Harry Redknapp has come out and attacked the dirty time wasting tactics of Hull City after today’s nil-nil draw at the Lane (see the highlights here). Spurs have now dropped 8 points this season in home matches against Stoke, Wolves and Hull and in all of those matches, the opposition came to stifle, waste time and defend rather than play and try to win the match.
You might say that that’s their prerogative and of course it is. You may also say that it’s up to Spurs to break team like that down and you’d be right there too, although we were unlucky today to have come up against an average keeper playing out of his socks.
However, fans play to see a spectacle, to see excitement and goals. I’m tired of hearing those teams praised for snatching smash and grab results with little or no ambition and zero respect for the paying punter.
The likes of Fulham have similar resources to the teams mentioned above but manage to play the game with at least some flair and will to win.
Such negative tactics should be frowned upon in football, not lavished with gushing plaudits as they so often are.
So a huge thank you to the fabulous Harry Redknapp for saying this:
“What can you do?”
“They played six minutes of stoppage-time at the end of the game, four in the first half. That tells you,” Redknapp said. “The referee needs to book players quicker, that’s the way to deal with it.
“It makes it difficult. They are in a difficult position, scrapping for points and Phil will go home happy but it’s not for me.”
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Or he could have left Jenas and Crouch on the bench and not proceeded with a frontal bombardment when that’s exactly what Hull were set up to stop. That’s Everton, Stoke, Wolves and Hull that have cost 10 points. Look where that 10 points would have them. Infuriating.
I’m in a dilemma here,and I hope someone can help me find an escape route,
Yes Myhil played well today,but I have to ask myself would the likes of Chelsea,Man Utd or Arsenal have failed to capitalise on such a dominant display even with an opposing keeper on top form? I think not,where then did we go wrong, and it’s not enough to say Harry got it wrong or Keano shouldn’t be given a starting berth,I’m looking for real answers,
I,E if Harry did miscalculate how could he have changed it around,could he have taken of a defender and gone three up top seeing a we were so much in control?or are we so reliant on Aaron Lennon that when we are robbed of his pace we become to predictable?and if so why,when we have such crafty players as Luka Modric and Niko Kranjcar in the side.
Do we need another speed merchant or someone who’s been there and done it all (Viera) and knows how to dismantle teams whose sole intention is to come and stifle the breath out of us?
Any help here will be truly appreciated,how about you admin,any ideas?
It’s simple
Against teams like Hull/Stoke/Wolves, we should be playing Crouch from the start. Birmingham tried to stifle us and were succeeding, Crouch came on and within minutes we were 1-0 up.
But no, ‘Arry has to play favourites with Keane
How do you think the likes of Bentley and Pav feel when they are told they cannot get in the side due to players on form and then they see Keane get in despite playing badly?
Davspur. Give it a rest. Everyone is sick to death of your continued intimations that everyone who plays well is on drugs. Loser
Maybe Harry just isn’t the man to guide us into the top 4. Rafa anyone?
Positive note,six clean sheets on the trot,oh and Dave’s just giving his opinion.
Welcome to the dizzy heights of the Top 4 Harry. For those with longer experience of this position visiting performances of this type from lower league sides are all too familiar. You won’t get much sympathy from the media either. They will talk about sides ‘putting their foot in’, making it difficult’, ’suffocating midfield’ . Timewasting is frequently excused as a valid tactic for the underdog and if Redknapp keeps on about it he will be accused of whingeing.
Van Nistlerooy?
Crouch from the start – are you serious? At least they had chances when Keane and Defoe were up front – the only thing Crouch offers is a target man to pump ball into the box at and that’s route 1 stuff. Should Spurs be reduced to route 1? The only ones ‘Arry plays favourites with are is ex-Portsmouth lads. WHy bring Jenas on? He is a lost cause. Foggy is right, ‘Arry needs to think outside of his traditional favourites box and try something that other managers can’t see coming a mile off. Crouch and Defoe means pumping high ball to Crouch hoping he’ll knock it down to Defoe running off him, which means he MUST win the header, so you drop your 5 man defence off and challenge the header and there is no threat. If I know that, Phil Brown knows it and the rest of the premier league knows it too.
Yes Van Nistelroy. We need another option other than the one dimensional “I just want to score” Defoe. He’s a great scorer but a rubbish provider. Strikers need to be selfish but also be smart and big enough to know when to provide and that just isn’t part of his make up.
A player like Van Nistelroy along with lethal goal scoring abilities would provide some guile and intelligence, knowing when to be provider and help the team score.
Also without Modric, we did ok but without Lennon we lack serious edge.
For all his talent, Modric’s shots on goal seem to lack power and to a lesser extent direction. Also with his abilities there should be so much more end product in the final third.
3 more class players needed.
Ffs we should have won today. Their keeper played a blinder.On another day we could have had five or six.
@juxta God knows how you can have a go at Defoe when Keane has been dreadful all season (bar one game).
Granted their keeper played well, but most shots were right at him. We made it easy for him to look good. Their tactics were disgraceful though, the ref didn’t help.
Stoney you need to change your name I played in goal and if I chewed gum then I would be speeding or stupid do you think that it is just Myill if some one drinks they stagger and talk shite and if they are speedind they stair chew and cant look when they are getting interviewed .And if you think Myhill and Hull where not energized then you must be blind .We have just heard a legend on sky crying for taking steroids for six years I bet the American Stoney said the same thing to the American Davspurs.I speak from knolege you speak from ignorants Everton loads missing 2 City o Exeter 2 LEEDS 0 and they beat Utd wake up stoney and leave the pipe alone .
Dosantos should be given a chance Wigan had a 19 year old and he has scored twice in two games the only way to beat 30 odd year old energy players is with youth, Bostock Townsend Rose ParrettNaughton Walker should be given a chance in these games .
Foggy MAN UTD 0 LEEDS 1 WIGAN 3 CHELSEA 1 LIVERPOOL 1 READING 2 Havent you noticed its the year of the shock. :
Ephedrine Paddy Kenny goalkeeper banned for nine months for taking stuff to knock Preston out of the semi final of the play offs .Penalty Sheffeild form plummets they cant win Paddy gets of with using Ephedrine because it was a accident he bought sudafed the same excuse has the Russion team Dynamo Moscow winning 3-1 at UTD.
WTF did Arry play Keane
over Crouch
? I am actually not a fan of Crouch (his ‘falling on his arse stats’ are far more impressive than his passing stats), but we seem to play far better with him in the side. Also WTF, did Arry play with 2 DM’s against a team that had no attacking threat
??
Four main weaknesses have been shown and proved again in this match:
1) Keane just isn’t good enough
, Chelski
& Ar5enal
) & and the breaking down of teams who have none footballing tactics away from home(stoke, hull etc.) – he has failed BIG TIME!!
2) Harry is a great motivator but as a tactician is very weak. You prove your real worth as a manager in the big games (ManUre
3) Defoe without Lennon isn’t the ‘amaizing’ player everyone raves about.
4) To really challenge the “top four” we need a world class ‘alround’ striker in Berbatoss (minus toss) mould & a world class midfield partner for Palacios.
I hate to say it, but its going to be ManShitty for 4th guys (appreciate there is a long way to go, but we don’t just have that X factor)… Unless he starts playing Modric in centre, then maybe, just maybe we have a chance????? Hope so… COYS!!!!
What a load of garbage.The second highest spenders in the Premiership and you think these teams should lie down to your superiority.I thought Wenger was the biggest cry baby but Harry,you take the biscuit.
Maybe if you stopped this tippy tappy rubbish ans stopped trying to play like Real Madrid then you will do better.
HARRY,I HAVE A DREAM
POPMPOUS ARROGANT TWOT
GOARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRN STOKE
Davspur. My nickname is stoney because my surname is stone. You idiot. What you write reads like the ramblings of paranoid freak, not for the first time, and we all know that’s a side effect of drug use. LOOK OUT, THEY’RE BEHIND YOU!
davspurs u are a prize bellend, no wonder many fans hate yids with pricks like u around , stfu and support the goons u cretin
Keane.. Both rebounds, he hit it directly at the goalie.. does he have brains.. 1st one, goalie save and was recovering in the middle of the goa line, he whacked the ball there when the left hand of the goal was for the taking.. 2nd one, goali saved and was on the ground tring to recover, he came in at take a shot on the ground near the goalie.. he might as well carry the ball and give it to the goalie.. keane gets into good position but his finishing is poor..
In fact all our players were shooting directly to the keeper except for one shot..
*typo errors..
anyway many chances created.. we would do better with better and smarter finishing..
The result was a combination of Hull timewasting/frustrating with dreadful tactics, a goalie on top form, shots mainly hit at him, missing the pace of lennon to create clear cut openings, etc. My observations were 1) in Lennon’s absence we needed another pacy winger as I thought our build ups were too slow/predictable in the main – wouldnt have mind either Rose or Naughton coming on as sub (Charlie was fine defensively but pedestrian going forward and didnt really take on his full back). Also thought that Hudd was too pedestrian, lacked real drive. Would love a CM who could run with the ball, not be prone to casual lapses in concentration and who could shoot better – most of the time he is way off target!
Bollocks to your article. Stoke, Wolves, Hull and any other club in their situation will play their way to survive. They did their job Spurs didn’t. Their game plan will be the same against Chelsea, MU and the Arse who probably will still beat them. Lets not forget that we are the ones responsible for the phrase ‘parking the bus in front of the goal’. We too have played without guts against the big 4 and come away with a draw. Liverpool are in shambles right now yet it wouldn’t surprise me if they beat us. Anything less then 3 pts. will be a disgrace. These days the catch phrase among commentators and pundits regarding Spurs is “we don’t know which Spurs is going to turn up”. How apt.
Mr stone (DRUGS) If i had taken the drugs that my 27 year old spine disease had warranted I would be dead so dont take the piss and if you think and the Gooner fan that I dont have evidence then its not me thats on drugs . I don’t no how old you are but at 58 and brought up in the seventy’s and leart verry quickly the drugs don’t work they just make thing worse and if you love spurs like me and you found out a famous club that we play soon was taking capsules of Ephedrine and you could see it in teams what would you do right about Keane Defoe or energized players that don’t tire. I kept it quite for a long time till players were dropping dead allover Europe .Thats when I Called UK sport they staggered me by admitting its rife and they said to me they couldest catch them ,so next time you call me make sure you no me because if you did you would have more respect and I apologizes for calling your name mine is Mr Smith I live not far from the Bin Dippers.
Its something that frustrates me, not just small sides wasting time, but the likes of Didier Drogba (for example, there are others) rolling about on the ground until someone kicks the ball out of play, then he turns out to be fine, but minutes are wasted as the ball is then eventually thrown in and ostentatiously returned to the side that had posession. It drives me mad, because it is the paying supporter who is being robbed of football action. I feel the same about sides who take the ball into the corner when they are defending a slender lead. The fans pay to see good football, not that rubbish!
Jeez. Now you’re the rumourman not davspur. Bit of advice. Get that chip off your shoulder.
Lets give Davspurs ( therumourman ) a break lads remember we’re all Spurs fans here,and he has a right to his opinions
This is just the exact situation that the 3 points for a win ruole was introduced to prevent.
Solution: have a panel of judges and award 2 points to the team that is pressing and none to the team that has the bus before the goals, like in a boxing match, if, and only if, it is blatantly obvious that a team has pursued these tactics; as it was blatantly obvious that Hull were employing them form the word go, yesterday.
Realistic improvements:
Carl Cort or similar, (sell Pavlyuchenko if he’s not gonna get played, not that impressed by Crouch either tho)
Tim Cahill or similar (please sell Jenas)
Play Dos Santos, why is he still not getting played???!? can’t STILL be injured (sell Bentley, again, if he’s not gonna get played)
Keane and Defoe playing together isn’t a great idea. It has been proved ineffective enough times. If he doesn’t want to use Crouch let Pav have a go. The header Crouch missed at the end was a lazy attempt not a great save.
Where is Gio ? He should be ahead of Bentley and Rose on the bench. I hope it doesn’t mean he is leaving because he has never had a chance and he is a real talent
Mr Stone. U say the drugs don’t work. But he saved everything. Clearly they do work. Our problem is that our players arn’t off their tits. Someone tell Harry……
I didn’t say the drugs don’t work! Read back. Myhill saved everything because he had a great day, fair play to him. A keeper doesn’t need to take drugs to keep going, he doesn’t run around anywhere to expend energy. It’s just about the least energetic job in sport. You’re as paranoid as that idiot davspur or rumourman or whatever he’s calling himself at this moment.
Sorry, that was aimed at Davspur. And was a joke. I’m pretty sure i saw some of their players passing round a crack pipe in the warm up though…
I love Lennon, but it is always a worry when he isnt around. We have a strong defence, midfielders, Nico must go down as the best signing in the league, £2 million, what a steal. We have style and talent in the Croatians. So what is missing? Another quality striker to play alongside defoe, even if that striker is berbatov. I can see Berbatov on the market soon, and for less than we sold him, Man U are in serious finacial trouble, where else are they going to get some money from?
Oh and Harry forgot one more draw we have had this season, where the team sat in front of their goal. Does knowone remember the 1-1 draw with Villa? Look where they are in the league. Teams sit in front of goal because they fear us tearing them apart. I hate to say it though but there is only one team in the league that you cant sit in front of goal, because they will pass the ball through you, and that is Arscum. Until we learn how to break teams down like that we will always be 4th or further down the league.
Rumourman, what are you blabbering on about? Get help
Thank you paddy.
Stone roses if you stop calling DAVSPURSTHERUMORMAN You thick Arsenal spy fuck of on your own site if some arsenal fan new Spurs where on drugs do think he would call DAVSPURS.What the fuck is Paddy Kenny banned for taking sweets no The Team Drug Ephedrine.You should keep your fingers of the keys till you but your Brain into gear, sticking up for you secret goalkeeper Paddy the only two thats called D.R is you Stoned. PADDY and a Nob from the dark side arsoles fan theres a saying theres newt so blind has the rantings of a ignoramus.The other player caught is Danny Cadamateri ex Everton he is now scoring in Scotland out the way the last high profile players two Russion Dynamo Moscow players while they where winning 3-0 till utd came back and if you watched it you would see a terrific Display from there Keeper.The sad thing they got let of because the claime they both had colds and had taken Sudafed well our sudafed doesent have Ephedrine in it because of deaths through heart attacks so leave the man alone he could very well be right and the evidence is there in the Tempo.