Harry Redknapp: The Aftermath

[The Moonlit Knight]

?
That wasnt the issue.

You stated that no one at the club was sure about the paying that price for Rossi. I posted quotes from Redknapp where he says that Levy bid 35M but Villereal didnt want to sell.

You say "you cant believe what Harry says in the press"

So, I ask you again, where did you hear that "no one at the club was sure" about paying for Rossi?

A friend of a friend of a friend of a friend who knows someone who works at the club.....

 

[braineclipse]

OK.
Difference of opinion.
For me, if you're fit enough to be on the bench, you're fit enough to start and thus you go out there and start with your best 11 in the formation which has worked for you away from home all season.
As for subbing, why, then, did he not get Azza onto the itch for the second half?

The chance of getting injured increases when you get more tired/exhausted, also if you haven't gone through a proper warm-up, but that's not really relevant to this.

It seems impossible to know if an injury is fully healed or not, considering the amount of recurring injuries both we and other teams get. The chance of an injury recurring probably increases quite a bit the longer the player plays.

To me it seems like a good idea to quite often start players on the bench when they are returning from an injury.

 

[totman]

A friend of a friend of a friend of a friend who knows someone who works at the club.....

1) Groundsman
2) Kit man
3) Tea Lady

Im not sure if 3) still exists....but she still loves to f#cking gossip

 

[Grays_1890]

I don't agree with everything Redknapp does however when you look at the bigger and overall picture we are in great shape as a team and that for me overrules everything. I find using an argument of who is responsible for singing players as a reason to slate Redknapp petty. No one on here is in full grasp of the facts on any of our transfer dealings so along with it being petty it’s a totally inaccurate argument to have.

 

[Joesh]

We are well known to be one of the highest payers for managers. Ramos was on ridiculous money for example.

That aside, lets look at a different situation.

Everton - tinkle poor - 9th at this point. They have the finances of a league 1 club at present and are still comfortably midtable and on a charge for Europe.

Norwich and Swansea - certainly dont have premier league finances - and yet have survived in this league comfortably with essentially the same players they got promoted from the championship with (and in the case of Norwich some from League 1 two seasons ago too)

QUALITY MANAGEMENT is what is making the difference here. If it were down to finances these teams would be a division or two below us.

I agree those teams have done a fantastic job but looking at it differently (possibly negatively), they have reached their maximum current potential. You dont see teams coming up from the championship and challenging for the top 4, they reach a point where all the tactical changes in the world will not bring them further.
I think we are at that point with our current squad, and Redknapp himself admits we are at least 2 top players short of being able to challenge for the title.

Obviously, I am looking at your argument as a new manager has this exact squad and whether he could have them top using tactics alone.

 

[edgey-the-yid]

Well his taken us to two FA Cup semi's in 3 years but if he can take us further this year then I'd say the answer to this thread title would be "NO". Dare we dream?

 

[SUIYHA]

VdV would walk into Utd's worst midfield in 20-odd years. They have 40-year olds as regulars, ffs. Walker would also start ahead of those clown twins who only seem to get bookings every game. Kaboul is a much, much better player than the clogger Evans. So is Daws on most days.

Lennon would be in contention in any team in the world bar the Spanish giants perhaps

VdV doesn't play in central midfield. The closest player to him in Man Utd's current team is Rooney who Rafa doesn't come close to. Evans isn't first choice at United, that should be Vidic, although in recent games Evans has been in better form than Kaboul. I don't think you'll find too many that don't support Spurs that would rate Lennon ahead of Valencia or Nani too. Walker could get in, but he's similar to Rafael in the sense that they are both far better going forward than at the back.

Very simply, as we are we were within reach of the top before our recent capitulation.

Had we a well defined and rehearsed system of play we would have been more consistent. Had we been more consistent we could/should well be top right now.

At this point it looks like miles apart, a month ago it was a hairs width.

A top manager would have extracted more from the resources available, IMHO.

That has absolutely nothing to do with Finance.

Or perhaps that we massively overachieved in the first part of the season and have now started to show our true form. You can't win every game, even against teams that are worse than you, you just can't. Your players aren't always going to be fully fit or in form. Teams work out ways to exploit your weaknesses that you didn't already know about. It's not a case of saying "we have beaten team X before, we are above them in the league, therefore we should beat them again and it's the managers fault if we don't". Why do you think that Man Utd and City aren't already in the mid to high 80s points range in the table? Is that down to poor management? When Mourinho lost to us when we were languishing in mid-table in 2006, or when he lost 3-0 to Middlesbrough, or when they drew at home with Bolton to hand the title to Man Utd, was that the sign of bad management? If it is, then that proves that even the best make mistakes. If it isn't it, shows that sometimes, brick just happens.

 

[ArcspacE]

VdV doesn't play in central midfield. The closest player to him in Man Utd's current team is Rooney who Rafa doesn't come close to. .

VdV would be accommodated into that midfield with ease - just look at their current offerings. He has played deeper before and I'm sure he'd be able to adapt or sit on the bench - his choice.

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

It's rare that a title winning side has world class players in every position. Indeed it can often be one or two great players added to an already good team that can turn top 4 contenders into title contenders.

Even then in every title winning side there is usually two or three players that fit in, but if they went to a relegation battling side that side would still be battling relegation. They don't make the difference, but nor are they detrimental. I believe Spurs have a few of those sort of players. Too many to be considered a serious threat to the title.

We have Modric & Bale. Those two deserve to be in title winning sides. A few years ago King would've been there too. VDV is excellent, but he lacks something that says to me he deserves to be in a title winning side. This said I feel a bit sorry for VDV because his favoured and best role, as SUIYHA pointed out above, is that of a deep lying forward. Especially in the Premiership, he is not a right winger or central midfielder. If he was played in his natural position week in, week out then maybe I'd perceive him differently.

Ade, Parker, Sandro, Big Brad and Lennon are also very good players but for me lack the quality to be players that can make the difference between 2nd and 1st. The rest? Well they're the sort of players that do well with the above players around them but if you put them in a Wolves or Wigan side those sides would still be battling relegation.

 

[Crab.C.Nesbitt]

Conversely, to compare, QPR who came up with Swansea and Norwich spent millions and millions and look set for relegation!

Eh? You sure about that? Warlock certainly didn't spend much money with qpr, in the region of ?ú3 million which is not a huge sum even for a promoted team, so I guess hughesbmust have spent a lot, how much has he spent?

 

[paxtonwolf]

Well his taken us to two FA Cup semi's in 3 years but if he can take us further this year then I'd say the answer to this thread title would be "NO". Dare we dream?

Throw in a Carling Cup final appearance, one 4th place finish, one 5th place finish and a CL 1/4 final.

Not bad going in 3 1/2 seasons!

 

[Grays_1890]

Throw in a Carling Cup final appearance, one 4th place finish, one 5th place finish and a CL 1/4 final.

Not bad going in 3 1/2 seasons!

Better record than I can remember anyone having in recent years, GHod the 90's and 00's were largely rubbish for us and people still have the cheek to slate Harry. I personally do not care who finds the players or signs the cheques, if we finish 4th and gain Champions League qualification again then job done for Harry in my book

 

[metalgear]

can't compare with past years as we have a good crop of players, and a pretty well balanced team - arguably the best in the modern era.

the question is can another manager do better with the likes of modric, vdv, bale, lennon in the team.

i'd say that set pieces are a big sore point under redknapp's regin!

 

[Grays_1890]

I think you have every right to compare to past years, its comparing success against failure, the same as in every job or walk of life.

We have had a great season, again one of the best I can remember and people are purely picking holes.

Transfer dealing and not scoring from set peices, if those are the two biggest complaints we have I think we have done pretty well. Could be worse, we could score from nearly every set peice and have a team like Bolton under Sam or Stoke....I know who I would rather watch every week...

 

[WookieD]

Eh? You sure about that? Warlock certainly didn't spend much money with qpr, in the region of ?ú3 million which is not a huge sum even for a promoted team, so I guess hughesbmust have spent a lot, how much has he spent?

I guess with wages they will have spent a ton of cash and they have paid decent money for players like Onuoha. Certainly a lot more than their peers, thats for sure.

Gabbidon, Onuoha, Traor?®, Ferdinand, Young, Barton, Wright-Phillips, Helguson, Ciss?®, Zamora... That's a lot of beer tokens right there, you take my word.

 

[Raziel]

Threads like these are why I've stayed off the board for the last few weeks, because we know

- no team ever goes on a losing run
- every team signs exactly who they want each window
- every team beats their local derby opponent every time
- every team scores 4 times a game from set pieces

Except Spurs, so "insert manager here" is brick and if we just had "insert flavour of the week here" we would win the PL, CL, FA, CC and cure world hunger all at once.

Sad part is if we win the FA Cup and get a CL spot, there will be people who instead of enjoying this season, would have spent the whole season complaining about it.

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

I agree those teams have done a fantastic job but looking at it differently (possibly negatively), they have reached their maximum current potential. You dont see teams coming up from the championship and challenging for the top 4, they reach a point where all the tactical changes in the world will not bring them further.
I think we are at that point with our current squad, and Redknapp himself admits we are at least 2 top players short of being able to challenge for the title.

Obviously, I am looking at your argument as a new manager has this exact squad and whether he could have them top using tactics alone.

Clearly the difference between us is in our view of the squad then.

IMHO this squad has a hell of a lot more to offer with the right set up, Im guessing you think not? Fair enough.

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

Or perhaps that we massively overachieved in the first part of the season and have now started to show our true form. You can't win every game, even against teams that are worse than you, you just can't. Your players aren't always going to be fully fit or in form. Teams work out ways to exploit your weaknesses that you didn't already know about. It's not a case of saying "we have beaten team X before, we are above them in the league, therefore we should beat them again and it's the managers fault if we don't". Why do you think that Man Utd and City aren't already in the mid to high 80s points range in the table? Is that down to poor management? When Mourinho lost to us when we were languishing in mid-table in 2006, or when he lost 3-0 to Middlesbrough, or when they drew at home with Bolton to hand the title to Man Utd, was that the sign of bad management? If it is, then that proves that even the best make mistakes. If it isn't it, shows that sometimes, brick just happens.

What if the first part of our season was "true form" and a top manager could have kept us there consistently? Its the only point being made.

Im not stupid, I accept form wavers, I accept games go against you and I dont expect to win every single game (even those against lower teams.) What I do believe though is that top management can negate/minimise these aspects as much as possible - leaving a points haul considerably higher at the end of the season.

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

Eh? You sure about that? Warlock certainly didn't spend much money with qpr, in the region of ?ú3 million which is not a huge sum even for a promoted team, so I guess hughesbmust have spent a lot, how much has he spent?

I know Warnock got promoted on about ?ú2m.

Since promotion though they have spent a lot, Barton, Ferdinand, SWP, Zamora, Cisse, Obuhoa, Taiwo, Traore, Dyer, Campbell, Bothroyd all coming in (just off of the top of my head)

Those that didnt cost a great deal would certainly be on high wages, compared to the spend of Norwich and Swansea and each of the three clubs modest revenue/income I would suggest QPR have spent extravagently

 

[1882]

"The position we were in a month ago, we looked nailed on, didn't we?" Redknapp said.

I'd say this is naive at best... how the hell can WE be "nailed on" for ANYTHING?? 10 points, after all is only 3 wins and a draw, and that's not taking into account that the NLD was effectively a 6-pointer...

Whilst I didn't expect the lead to vanish QUITE as quickly as it did, 10 points was a very deceptive advantage... so to be 'nailed on' is laughable..
I'm rarely comfortable at 4-0 up with 2 minutes to go...!!!

But as has already been pointed out, in positive news, at least he didn't mention Engerlund!