I’m sorry, I just can’t take it anymore. The Redknapps must be stopped. While Jamie is busy imparting his molecular knowledge of the game on Sky Sports, having presumably earned the gig by winning a colouring competition, dad Harry is as frustrating as he is irritating. For all the good he does - and, despite my distaste for him, I’ve rarely criticised his actual management - the fact that his career has been swimming in controversy and he talks such total nonsense should make him an easy target. Of course, having so many pals in the press prevents those shots being taken.
But I can’t keep it in any longer. Redknapp’s column for The Sun has become a magnificently fertile font of fun for football supporters lately, but I personally don’t find it in the least bit amusing. For the purposes of this post I will assume that Redknapp writes his own copy - after all, that’s the intended effect. The topic, inevitably, is England. Redknapp and I disagree fundamentally on the future of the England team and this post will explain why. This, Harry, is what you’ve made me do with my lunch hour.
The quotes are all from the Tottenham Hotspur manager in this week’s column. I won’t link to it, because hey…it’s The Sun.
Now we have Joe Hart firmly established in the role and it is an area of the team I find encouraging. Joe has a great future for himself at Manchester City. And with David James approaching the end of his career Joe could be settled as the England goalkeeper for the next 10 years. I think he will be that hard to shift. It’s a huge positive for England as the goalkeeper is the foundation for the team.
Good start. I don’t disagree with this - it’s a leap of faith, but it’s a leap that I have taken myself.
But with [Johnson] — along with Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and Ashley Cole — I think we have the best back four in the world.
This is laughable. Perhaps - and I mean perhaps - we have the best left back in the world. But Glen Johnson will never be part of the best back four in the world, because he is quite disappointing at international level, in my opinion. His defending is not the biggest weapon in his arms cabinet, but for England his attacking play seems to suffer from a certain nervousness that comes over the Liverpool full back. As for the middle, let’s get Redknapp’s view first:
But Terry and Ferdinand are still the best two centre-halves we have and I wouldn’t swap our back four for any other defence in international football — and that even includes world champions Spain.
I don’t think Terry and Ferdinand are the best two centre-halves we have. It’s immaterial really, as that comes down to a matter of opinion and the intangible lack of trust I have in them where I would have confidence in others. And this notion that they somehow form part of the best defence on the planet is so ludicrously misguided that it actually makes my brain cry.
England missed Rio at the World Cup in South Africa but with him back in the side the defence was not troubled consistently on Tuesday night against Montenegro.
There’s probably some truth in this. England were obviously very poor in the World Cup and Ferdinand would undoubtedly have been an improvement on what we had. The defence was also not consistently troubled against Montenegro, but let’s not forget that Mirko Vucinic was absent and one of the attacking players on show was Branko Boskovic. As a DC United supporter, let me tell you with some certainty that even I could keep Branko at bay at the moment. Also, the fact that England’s defence was relatively untroubled on Tuesday directly contradicts some of Redknapp’s other opinions about the players England supposedly missed.
There is a good chance Frank would have scored on Tuesday night at Wembley so his absence was keenly felt. I am a big advocate of Steven Gerrard and Lampard being in the centre of midfield despite all the debate about whether they are able to play alongside each other.
Sweet. Jesus. There’s a debate about this? Still? Setting aside the ridiculousness of saying there is a good chance someone would have scored, this Gerrard-Lampard thing should have been cleared up by now. I actually prefer Lampard to Gerrard as a club player, but by and large I think England have looked much better, much more balanced, without him in the side. In one sense, it’s a shame - he’s a great player and it’s annoying that we’ve not made the most of that. But on the other hand, he’s in his thirties. Do we really want to continue trying to crowbar these two into the same midfield? Let’s look to the future.
PETER CROUCH is 6ft 7in tall so his best asset is an obvious one. It’s no good putting him up front and then trying to play the ball to his feet all the time. Peter is a technically good player but England should use his height — because he towers above most defenders.
It blows my mind that these are the words of Crouch’s club manager. For me, Crouch is far better with the ball played to his feet and I’ve always found his aerial ability somewhat disappointing. Redknapp goes on to say that whilst he doesn’t advocate the long ball game, England should take advantage of Crouch’s height and Gerrard’s passing ability by linking the two of them together. Personally, I think the current system of lumping it to a big man is flawed and we must look elsewhere immediately.
Redknapp goes on to talk more about Lampard and about his partnership with Gerrard, ignoring the fact that it has been failing for a decade. There’s also a “vision” of a “golden triangle”, featuring the two incompatible midfielders and Wayne Rooney, dropping off a striker to form the triangle’s gilded tip. Now, I’m no tactical mastermind - I am not a football coach and I find tactical analysis to largely be mind-meltingly tedious - but isn’t that pretty much what happens with Rooney in a big man and little man partnership already? Rooney’s always had a natural inclination to drop back, link play and work hard. Redknapp’s essentially saying, “We miss Frank.” Wonder why.
I’ll leave you with this little beauty. If I could sum up the problems with the England national team as crisply as this, I’d be laughing. Fortunately, Redknapp cracks it:
England had a poor World Cup, yet we still have the players and manager to go and win Euro 2012.
Needless to say, I don’t agree with Redknapp’s ‘if it ain’t broke’ blueprint, because it’s broke - not necessarily badly, but enough to know that we absolutely do not have the players (or the manager) to win Euro 2012. If anybody from the Football Association is reading then please do us all a favour and be more progressive in your selection of Fabio Capello’s replacement than appointing this man.
Tags: Harry Redknapp
Harry’s 15 minutes of fame via the media does not detract from the fact that he does not possess the necessary skills required of a national manager..It is more than just on the pitch developing a squad, also off the pitch quietening his crooked mouth..I have some examples…
Harry Redknapp quotes
“Even when they had Moore, Hurst and Peters, West Ham’s average finish was about 17th. It just shows how crap the other 8 of us were”
“Dani is so good-looking I don’t know whether to play him or f*ck him”
“Hartson’s got more previous than Jack the Ripper”
“Samassi Abou don’t speak the English too good”
“By the look of him he [Ian Dowie] must have headed a lot of balls”
“Everyone f***ing jumps all over you. They don’t care Michael Carrick’s just 19. When he gave the ball away the other week there was 20000 people c*nting him off. He give a bad ball and they are all f***ing “weeerrrr”.”
“Where are we in relation to Europe? Not far from Dover”
He does not project the attitude and wherewithall to be deserving of an important position like that of manager of England’s national team.
“yet we still have the players and manager to go and win Euro 2012″
Do we think he means Capello? Or does he mean somebody more … English.
Excelltent idea! Sack Capello, and don’t hire the best English manager around, hire Roy Hodgson instead! Then he can lead England to not qualifying for anything! Or maybe hire Sam Alardyce?! Then England can play 4 center backs at the back, 3 defensive midfielders, and Crouch up top to hoof the ball to!
So James, you agree with Redknapp’s analysis here? And who’s sacking Capello? He’s going anyway.
Spurs fan, by any chance?
Redknapp is a very decent manager - no matter what you think of him, results have always born this out.
However, it’s hard to reconcile his success, especially with Spurs currently, given his comments on all things football. Does he really think the FA will be impressed with what he writes? Gerrard and Lampard? Even the most one-eyed England fan probably admits this will never work now? Long balls to Crouch? What one earth does the player himself make of this?
For somebody who clearly has what it takes to manage at a very high level his tactical analysis is so basic you wonder if it’s the same person.
I think Capello is the right coach. It’s just that the English players seem to lack any desire to play when they put on the English shirt. England needs to find the right players at CB, central midfield, hope Rooney is in top form and find an half decent sidekick for him.
“It blows my mind that these are the words of Crouch’s club manager. For me, Crouch is far better with the ball played to his feet and I’ve always found his aerial ability somewhat disappointing.”
Read: http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/10/15/peter-crouch-headers/
Crouch is the third best aerial threat in the history of the Premier League, even better than “Big” Niall Quinn.
Football isn’t just about numbers. Better quit writing or the ZM masses will lynch me.
Any article that claims Crouch is anything but impressive in the air is just misguided. Take a ganders at how many of Crouch’s goals, and assists, are with his head. And perhaps the last 7 Tottenham goals he’s scored in open play. There is simply no argument here.
Anyone want to address the rest of Redknapp’s comments here?
Nobody’s having a dig at Crouch, particularly. I like him a lot but I think Redknapp’s comments undermine his ability. I personally feel he could be *better* in the air, I didn’t realise that wasn’t allowed.
I should read the numbers. After all, that’s what football boils down to these days isn’t it?
But is the right tactic to lump balls up to Crouch, I think is the issue here?
I don’t think you’ll find too many people who’d deny Crouch is a good header of the ball. I think the issue here isn’t, as Chris has said, numbers of goals and assists. Rather it’s what the best way to play Crouch is.
I’ll confess I don’t see many Spurs games, but from what I have seen, they don’t seem to simply hoof the ball up to Crouch (which is what Redknapp appears to be advocating in his article), there’s more inventiveness there.
Of course it helps that Spurs can whip a ball into the box, whereas England seem to like their wingers to cut inside. It also probably helps that Spurs’ midfield in general is more creative than England’s.
This isn’t a criticism of Michael’s analysis, by the way, which is always excellent and fascinating, and numbers always are a very good place to start the basis of an argument from. However, where and how best to utilise Crouch are different questions and I’m not entirely sure I agree with Redknapp’s rather simple assertation (assuming it’s not more nuanced than I’d read into it).
Personally, I think those comments enhance Harry Redknapp’s credentials for England manager. Capello has sucked all the life out of the team, figuratively speaking. Redknapp would be just the chap to liven things up. Fuori Capello!!!
The fact that the favourite for the England manager thinks the solution to all the problems is sticking Gerrard and Lampard in midfield together and then lumping the ball to Crouch is surely the main issue here.
Crouch is a versatile weapon. He is tidy and neat with the ball at his feet. His skills on the ground are superior to many, many other big man so it is slightly short-sighted of his club manager to apparently single him out as a one-trick pony. His height is useful but it shouldn’t be the be all and end all of England’s game, especially without a wide players that can consistently deliver a ball of real quality.
As for Stevie G and Frankie… which you know Harry would start calling them if given the main job… every man and their dog can see they don’t work together. It just doesn’t happen. Why is it still being talked about or suggested? Just no.
Admittedly, I don’t think this Harry’s complete tactical assessment of England. It’s far too basic for a Premiership manager. Hopefully it has been watered down for the readers of The Sun who won’t care about teams keeping their shape or drawing the best out of Rooney. For the sake of England’s future, you have to hope so because barring Ian Holloway winning a trophy in the next 24 months, Redknapp seems like a shoe-in.
I think the suggestion of balls being hurled towards Crouch comes from Capello’s determination to play a target man. I may be wrong but i have seen Redknapp trying to advocate his players to get into the national side a lot and i think he is trying the same. He wants his lad to gain confidence by becoming a regular in his national team. I think Capello has moved on and picked Crouch because of his all round ability and not for his aerial ability(clearly shown by his decision to play inverted winger).
Also Redknapp may be trying to please the FA and fans by saying that Gerrard and Lampard can play together. Most of us have accepted that it is never going to happen, but still it is something that still appeals to the mass. By saying that he thinks both of them can play together, he is pushing the FA to hire him so that he can realise this.
And i think that both of them can play together in a three men central midfield with Hargreaves(if fit) or another great defensive midfielder(somewhat like Busquets). This is another reason why i wouldn’t advocate hiring Redknapp for the job as i would always like England to play a traditional 4-4-2. It has a lot of flaws in the modern world football but when played with shrewd passer in the centre and two really fast wingers with good crossing ability and technically sound full-backs(and no johnson) it can be succesful against any system.
Perfect.
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