Harry Redknapp, or ‘Arry to his mates, has got his chance at the big time and found that perhaps he’s bitten off a big chunk of unchewable stuff. The latest victim for the White Hart Lane manager’s office (fully furnished and complete with revolving door) entered the job full of enthusiasm, vim and good ol’ cockney common sense. The opening games of the East Londoner’s regime were a fantastic turnaround, win after win dragging the side out of the drop zone to the dizzy heights of 16th. Since that initial flourish, Spurs have endured a miserly Christmas that Scrooge would have seen as tight and had an underwhelming set of results which has seen their upward ascent halt faster than a home-made space rocket. Of course, the festive season is followed by the official Most Wonderful Time Of the Year™, the football transfer window. Harry professes that he ‘hates’ this month of rumours, haggling and sniping and his demeanour in press conferences has certainly changed from chipper to downright depressed.
With Sunday’s defeat at Wigan, Redknapp took his record as Tottenham Hotspur manager to 11 wins, 4 draws and 5 defeats in 20 games. Despite this strong record, Spurs sit at only 18th in the Premier League, just two points off the bottom of the table. This, of course, is no fault of Redknapp’s, the disastrous early season tenure of his predecessor Juande Ramos left the club with only 2 points from 8 games with the very real prospect of relegation looming. With that in mind, Spurs turnaround has been nothing short of amazing.
When Redknapp joined, the squad he inherited consisted of, as he phrased it, ‘some good little footballers…but we need some men’. The likes of Luka Modric, David Bentley, Aaron Lennon, Gareth Bale and Vedran Corluka are all players with undoubted footballing ability – intelligent, creative, neat and tidy – but they were never going to put the fear into some of the more physical sides in the Premiership. Certainly, Modric versus Papa Bouba Diop in a 50/50 has a fairly predictable outcome; if Diop is the ‘Wardrobe’ then Modric could be seen as more of a pouffe. This is a problem that Redknapp addressed in his very first comments as Spurs manager, seeing the squad as ‘unbalanced’, an observation that presumably saw many Spurs fans letting out an audible sigh along with a “Finally, a manager who sees what we’ve been saying for years!”, a bit like if a girlfriend or wife were to suddenly say “You know what, I’m not sure this X Factor is really that good”. Despite Redknapp’s astute comments, that early run of results suggested that perhaps there was a lot of talent in the squad, an observation made by many on the outside of the North London club. However, it now appears that profitable period was buoyed, as is always the case, by the incoming of a new manager and now that initial boost has gone, the Tottenham side are left as lop-sided and toothless as ‘Arry had suggested.
With the signing of Jermain Defoe doing nothing more than adding to the White Hart Lane “League Of Incredible Midgets”, ‘Arry has turned his attention to midfield enforcers, left sided wingers and, in Brazilian boozer Adriano, a powerful striker to lead a forward-line clearly lacking in presence. With a little cash but few willing sellers, Spurs may have to settle for some shrewdly bargained loan deals or free transfers in order for Redknapp to put together something approaching a balanced squad. One thing is for certain, Harry is beginning to see the realisation of his own comments upon joining the club, the only difference being that the momentum of an incoming manager has gone and some impetus is needed.
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