Harry Redknapp: The Aftermath

[Pirate55]

oh, good grief.

If I said the things I would like to say, I would get banned. Suffice to say - I think this comment is ignorant and wholly unreasonable.

Our team was negative from the start just like at Liverpool, Everton and Sunderland. You give the stats. How many saves did Given actually have to make. We set out not to lose and the Harry Himself said that at 0-1 and down to 10 men after 55 mins I WOULD TAKE A DRAW ANY DAY OF THE WEEK. Would SAF say that, Would Wenger, Would Dalgliesh, Would Marinho, Would Pep, Would any decent manager with a winning attitude. Answer - NO.

 

[mudshark]

The kitchen sink time is putting Gallas or Kaboom up front and putting balls in the box. Defoe wasnt gonna win a header and Ade isnt exactly prolific in the air.

We had 20 corners, so we had balls in the box all game, but because our players seem to think there's been some new FIFA directive that says you can't move towards the ball in the air and you're only allowed to jump on the spot, that didn't avail us much. In my view, our best chance of a goal would have been a loose ball around the edge of the box, where we had loads of possession, for someone to latch onto and lash towards the goal. Instead, second ball after second ball in that area just trickled harmlessly out for a throw in or got hoofed back downfield. I'd've been willing to bet one of them would have had Defoe's name written all over it, although it had probably already been left too late by the time Parker made his appearance, anyway.

 

[chancer]

Our team was negative from the start just like at Liverpool, Everton and Sunderland. You give the stats. How many saves did Given actually have to make. We set out not to lose and the Harry Himself said that at 0-1 and down to 10 men after 55 mins I WOULD TAKE A DRAW ANY DAY OF THE WEEK. Would SAF say that, Would Wenger, Would Dalgliesh, Would Marinho, Would Pep, Would any decent manager with a winning attitude. Answer - NO.

Well you've removed all doubt that you are actually talking about yesterday's game. You are dreaming monsters and twisting facts to bash Redknapp. Your post is one of complete bad faith with no relation to reality.

 

[Crab.C.Nesbitt]

Don't twist his words. Here are two of his post-match interviews

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17976738
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7735824/Redknapp-All-to-play-for

He makes it quite clear that he wanted the win, and gives his reasons why.

You lot are a fickle bunch of hypocrites. How many times this season have you had a go at Harry when we've been losing for not having any more tactical ideas than just "throwing on Defoe and hoping for the best". Now yesterday he tried something a little different and you're having a go at him again for not putting on Defoe.

The facts don't lie. 22 goal attempts to their 4. 19 corners to their 4. 63% possession. We were dominating the game. With 10 men. To change things for the sake of changing things is stupid. And playing with two up front is massively risky when down to 10 men, you can be sure Harry would have been torn to pieces on here if he'd done that and we'd lost the game. Besides, how many times have we seen Defoe come on in these games against a team with their entire team set out to defend and struggle to make an impact without time and space on the ball? If he'd done that, people would have said "same old brick, different day". Prefer Saha? Sorry but when down to 10 men I'd rather have fast players who can cover more ground and get back into defensive positions quickly if we lose the ball. Saha is not one of those.

To Harry's credit, he tried something a little bit different, in an attempt to get our best attacking player further up the field. Now you can argue that perhaps it should have been Livermore that came on instead of Parker, but that's a different story. The idea that Harry didn't want the win is ridiculous, and definitely more far-fetched than the notion that some of you lot didn't want the win because it would have meant eating humble pie and having to give credit to Harry.

Harry deserves credit for trying something a little bit different...not on this occasion he doesn't! People seem to be arguing over whether Harry made the right change, however that argument ignores the most fundamental issue here, namely that he did not need to and should not have made any chane at all!!!

At the time of the substitution villa were spent, we had all the initiative and possession, and looked likely to score whereas villa no longer had any goalscoring threat. NO SUBSTITUTION WAS REQUIRED!

 

[SUIYHA]

I'd rather listen to professional footballers thanks.

And I'd rather listen to a successful, experienced manager than a washed up armchair pundit ex-pro. It's not like Le Tissier ever played for teams chasing Champions League places at this stage of the season so I don't see why his word is some sort of gospel. Anyway, if you only want to take the views of ex-pros, then fine, listen to them and be done with it, why debate it on here?

The fact is, Harry made a change, it might not be what some of you would have done in the same, but as we have discussed, there is strong logic and reasoning behind it. I don't mind people saying that they would have done things differently but to say that Harry didn't want to win the game is bizarre.

 

[SUIYHA]

Harry deserves credit for trying something a little bit different...not on this occasion he doesn't! People seem to be arguing over whether Harry made the right change, however that argument ignores the most fundamental issue here, namely that he did not need to and should not have made any chane at all!!!

At the time of the substitution villa were spent, we had all the initiative and possession, and looked likely to score whereas villa no longer had any goalscoring threat. NO SUBSTITUTION WAS REQUIRED!

He said VdV had a thigh strain and needed to come off.

 

[monkeybarry]

all Harry has done is mention 4th - he will see that as ok this season, as will Levy as 4th was the pre-season target

or maybe he has a huge bet on Bayern to win the CL?

 

[mick cooper]

89th min with almost 10 mins injury time.

it was 6, which is almost 5, not almost 10

still its as accurate as we can expect

 

[scaramanga]

all Harry has done is mention 4th - he will see that as ok this season, as will Levy as 4th was the pre-season target

or maybe he has a huge bet on Bayern to win the CL?

Yep. Poor move by Levy there - bonuses clearly set for 4th rather than CL qualification.

 

[Pirate55]

Don't twist his words. Here are two of his post-match interviews

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17976738
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7735824/Redknapp-All-to-play-for

He makes it quite clear that he wanted the win, and gives his reasons why.

You lot are a fickle bunch of hypocrites. How many times this season have you had a go at Harry when we've been losing for not having any more tactical ideas than just "throwing on Defoe and hoping for the best". Now yesterday he tried something a little different and you're having a go at him again for not putting on Defoe.

The facts don't lie. 22 goal attempts to their 4. 19 corners to their 4. 63% possession. We were dominating the game. With 10 men. To change things for the sake of changing things is stupid. And playing with two up front is massively risky when down to 10 men, you can be sure Harry would have been torn to pieces on here if he'd done that and we'd lost the game. Besides, how many times have we seen Defoe come on in these games against a team with their entire team set out to defend and struggle to make an impact without time and space on the ball? If he'd done that, people would have said "same old brick, different day". Prefer Saha? Sorry but when down to 10 men I'd rather have fast players who can cover more ground and get back into defensive positions quickly if we lose the ball. Saha is not one of those.

To Harry's credit, he tried something a little bit different, in an attempt to get our best attacking player further up the field. Now you can argue that perhaps it should have been Livermore that came on instead of Parker, but that's a different story. The idea that Harry didn't want the win is ridiculous, and definitely more far-fetched than the notion that some of you lot didn't want the win because it would have meant eating humble pie and having to give credit to Harry.

Wanting to win and having the desire to win are two completely different things.

I listened to both interviews closely and H said some really insightful things:

1. "We did well in the first half". IMO we did not - as has already been stated here we started in third gear and never got going till the beginning of the second half

2. "the players put in a real shift and have been fantastic all season". IMO they certainly havent been fantastic all season and I dont think anyone would argue with me on that.

3. "Ade played really well by himself up front". H admits that Ade was playing by himself up front even though we were playing against a team with no material threat. We still never got players beyond Ade to support him and open them up down the flanks.

4. "I couldnt have asked more from the players". No top manager would be satisfied with his team not winning. Goes to underline H is not a winner and doesnt convey that desire to win at all costs to his team. Compare our goals in the last five minutes of a game to change the result with that of all our rivals. We dont even come close to them for last minute winners.

 

[he_is_you_know]

8th April: Jos?® Mourinho brings on di Mar?¡a for Higuain at 0-0 at home to Valencia in a game that they have to win.
8th April: Roberto Mancini brings on Kolarov for Nasri at 0-0 away to Arsenal in a game that they have to win.
11th April: Alex Ferguson brings on Nani for Rooney at 0-1 away to Wigan.
12th April: Jupp Heynckes brings on Schweinsteiger for Muller at 0-0 vs Dortmund in a game that they have to win.
24th April: Pep Guardiola brings on Keita for Fabregas at 2-1 vs Chelsea in a game that they have to score again in.

There's five of the world's best managers making, on paper, negative substitutions in games where they needed goals. None of them were settling for draws (or whatever the equivalent was), they were making changes to win the game. And guess what, in each game it failed. Because it doesn't always work. Parker for van der Vaart ddn't work yesterday.

But it doesn't mean Harry was settling for a draw.

 

[Wriggly]

it was 6, which is almost 5, not almost 10

still its as accurate as we can expect

We played almost 8, it was roughly 7 mins 50 secs If i remember rightly. Had Defoe came on when Parker did he would have had 10 mins to do something on the pitch. My point was to show that even though someone shouted out IT WAS THE 89TH MIN, Defoe still had plenty of time to make an impact. We scored 2 in less than 4 mins against Bolton.

 

[Kingdawson]

Surely you mean the opposite?

obviously that was a typo but thanks for pointing it out.

 

[uksb]

We played almost 8, it was roughly 7 mins 50 secs If i remember rightly. Had Defoe came on when Parker did he would have had 10 mins to do something on the pitch. My point was to show that even though someone shouted out IT WAS THE 89TH MIN, Defoe still had plenty of time to make an impact. We scored 2 in less than 4 mins against Bolton.

90:00 (+6:12).

 

[Wriggly]

8th April: Jos?® Mourinho brings on di Mar?¡a for Higuain at 0-0 at home to Valencia in a game that they have to win.
8th April: Roberto Mancini brings on Kolarov for Nasri at 0-0 away to Arsenal in a game that they have to win.
11th April: Alex Ferguson brings on Nani for Rooney at 0-1 away to Wigan.
12th April: Jupp Heynckes brings on Schweinsteiger for Muller at 0-0 vs Dortmund in a game that they have to win.
24th April: Pep Guardiola brings on Keita for Fabregas at 2-1 vs Chelsea in a game that they have to score again in.

There's five of the world's best managers making, on paper, negative substitutions in games where they needed goals. None of them were settling for draws (or whatever the equivalent was), they were making changes to win the game. And guess what, in each game it failed. Because it doesn't always work. Parker for van der Vaart ddn't work yesterday.

But it doesn't mean Harry was settling for a draw.

But what that does show is that Harry is as good as all of those managers.

Get in, Harry for Prime Minister.

 

[Wriggly]

90:00 (+6:12).

90+7 The clock ticks and VIlla have a throw. Referee Lee Probert finally blows his whistle for full-time.

90+6 YELLOW CARD: Chris Herd is caught by Sandro and the midfielder is booked.

90+5 Villa have the ball in the Tottenham half and Stephen Ireland dives in to make a challenge

 

[Kingdawson]

You would be suggesting Harry is that clever. He is most certainly not.

You don't have to be clever to notice that tbh.

 

[milo]

Wanting to win and having the desire to win are two completely different things.

I listened to both interviews closely and H said some really insightful things:

1. "We did well in the first half". IMO we did not - as has already been stated here we started in third gear and never got going till the beginning of the second half

2. "the players put in a real shift and have been fantastic all season". IMO they certainly havent been fantastic all season and I dont think anyone would argue with me on that.

3. "Ade played really well by himself up front". H admits that Ade was playing by himself up front even though we were playing against a team with no material threat. We still never got players beyond Ade to support him and open them up down the flanks.

4. "I couldnt have asked more from the players". No top manager would be satisfied with his team not winning. Goes to underline H is not a winner and doesnt convey that desire to win at all costs to his team. Compare our goals in the last five minutes of a game to change the result with that of all our rivals. We dont even come close to them for last minute winners.

All managers try to put a positive spin on games and say positive things about players performances. What would saying the following do for team moral and what manager have you ever heard giving such an interview?

"We were poor in the first half and didn't really get going. The players have been poor for much of the season and I am not happy with their effort or desire. Adebayor wasn't really in the game and I was disappointed with the midfield for not offering him more support. I'm not happy, the players have let the fans down. We should have finished third and finishing fourth or lower is a disaster."

 

[ArcspacE]

"We were poor in the first half and didn't really get going. The players have been poor for much of the season and I am not happy with their effort or desire. Adebayor wasn't really in the game and I was disappointed with the midfield for not offering him more support. I'm not happy, the players have let the fans down. We should have finished third and finishing fourth or lower is a disaster."

I've heard at least half of those in countless interviews over the years. Not that Arry should have said that - simply an observation

 

[Wriggly]

You don't have to be clever to notice that tbh.

It's my bad, I should have focused on your word 'guessing'.