Getting rid of Harry would be even worse than the Jol saga and we all know where that led to.
I really don’t think that All Action No Plot is saying that Harry Redknapp has no tactical acumen, or is in any way questioning ‘Arry’s character. This blog is always somewhat satirical, and this can mean its humour can sometimes be misunderstood or lost in translation.
I’d say it’s one of the most balanced and fair-minded Tottenham blogs on the net.
1st ever comment on website, just read them. Ithink harry plays players out of position sometimes to accomodate other players. Like when Lennon plays left wing, is useless, and Bale on the right is not as effective as on the left. Man-city game before the match I said we would get hammered because there was no defensive mid fielder, to protect the defence. With injuries in that position, i would put Kaboul there,plays better there than in defence. Lack of goals last season was due to one player playing up front, plenty of good crosses coming in from the line , but nobody on the end of them. When piennar arrived from everton, he put him straight into the team, and shuffled the team around to accomodate him.
I dont accept Arry is poor in the tactical dept, you dont beat Inter, AC Milan, Arsenal Chelsea and Liverpool by being stupid. I also dont hold with how we should never have got rid of Martin Jol, cant remember Martin beating any of the top teams. !!!!
yes things have impoved under harry, we have better quality players who could get into the top3 teams easy. If you remember most those matches we won, was where our forwards were chasing down the defenders, not giving them time to play the ball comfortly, which helps midfield, and the defence have an easier time. But we only seem to do that when we feel like it, eg, defoe against terry, terry had a nightmare!!,and chelski were all over the place.Going back to the signings we are buying less players, but better quality,eg VDV, PARKER, ADEBYR,SANDRO, and our youngsters dont look to bad either. I would like to see like A.F. does at man-u, when a player is on his last 2years, he gradually brings in the replacement, so when that player retires the youngster has played 30 or so premier league games already. well done the spurs on sat, keeps the local natives quiet for a few months.