Will Spurs 'mix it up' with the Top 4 next season?
Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 4:06PM Nice little article by Fox Sports with Harry Redknapp. Read it in it's entirety here. My commentry below relates to the sound-bites/quotes Harry made during the interview about the work required pre-season with signing new players and the aim to push forward with some intent cometh next season.
"We'll be needing a few new faces around here, that's for sure"
"I know the spine of my team, the players I build it around every week, but I also know that there are several places I need to strengthen in, if I'm going to get this team challenging for proper honours"
Indeed. Centre-back, left-winger, central midfielder and a forward. And possibly another midfielder to cover Palacios. It's actually tricky to know who we plan to bring in as we don't quite know who will be sold.
Centre-back - We've got King, Woodgate and Dawson. We need another young quality defender as a long term Ledley replacement. I'm not keen on Corluka playing anywhere other than right-back.
Left-winger - We haven't had one of these for a while now. Again, it's dependent on whether Modric is set to remain out on the left and drift in. If he takes a role alongside Palacios then the money spent on a left-winger will have to be more substantial. Otherwise, a young up-and-coming player who is ok with a little bench warming might be the way to go.
Central-midfielder - Huddlestone and Zokora may well be on their way. The latter almost certain to go. If Hudd remains does he do so as cover for Wilson or cover for the position alongside him? Jenas played well with Palacios so he may well retain that role but the never-ending argument is that he is simply not consistent enough or bullish enough to be first choice. Which means we need someone with balls as big as our Honduran Panther with possibly a little more creative flair. Gareth Barryesque would do. Everton's Arteta is currently being linked, although something tells me this is agent talk so the player gets a nice new contract at Goodison Park. Unless they're skint, I can't see why they would want to sell. Whatever happens, this is the key to our success next season. We need a proper central midfield pairing, one that might not match Utd's or Liverpool's intensity over 38 games, but it's got to be able to compete comfortably with City, Everton and Villa.
Forward - Once we know where Bent and Pav's future lies then we'll know what type of player needs to be signed. JD and Keane will need a big strong more direct type of forward (but not the over-rated Jones or Cisse) or possibly a player of Berbatov's ilk. No pressure then. We also need to promote an academy player as a 4th choice option. This is the one key area that has me slightly concerned. We can not afford to make a mistake here. Not after the circus of last summers red-face disaster.
Stating the obvious with the above, and obvious is head-ache inducing.
As well as the team has progressed under Harry we still left lacking in certain positions. Simply put we are decent with what we have but only 6th place decent at the very best. Football is no longer a fair stage and competing with the Top 4 is becoming increasingly difficult thanks to the stepping-stone factor that we have experienced since Carrick left us for Utd. Signing players of that type of (potential) quality seems to be redundant if the team doesn't achieve instant success with them in it. There is no patience from the players. And too right some may argue because they know they can compete at the highest domestic level. The irony here is that how can we ever push on if they don't try to compete for that level with us? Constant re-building means that we are never out of transition.
So Harry and Levy have to be spot on with their signings. Otherwise, if we do falter again, then the likes of Modric and Palacios will start looking elsewhere for the silverware their agents will tell them they deserve.
Think of it like this. Look at Everton. They've held onto some of their star players for a while, but they will never be a Top 4 club because they can't attract Top 4 players. I don't mean this in a derogatory way because we are much the same in that we can't keep hold of Top 4 players we sign who then leave us to actually sign for a Top 4 club. So the only way (and I'm simplifying this) to break free is to actually get lucky and break up the monopoly the first time of asking if not the second.
Not easy is it? And while we re-build each season, the monopoly get stronger and stronger.
"I was looking at a player who'd come pretty well recommended to me recently. I flew to Italy to watch him in a game, but after ten minutes it was pretty clear that this was not a player I would want to sign. All the signs were wrong."
I like this. Because under the DoF that player would probably have been signed on the strength of Comolli or some random scout. Harry has bought some duffs in his career. Plenty in fact. But as Spurs are the biggest club he's ever managed (sorry Green Street, but its true) the pressure is a little more intense so I'm willing to bet we won't see any risk signings. Obviously, the Chimbonda fiasco remains the only hole in the wall of faith.
"I definitely have no regrets. This is a massive club. Great fans, plans for a new stadium and a properly run business. That's not to take away from Portsmouth or Southampton or West Ham. It's just that Tottenham was the logical next step for me and has been a massive challenge so far."
When asked where his next port of call will take him:
"No, no, Tottenham is the end of the road for me. It's a big setup here and I had to have a go, but when this is over, I'll move on and focus on other things."
For a media-loving sound-bite friendly football man, where better to strut and twitch your stuff than White Hart Lane? He'll never be offered a job at a Top 4 club (yes, I get the irony) so this is as good as it will get for him. And at least there's no chance of him doing a Judas and leaving to replace Wenger at Arsenal.
Think the pressure next season will be altogether something different. They'll be no-one to blame if we begin the season badly other than the man in the mirror. Hoping our pre-season is luke warm. God have mercy on our souls if we thrash Barcelona at Wembley 5-0.
"I don't pay much attention to what players do on the training pitch. It's a bit like the horses. They can look sensational at the gallops, but not perform on the day of the race."
I guess Harry just means that someone who trains brilliantly might bottle it on the pitch. Which is strange considering that Jenas is meant to be outstanding in training and bottles it on the pitch. Actually, I have no idea what Harry means with this particular statement.
"Like I say a couple of new faces here and there and I think we can really get in the mix. Of course I have to be realistic about what Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea and the others can do, but I believe we can get amongst them."
Best we can do is 5th. That will be the same agenda for Everton, Villa and City. Other clubs will also look to push towards those European places below the top 4. We can't afford another disaster and waste another year. We have to compete. Like I've said before, 4th spot is only a possibility if Arsenal (or whoever) shag it up. But its unlikely. But not impossible. But it would mean our form would have to be outstanding at home and tenacious away. And this will be the result of the summer months and the master plan laid out by Harry to the players.
That master plan should simply be this: Forget about the Top 4 (Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal). Just get ahead of the teams (Everton, Villa, City) that aspire to be there.
It really is stand up and be counted once and for all time.
Reader Comments (34)
Great read. I hope we ignore all the pre-season hype the rags will no doubt dish our way, hyping us up. I'm certain if you look back at the past few seasons they always have us competing for 5th spot and pushing for 4th.
Everton, Villa and City?
What about Fulham and West Ham?
here we go again the TOP 4 last 2 season we barely finished in top half, so let all be reaistic an if we fin top 6 we can only be happy with that, and the way we play way from home we have no chance of top 4
Listen, todays game is a closed shop to clubs like Tottenham, Everton and Villa.
18 months ago I would have said these clubs had the best chance to gatecrash the top 4. Building slowly, getting their finances in order and running at a profit, everything about these clubs was healthy and they were going about it the right way.
Then you get the Arabs come in, buy clubs that had overspent and were facing financial meltdown and now they leapfrog everyone else based purely on their sugar daddies. The game at the top level in England is dead and the only way the likes of Spurs and Villa etc can compete is to hope for such a buyer who will treat the club as a toy. Thanks but no thanks. I would prefer to finsih 8th every season than have some playboy Arab who never really earnt his money in the first place(sitting on Oil or Daddy made Billions etc) come over and buy success.
we have out spent everton arse villa yet we still struggle away from home we are only a home team
after the event .....cold stats.....defence was top five ,points ratio per game under redknapp = fifth for 2009 ...
so we are not far off....but we really need the quality to sit right over a season ,
score ratio has to be 15 -20 per attacker etc.....and if champions league following season then
we can attract a few more players who can maintain spurs at the level we all want......
without the hope and hype
I honestly don't think you can even expect a fifth place next season with City likely to spunk huge amounts of cash on star players, who are bound to start performing sooner rather than later. It would take something really speacial from Spurs, and some major signings - the likes of Carvalho and Arteta, as opposed to dross like Downing and Crouch.
I am hoping for a definite improvement from last season, in fact I think this is inevitable. But forget the top four talk and let's just focus on a year of improving the team, the club and the performances both home and away.
The only team that will ever break that top four is Man city. And they won't do it until 10/11 IMO.
I think a couple of decent purchases, at the right money for a change, and a solid start and we could get 5th or 6th. And we should celebrate that because beyond next season we can all forget it.
We have missed our chance with some shocking purchases in recent years and some poor quality lasagna.
The new holy grail shall be Arsenal's demise once they eventually fail to get champs league, wenger leaves with the kids on the school bus, and they get reposessed.
"a young up-and-coming player who is ok with a little bench warming"
Bale?
if we can keep the majority of this squad together (ie the good players) plus a target man with a good first touch and an experienced midfield general then we'll do well. WHL's been a revolving door for players in the past few years and some stability would benefit the squad. This team doesn't need major surgery, just a bit of Botox here and there.
bale is pants
11 galacticos a team does not make.
The amount of money we have should allow us to compete with most teams, Jol got us on the cusp of 4th and never beat any of the top 4.
You dont have to beat the top teams to get a top 4 finish, you just have to beat everyone else!
Harry doesnt need to re-invent the wheel...just mend a few spokes..
no, no they wont
next......
ps.... i truly believe a lot of our season hinges on the start of the season.
i'll be livid if we get drawn away to a northern team, AGAIN...and lose AGAIN... on the opening day of the season.
id imagine those down the road will get a home draw again.
Money dictates league placings. From Spurs point of view, 4th is not even worth consideration and I don't for one minute believe that Harry thinks it's a possibility. Our target next season is to maintain our home form whilst improving out away form and hopefully another trip to Wembley. That would probably get us into 5th or 6th. Then if we can hold onto our best players next summer and bring in some more quality, we can kick on from there and then who knows!
I would be ecstatic if some 'playboy Arab who never earned his money in the first place' bought us and spent a fortune on making us the best club in the world! Buffon, Ekotto, King, Woodgate, Johnson, Gerrard, Kaka, Iniesta, , Ribery, Messi, Torres!!! Yes please - bring it on!!!
Now back to the real world. We need a world class centre forward (£30m+), attacking midfielder to replace Jenas (£30m) and left midfielder (£30m). that will be the price of a possible CL challenge next season. Take it or leave it!
Levey you have got it wrong this time on two fronts the top four doesent happen if you shout about it the only time a team got there whas when everton sneaked in.Because liverpool put all there energy into winning the euro even then the rules where changed to let liverpool enter everton got stiched up with valencia and the rest is history. We should build slowley dont buy any players because sombody will have to sit on is bum for long periods the way harry brings is subs on and this causes unrest .Tom Huddlestone should not be sold i cant belive you are advocating this move barca have just demolished utd with passing out of toms amoury long short through yes at six foot three he doesent move like iniesta but he can pass as good and shoot this lad needs to be playing regular to build is confidents and he is only 22 he got 8 out of ten in his games and never lost a game forget the everton match he must have been carrying that bad knee for a few weeks .Martin oniel is not daft selling a 28 year old for twelve million and chasing tom hudds 22 under 21 star for six mill one word tell him bollocks .He is staying him and palacios where when they played just one game were awsome and both peppered the goal with thunderbolts palacios win the ball and tom creates .Ask defoe who he gave that brilliant pass to score how does he rate tom very highly whas the answer the hudds must stay or we will sadley regret and villa will be quids in and finish higher .i defended lennon all last season and i whas right .?
One difference next year is that there are four teams outside of the Sky four who might be the team to break up the domination. In previous seasons there has only been the one side touted with a chance. We were it for a couple of seasons, Everton achieved it once, Villa looked like it this year before fading and there is now Man City.
That will mean that firstly the mentality of battling with teams around you rather than looking beyond and too far up might focus the mind in the bread and butter games we are so shit at. That will help us and the others. Secondly, because of the improvement of ourselves, City, Everton and Villa there is more chance these sides will take points off the Sky four. If they do and we hold are own against these sides and those above and start to take 3 points home AND away againste shite teams, then there might well be a surprise.
I know, 'ifs' and 'ands' are worthless drivel, but all might not be lost.
I don't care who we sell as long as we KEEP HUDDLESTONE. The lad is pure class. Nobody can hit a ball like him at spurs. He is our BEST PASSING MIDFIELDER right now! Better than MODRIC! Selling him would be a waste. I want to see Huddlestone and Palacios run our midfield this next season!
i think it is very important to talk and aim for the top four next year,the focus and aim should be high ............with a "go for it" attitude from day one of the season,
last season was unrealistic if you look at all the preseason changes ,so what is the difference this time ,well.....
the team/manager was new!......untried and was found out ................then the players responded to redknapp and played very well against the top four !
so a reality check has occurred.....i know the same thing gets said etc each year .......there is work to do
but the players felt they should have won the carling cup, and to miss europe by one game was good work all round.......
stats dont lie
I hope we hang on to Huddlestone, too. He's top class, has superb distribution skills, and with Palacios breaking up other teams and ballwinning beside him, we're practically unplayable.
Huddlestone may be a very good passer but the fact is he is immobile, has the tackling ability of Frodo Baggins and games pass him by. Palacios can't do all his work. Hey Rahula, as for us being "practically unplayable" with Huddlestone and Palacios in the team , that's great news, we can now expect to get top four, guaranteed. Get real!! We need to stop deluding ourselves. Unless we sign at least 4 quality players - centre mid, left mid, striker, cover defender - we are not gonna break top 4.
Huddlestone can't play when harried. It's all been said before (not sure why I have to say it again) ,but he's not going to make it in the top of the PL, although I wouldn't sell him just yet, unless it's for over £10m. Palacios must have an attacking midifielder ,who actually scores more than 3 or 4 goals a season, playing next to him if we're going to play a straight 4-4-2. I'd rather Redknapp bought a similar player to Palacios and put the pair of them in front of the defence, let a new left sided attacking midfielder, Modric and Lennon free to attack and assist a lone striker.
Huddlestone is one of the best technical players of his generation, it would be a shame for us to let him go now. He needs to change mentally for sure, but I dont understand why people suddenly get tourettes when anyone mentions his name and shouts "immobile!" Players that are big always look slow and ungainly, I point you to the goal he scored against Man City season before last, gets the ball on the edge of our box, pings the pass, and catches up with play on the edge of the oppo's box and volleys it in.
No one has a go at Corluka's speed and he cant move half as fast as Huddlestone, he runs like his shoelaces hae been tied together.
Don't jump on the "mobility" bandwagon, actually take a look for once.
The more teams competing for that elusive 4th spot, the more points are taken off the Sky 4 ®.
This in turn means that the points difference between the top 6 or 8 teams is even smaller and it makes it more likely that one of the Sky 4 ® slips up.
Simples
lets be honest, we would have been right in there with an excellent chance of signing barry were it not for city's money. there is another version of what spooky mentioned in the article going on in the transfer market - unless you are owned by some tycoon with millions, you are going to struggle to attract 'top 4 quality' players. (i know that labelling barry 'top 4 quality' will be contentious, but for the sake of argument...)
this will be something that will plague us for the remainder of the window. it already looks like it might happen with glen johnson, who despite loving harry, is set to join chelsea for the second round of roman's spunkfest. having said that we have managed to smuggle in players like modric and palacios (still on a high from his signing and performances). but as spooky says, unless we add some quality and make a real push for the top 6 at least, their heads will inevitably be turned before too long. realistically, we need harry to hustle some quality lesser know players into the team and push for 6th place. 5th is unlikely given the way city are shaping to spend, IMO.
I say keep the hudd, aspecially if we sell zokora and bentley, aspecially if redknapp does keep trying 3-5-2, you could have as it stands palacios with modric and the hudd sat in front of him, bale down the left and lennon down the right, i can see it working.
could our prayers for great players be asnwered though by valencia, they are in financial ruin, 400m in debt, everyone knows the big teams will be in for silva and villa, but no mention of abidol or jaquin, that would be cb and wings sorted.
Hey PLN nobody is jumping on the mobility 'wagon'. He is immobile, yes he's big and they don't go hand in hand always but in his case they do. He also has no tackling ability and doesn't score enough. Everyone creams themselves when he hits a shot from 40 yards against the bar. Great! I'd rather it took ten lampardesque deflections and went in. As for Corluka, yes he is slow, lots of people point his out too, but that's a separate issue. Huddlestone is not good enough for a first team centre mid position if we want top 4. If we don't then he's fine. leave him there and we'll get top half.
Partnered with Palacios does he need to be breaking up play?
I see him as a Jenas replacement, receiving the ball from Palacios and pinging it around.
He'd score 5-10 goals given a run in the side.
I do agree about him not being tough enough in the tackle, he does my head in at times, but I think partnered with Palacios both can play to their strengths.
I just cant see a good reason to sell him now, loan him out maybe, but sell him outright at his age? Not a great bit of business.
Agreed that selling Hudd is not the best solution in an ideal world as he could be a good squad player. The problem is we need to sell big to buy big and buying big is essential to move forward.
We could raise an easy 20-30mill selling a few squad players, I wont say who I'd get rid of because it'll never happen, so speculating isnt worth it.
But we have a few players that arent getting the job done and would serve us better as makeweights in bringing in what we really need.
for example, our 4 strikers, who can only take 2 positions in the team cost us a total of 60 odd million. Whereas our left midfielder cost.... oh yeah, we dont have one.
I agree with Spooky... it is time to forget about the top 4 and focus our true competitors - everyone who is aiming for the same spots we are!
COYS!!!
Why on earth do you guys keep talking about breaking into the top 4? We aren't even playing in Europa league next year! Forget big signings for right now, we should keep the TOP 6 quality team we have now and see if we can get them working together correctly for the ENTIRETY of next season! Ok, so maybe we sell Zokora, maybe we sell Bent, and maybe we sell Bentley, but damn, we have a REALLY GOOD SQUAD RIGHT NOW. Lets not mess with it too much when we already are capable of playing for the win against the top 4 and are favored to beat anybody else nearly every time!
Also, selling Huddlestone right now would be IGNORANT. Keep him one more year and give him a much bigger run, see what you get when you give him more games under his belt. Corluka is by far the slowest person on our team, and he faces wingers for christ's sake! Partnered with Palacios as a ball winner, there is a great amount of good that someone like Huddlestone can bring to our midfield! There is a reason a great manager like our old boy Martin Jol wanted to take him back to the bundesliga!
bare in mind we lost against the relegated and lower sides (ramos)and performed well against the top four so
i would let the stats talk.....even robhinio could not stop us at man c......
positive and real