I like Harry Redknapp. I think he is a great character and a very good manager. He did a great job at West Ham and Portsmouth and has started to turn things around successfully at Tottenham. (I fully accept that Southampton fans may have a different opinion about him!)
Having said all of that, I am beginning to get a bit fed up with Redknapp’s constant whining about the squad of players he inherited at Tottenham. I should think the players are a little concerned by his public outbursts as well.
Sounded off
Following Tottenham’s comfortable 4-1 win over Burnley in the Carling Cup semi-final on Tuesday evening, Redknapp sounded off again about the lack of ability in his squad.
“We need a certain type here. We’ve got an awful lot of good little players but we need more strength and a bit more power in the team. It is a badly balanced, put-together squad, in all honesty, from day one. We have not really got a squad. If you look at my team tonight, that was the best I have available. We have not got any strength in depth or cover – if Gareth Bale gets a knock there is no-one else to play at left-back. I would like to get another three or four decent players in. I think we need to. We are naive. I look at us at times and some of the young players do things where a bit of know-how is missing.”
The first point is that surely Harry knew who was in the Tottenham squad when he agreed to take the job didn’t he? Nobody forced him to take it and he was well aware of where they were sitting in the league. The second point is that he talks about the eleven players he put out against Burnley being the best he had available. Well, they were good enough to win a semi-final 4-1 and crammed full of international players. Thirdly, he says he has no strength or power in his team. He must be looking at different players to me.
Let’s take each point in turn.
The current Tottenham first team squad includes the following players:
Goalkeepers: (3) Heurelho Gomes, Cesar Sanchez, Ben Alnwick
Right backs: (3) Alan Hutton, Chris Gunter, Vedran Corluka
Left backs: (3) Gareth Bale, Gilberto, Benoit Assou-Ekotto
Centre backs: (4) Jonathan Woodgate, Michael Dawson, Ledley King, Ricardo Rocha
Midfield: (10) Didier Zokora, David Bentley, Tom Huddlestone, Aaron Lennon, Jermaine Jenas, Luka Modric, Hossam Ghaly, Adel Taarabt, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Jamie O’Hara
Strikers: (4) Darren Bent, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Giovani Dos Santos, Fraizer Campbell
The squad looks pretty balanced to me Harry. A squad of twenty-seven players with cover in every position. Nineteen of the players are full international’s and all but two of the others have represented their country at under twenty-one level.
Full internationals
The second point, about the eleven who played against Burnley is very strange indeed. Nine full internationals and two under twenty-one internationals made up the team and three full internationals were unused from the bench. OK, they may not be Manchester United, Chelsea or Liverpool, but I think it is a bit rich for Redknapp to complain about a lack of depth and a lack of balance.
The last point about power and strength is one that many people have said about Tottenham this season. Harry’s first signing, Jermaine Defoe, will hardly help in that area will it?
Amongst the squad are Corluka, Woodgate, Dawson, King, Zokora, Huddlestone, Jenas, Pavlyuchenko and Campbell. All of these players are strong and powerful. How many does Harry want?
Quality
I fully accept that Tottenham are a few players short of being a top four team but then so are nearly all of the clubs in England other than the top four! To blame the position on the squad he inherited is too easy for Redknapp. With the quality at his disposal Tottenham should be a lot higher than they are.
If you look at the Premier League teams other than the top six or so, there are many managers who would happily swap squads with Redknapp. He needs to recognise that fact, stop moaning, and get on with the excellent job that he is doing so far.
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