Danny wouldn't be impressed
Sunday, April 8, 2012 at 4:16PM Sunderland 0 Spurs 0
I'm fairly certain the reason we lacked any vibrant sharp urgency was because our players were battling narcolepsy having to watch Sunderland that close up. I know I was. I spent most of the game counting sheep. There was no tempo to our play which was a massive shame because had we stepped it up a notch we'd have won this comfortably. Although it would have entailed our players firing rubber bullets to get past Martin O'Neil's ten man demonstration against forward progression.
Still, our passing was sloppy. Even with a whacking 65% possession we failed to test their keeper. Did we fail to break down Sunderland? Yes. Trying to skip around a brick wall rather than attempting to jump it proved futile. Then again we don't have too many that can jump. As for our hosts they were the epitome of anti-football (if you haven't guessed yet).
I called them 'organised' and 'committed' in the match preview. Oh the hilarity of irony. They were defensive and negative and the personification of footballing boredom, drilled for containment with the hope of perhaps getting lucky from a set-piece. No want and desire to make a game of it. Shame on us for failing to snap out of the snooze and slap them down. Up to them how they wish to play (even if IMO a home team should be the one setting the pace of the game rather than camping out in their own half for ninety minutes. Each to their own).
Frustrating that we appeared to hold back. I thought about this earlier. Perhaps that pre-match focus (take one game at a time and treat it as the one that matters most till you get to the next one) failed us. If we did hold back with Norwich and Chelsea in mind when you attempt to understand what that means in a pragmatic sense, you can't. Well I can't. Does playing within yourself mean that exerting to say play a decisive forward pass in an up-tempo patch of football have a knock-on effect for the next game and the one after that? Is it possible for a collective, a unit of players to decide to play at 60% effort and restrain imagination from having the expansiveness of a lucid dream right down to a forgettable day dream?
I've played football. Its been many years now, but on occasions for whatever reason, things just don't work on that day. Whether you're off the pace or lethargic with pass and move, it's all a little clustered and without fluidity across all players in the same jersey. Fluidity is something we've recently rediscovered so perhaps in the back of the players mind a point was enough and that's what ended up playing out. That's a shame because every game should be about the three points. One will have to do this time.
Then again, we probably didn't hold back that much. We just couldn't muster the required craft and guile to trick our way over their brick wall. Being constantly hacked down didn't help with the rhythm either. The stadium extinguished light to darkness.
One to forget.
Danny Blanchflower would have frowned at this.
Reader Comments (90)
It was a dreadful game,but who would have thought Sunderland at home would just sit back?? they havent done that all year, and i expected a tough game with them battering us and we might have a chance to snick it. Remember when we go all out for it thats when u concede a goal and its then hard to get one back away from home. It was a horrible game, and in my mind, Sunderland killed it off completely. Win Monday and next weekend and who gives a shie!
Same tactics when O'neil was manager of Villa, Redknap had no idea how to break Villas brick wall down. Thank god we did not get O'neil as our manager, I would have committed suicide. O'neil tactics =(untish football :-(
It can't be very often that the home side has parked the bus against us!
You can have the best players in the world, but when the opposition aim is just to stifle and hope to get a winner at some point, there's little you can do.
One of the dullest games of football I've seen this season.
At least we came away with something on merit, unlike Chelski who are being gifted points by inept officials.
Let's just hope City can get a result of some sort in the next 35 mins, though evidence so far suggests that's unlikely.
Fuck
City are weak pricks
We need to move the ball quicker and be a bit more positive and take players on.Less sidewards passing and more players overlapping.Slightly risker but on balance as were a good team going forward and it's 3 pionts for a win worth it.
Fuck City full stop. I hope they never win the title.
Yeah fuck City but the painful truth is that the worst arsenal team full of gutless cowards, managed by one of the most massive c*nts in football did what we couldn't. You make your own luck and they somehow do. All of our vaunted top players who we'll be gutted to lose if we don't make CL should take a hard look in the mirror and understand what is demanded of them for the rest of the season. Prove to us that you have at least the same amount of discipline, self belief and cojones as the scum or piss off. And Arry, it's time for you to stop making excuses and do something, son.
Shame the players never read your broken children of woolwhich last week,they seriousley need a kick up the back side especially Sandro that was his worst game for us yet and as for Bale getting in Modric's way all the time for fuck sake stay on the left! we are in danger of throwing it down the pan for the 2nd season in a row!
SORT IT OUT ARRY!
Woolwich are playing to their absolute maximum. You can't fault them for that. But let's not get side tracked. Cunts played cunts at a cunt stadium in front of cunt fans and cunts won the game. Who cares about it? Just cunts.
we can all moan about the anti fotball of sunderland, the point beeing that spurs, with all those hyped-up players, bale is world class, ade is a beast, modric is the new platini, VDV best buy in years, and so on. we could not break down a verry bad sunderland team. we could not break down a everton team we out played awayfrom home. we could not take our chanses against a chelsea team that has been bad all year, we all know what happend against the gooners and utd. we where unlucky against city thats true. but if we sums it up, we are not playing well andf scooring fopr fun, as we did at the start of the seasong. and that is worying, if we keep up this draw buissnes away, and strugle against weaker opponents at home, there is nothing to stop chelsea and newcastle to go past us. redcrapp need to start motivating the players, and stop being satisfied by 1point away against sunderland. anybody think that rednose is satisfied by 2-0?? hell no he wont, the utd players will get theyre hides full, for not getting more goals. that shows ambition, not like redcrapp satisfaction by not loosing. we should win these games, even if we need to play ugly. i rather we played ugly and got 3point, than trying playing to entertain, and loose 2points in the race to get champions league. redcrapp needs to step up and do his job, not just sitting there clueless most of the game. we have players that is`nt even breaking a swet after 70min of top flight fotball? is it just me, or is that normal? we have players that are walking around, and letting the opposition pass the ball around at will. and putting halv-hearted pressure at their defence, somethimes?? why is this fenomen alowed to continue??? if i was a spurs player i would starting to look over my shoulder, and thinking that we must start putting in some real effort to get champions league. the season is not done yet, it is now we must get the rewards after a great season, but we must not start thinking that the others isnt going to put in an effort. well this is my thought, so deal with this as you went. kols.
Yeah who cares other than the fact that cunts manage to make us look like cunts
IMO, win all of our next home games = 9 points, win 2 out of 3 and 1 draw of our away games = 7 points; 75 points will be enough to bring us to the CL competition next year.
The more I counted about others points the more headache i gOt. So I now only focus on our beloved team's result. arse might be so lucky in the last few weeks, but i don't care anymore.
COYS!!
Spooky I want a bit of their cunt :-(
That's it then, Citeh loose to the scumners. Chelscum win. We are unable to score, even the Bar-codes are a danger to us.
We are going to have to win the FA cup to to qualify for the Europa Cup. Thanks FA, Thanks Harry!
So it's obvious to me that we will get no luck and end up 5th and lose to Chelsea one nil next week unluckily.Us Spurs fans can pretty much read the future with 100% accuracy!!!
Bottling weak pricks. We will get fourth due to players listening to the media and believing their own hype. DO NOT GET CARRIED AWAY WHEN YOUR A SPURS FAN. CUP TEAM WITH NO COURAGE IN THE FIGHT. NEED A MANAGER WHO SCARES THE SHIT OUT OF HIS PLAYERS. FIFTH PLACE COULD BE A REALITY. Redknapp has inadvertantly ruined our rise.
Agree with some of the sentiments above. Harry is unable to change the course of a game, we should have got 3 points yesterday against a poor team who have nothing to play for. It looked to me that our lot had nothing to play for either and this just takes the piss. Why can't Bale stay on the left? We have no shape when he wanders all over the place.
In light of Arsenals win and the resurgence of Chelsea, I am just waiting for Harry to come out and say that there is no shame in finishing 5th.
O'Neill is the most negative manager in modern football. How can you subject your own fans to that shite? What annoys me is that the press let him get away with it. My old politics lecture used to say there are boo words, and hooray words in politics. Fascism - boo! Democracy- hooray! How did we ever reach the position that Martin O'Neill is a hooray word with the Press? Entertaining soundbites at news conferences, no doubt. Building strong relationships with some of the sycophants and toadies. It's simply outrageous that these supine arseholes don't hold him to account. For three years at Villa he pursued these tactics, and bored the arse of us. Have people forgotten the 1999 League Cup final, when we went down to 10 men, O'Neill went on the defensive. You couldn't make it up. Three of the four accounts of the game this morning, that I read, put the blame on us being too timid. These supposedly impartial O'Neill toadies scarcely made reference to the home side Bus Parking from the first minute. Even Martin Tyler, who does his best to talk up a game, said Sunderland were doing the Ali "roper doper". What happened to entertainment? Many of the media toadies don't want to make the obvious connection, that O'Neill learned most of these techniques at the feet of none other than Brian Clough. Oh, I forgot, there is another media hooray word. Clough performed miracles, and the Press loved him, but have they forgotten that watching Forest was often like watching paint dry? It seems that we have put up with more of this garbage, because O'Neill, like Clough, is a hooray word.... and the Press won't touch him. Thank fuck he'll never manage Spurs!
Seems clear to me that manager picked a team and gave tactics thinking a point would be ok. Look what actually happened with Arsenal winning. It's a shame to say it but if we arent willing to go for it or good enough to win games like this - will be actually get over the line? I still think we can but;
a. lets pick Lennon and try and win - rather than not lose.
b. have shooting practice so when we get chances we score
c. buy a world class striker [related to problem b above]
d. get a bit of luck with penalty decisions!
We can still do it but come on - lets not fail in the last month!
Are we still talking about the poor "Woolwich Children"? As i mentioned a couple of days ago my little Spooky fellow we would see if your still mouthing off about Arsenal FC at the weekend, and before you mention it I only come here because of your provocation with such silly articles, listen everybody loves a bit of Banter, that the beauty of the game, but you need to do better than 1 win in 7 before you go talking about other teams espc in a degrading manner, I for one actually think this is a pretty well written blog but concentrate on 4th my friend. E,
I watched the Sunderland game and could not believe what I was seeing. We were playing like an even worse Chelsea side. Very slow pace, no imagination and too many players did not turn up. I thought Bale was awful along with Modric. Adebayor never turned up and as for Sandro what is wrong with him. Even Parker made so many back passes Friedel had to get a change of gloves because the old ones were worn out keep receiving the ball. As for the so called management on the bench they didn't seem too bothered at what they were watching.
It's the same old story for Spurs...full of promise at the start of the season and when we come to the end of the season we just don't seem that bothered and throw everything away. If Redknapp is gonna go then he needs to fuck off now and let's make some plans to bring in a winner. let's get rid of the players who keep talking about leaving and bring some players in who are willing fight. Look at the scum they are far inferior to the players we have but look at the fight they put up compared to our lot. I am fed up with Redknapp keep making excuses, saying it was a well won point, saying every team is a difficult game and never blaming himself for shit tactics, if you can call them tactics. He has not said a word about whether he would take the England job if he was offered it and I think he needs to come clean and let us know his intentions so we all know where we stand. Personally I think he owes Spurs to stay with them after the way they stood by him during his dodgy dealings in the past which I feel he got away with but good luck to him. The only thing he seems bothered about these days is seeing himself in the media, giving the media the odd joke or two. He does not seem that committed anymore. Why wasn't he roasting some of our players poor play during the match? Why did he wait so long to bring on Defoe and Saha with such a poor show from Adebayor? We need an out an out goal-scorer and we have done since Berbatov left us. Why hasn't Levy done fuck all about it? Why does Levy continue to let Redknapp bring in old, past their best players? The list goes on and on and it's us that have to suffer year after year.
*sigh*
Overreaction.com/kneejeek
Expect people to completely change their tune should we beat Norwich tomorrow...
Sunderland woeful. But we couldnt beat them. Harry stated after that he liked the system we played "we control games when we play that way". I reckon if you control a game you should win. I liked the system we payed earlier in the season with Bale and Lennon wide, when we controlled games and won. Mind you Modric has stopped competing and playing well. Ade is overrated as a goalscorer. I dont care if he's got more assists than any other striker in the prem, thats not his fucking job on 170 grand a week. Remember all you Ade lovers, we got fourth with Crouch and we might not get fourth with Ade. Slag off the "cunts" all we like, they played well today. beat Citeh and didnt rely on dodgy officials gifting them goals. I, for one, would rather have them in fourth than Cheatski. But at best it looks like we will get fourth. Ride off into the England sunset Harry, quite literally.
What a joke, why is anyone surprised? Spurs according to rednapp (the same rednapp that whittled away a 10 point lead over Arsenal and an even bigger one over chelsea) we are going for the title, no second, no third now fourth. We won't really know what we are aiming for until ol twitch the bitch takes his england job. I'll be really pissed off if the cunt stays at spurs! Who deserves to be in the champions league when you can't beat teams like sunderland! When you rely on a twat like adebyore a one in five game specialist. I mean that he turns up for one in five games, lazy little gooner. Arsenal and chelsea have had fucken dismal seasons and we're on a high?? What bollocks. Spurs are always like this. I've been followiing spurs for 50 years and it's still the same. Rednapp is a wheeler dealer chancer. We concede from freekicks at will, yet even teams like sunderland can defend against spurs for 90 minutes and not concede? Like maybe we should try fixing that in training? I hate rednapp always have always will. He'll deliver nothing. We've always been a cup specialist club, that's it! Problem now is were still the same but I have to keep hearing this loudmouth thick fucker bleating bollocks all week. Ever hear him talk about his tactics, game plan? Nope he'd rather be having a go at levy with quotes like..we need to pay more, spend more, we can't afford ade (who wants the fucker), citeh want modric, my missus could do that. Well dear ol arry. My missus could play tactics with the team you've got ol son and beat shit like sunderland. My main gripe is what do we do next season when Bale, VDV and modric move on coz they're sick of the same bullshit I am? Yep we'll be left with dads army of nelsen, saha and parker. We'll have wet behind the ears arse kissers like livermore and donkey's like dawson. Disabled kings and arsenal rejects. He fucked up southampton and pompey and I tell ya he's doing the same thing here. Slowly but surely spurs are on a slippery slope because ofan eastend spiv who has everyone believing his speil. The sooner he get the england job the better. Levy pull ya finger out ol son and sack the fucker. Jol had spurs sitting pretty close to champs league with a team of dudds. Rednapp has a team of superstars and doesn't know what to do with em. Please england take him coz i wanna see the fucker squirming in the englang seat after lampard, joe cole, scholes, shearer et al have been hammered. Yep it'll be a good ol dads army at rednapps england. It's a waste of time being a talented young player with Rednapps around. unless you can run around a bit exactly as he tells ya. As for sunderland..well done lads. Spurs parked the bus at stamford bridge some years ago and told chelsea if ya good enough you'll break us down. It's the same for spurs. United don't have that problem and they have teams do this every week. United don't play the most amazing football. but they do know the game and how to deal with "parked buses". Rednapp doesn't and never will. he could managed barca and still not break down defensive teams. Ulesss git get out!
Spursgov, I thought I was bad.. Let it all out my friend . I do know where you are coming from .. look at the shitty goons they slated their team and manager, and look at them now, they soon pulled their finger out from their ARSE ANAL. This needs sorting asap.
I would rather not knee jerk overreact, because to be honest I'm not too disappointed by yesterday's result. Sure, we were sloppy and under tempo, and had the penetration of a 5 year old learning how to use his dick, but partly it was because Sunderland played anti-football. Any team who regards Lee Cattermole as one of their important players should really just lay down and die. Anyway, the reason I think it wasn't a bad result is because a) it's a point, would rather 3 but better than none - 1 point further away from Chelsea/Newcastle b) that was potentially the toughest fixture out of our run in, and c) Sunderland battered city at wastelands, for them to have felt the need to play like that against us is a mark of respect, albeit anti-football.
What I am alarmed about is how badly Sandro played. He was...awful. Gave the ball away countless times, almost cost us a goal, was a liability from the first whistle. For a young player who is looking to impress he's done himself no favours. I really think we could have afforded to start with Lennon/Krancjar and only have Parker as CDM, we would have been a lot better. I really hope the Brazilian beast picks up his performances though because we cannot afford to have liabilities running around at this point in the season. Think Gomes last season, another Brazilian! Coincidence? I hope so.
Cannot understand why Harry wont play Livermore instead of Sandro seeing as Sandro is a bit of a liability. Livermore is a good enough CMD but can go forward too. At least he's not a chicken without a head. I agree that 'knee jerking' isin't on right now, but had Spurs got stuck in for 15 minutes before half time yesterday they would have had 3 points. It's all very well Harry saying how confident he is that we will get third place. I wouldn't bet on it.
rednapp is too busy slating ; england players for not being good enough to manage( and is expected to get the job?) Darren bent - worse than sandra - talking down ballotelli ( not even his player and Jamie rednp needs a kick right in the knee cap like his dad, always blaming someone for something) slaggingg iff Bendtner - 'he was bombed out of arsenal '( again bendtner rightly retaliated by saying rednap is a cun*) slagging off the scum keeper ( reckons the arsenal man has too much to say hahahahha ) lets see- then he blames M.O for ( actually having a succesful game plan) of the two, only one mans tactics worked...called our fans idiots and scum a few years back for slating judas..the lit goes on.
He has no class no medals and defifnitely no membership amongst the top managers in the country either, past or present..*spursgov got it spot on imo.
He has pointed the finger at levy and challenged the board on not signing players...would u give this man a streak of piss if he was burning , cos on his ability to dodge the bullet nd lodge it in someone elses cranium , he clearly only has the respect from hismates - sky sports-sun news paper...trophy-less ring piece , oh a fa cup in thirty years as a ' credible manager 'please...he's in barry frys league , not AFor JM or even the pedophile , who wenkerness aside , is a proven winner..
I know Levy can see thru this pied piper and i can't wait for him to slither away...on this very blog three ears ago , a very bitter and illiterate spammer uttered these words- the ego will eventually ware away and after that he only has receipts for very expensive mistakes to show for it...Darren bent is a top english goal scorer at the top level- what has rednap done?!
h'es pushed his cheap violins as far as they can go , we have a very very good side, the guardian article today is startig to see it as it is for HR - a knee jerk reation is thinking he is good enough to manage england to anything other than mediocrity , thats te one thing ( apart from us giving him his moment in the lime light ) he as achieved in theirty years ...cluless class less rotter !
COYFS
Buy a top-class striker (adebayor would be if he wasn't so mercurial) and all of the debate about the Everton match, the Sunderland match, etc., is rendered moot. Shit, not even a top-class striker, just a clinical finisher would have us sitting pretty.
y hasn't he explained why all those points went sliding down the pan or why he has failed since after christmas to successfully pull away from a very ' regressed chelsea side ' and a way below par scum side? his credible attempts were ' I just don't know y' Just can't put a finger on it' Yet he has opinions on y JD is pissed off with him and y modric should join city - the man is like an old washed up classless gossip merchant sitting in the launderette all day slagging off evryone else tha walks by and never looks at y he is not at the top with the winners...answer - doesnt have the minerals ...
We must not underestimate Norwich today-Paul Lambert is a good tactician and I for one sense an upset and that will put paid
to Champions league next season. Players need to be sharp and for once CLINICAL and take on board that every dead ball situ-
ation, is a potential goalscoring opportunity. Much as I love the Spurs way of beating 6 men and into the top corner, I will take
a couple of untidy 6 yard tap ins from a corner kick, especially at this end of the season. Just get it over the line. Also,agree with
earlier blogs...where is the passion from the bench during the match? The gaffer and his 2nd/3rd in command, literally sit there
rooted to the spot, so is it any wonder the Spurs back 4 do exactly the same on occasions? I want to see some animation from
Harry, to show he cares, or is he too image/ media conscious, unlike Wenger?
nelson and gallas against norwich today, holt will detroy them both. rednapp needs to addres the players and make it clera that a draw is not good enough. but i think ade will start as he dont have to preform. redcrapp weakend our side in january, with getting rid of courluka and pav. we got in nelson and saha. corluka could have been used as a right back, and walker as right midfield when lennon was injuried. instead we got in nelson who at the time was injuried. but wait and see, he will be here another year, redcrapp did say "i couldnt belive i got him for free, i have been after him for years, couldnt belive my luck!!" for years?? blackburn gave him away, and with that defence they got, they did not want nelson?? why do we need him?? same for saha, he is no way better than pav, who could find the net from outside the 16m box. i read that redcrapp says spurs must spend to be a club in the top. well i would not give redcrapp lots of money to spend, he will be signing joe cole fastr than i can say it. and who else? some old, premier war horse, that has passed 30 with atleast 2 years.i say it again, all the europa stars we are linked to, just forgett them. redcrapp will be linked with verthongen,hazard, and who the hell knows, and some old has beens from utd,arsenal,pompey,sunderland, crouch from stoke. and that is the players he will do the most to get. than he will say to the media "well you now, we cant compete with city,utd,arsenal,liverpool when they starting to offer wages. we tried, but it is not easy, they can blow us out of the water, and more exuses, bla,bla,bla. BUT we did get carrick and joe cole and they are tirrific players just teriffic" like he did with parker. verthongen will be playing for arsenal, because spurs never get things done, hazard must see that young players at spurs is not the best to be in fotbal worl, and choose arsenal,city,utd,etc,etc. if we do not get redcrapp far away from the lane, this will happend, this is what happend the three last windows. "i wont buy anyone if they dont strenghten our squad" that was redcrapp words. so he thinks spurs are a stronger team with nelson and saha, is there anyone else that belive this, i dont. and all we need to see is our prefomance since x-mas. we had 45 points, same as utd on 2place. city had 47. we have now 59 points, utd have 79, city have 71. we have taken about 14points in 3-3,5 months!!! and meeting the same teams that we played before x-mas. if we did not have that atum period, we would be nearer relegation than 3place. it is like last year, we collapsed, and redcrapp did nothing, and now we sees the same, and he still has no clue. WHY do people still cries about what a good manager he is? he is shit, and that is the end of it. if premier did start at x-mas we would be around 20points behind arsenal. so dont tell me our team is better than arsenal, because the tabell dont lie!!! and there is onely one man to blame for this, and it is redcrapp, he is not doing his jobb, it is that simple. when a player dont preform it is redcrapps jobb to take him out and play someone in form. he dont even manage this!! so tell me what he does that makes him a good manager. i say again, get him the hell out of the lane, he is as usefull as a corpse!!!!
Well the Harry-bashers are back in force after going very quiet for most of the season. I can understand the vitriol which stems from passionate support of our great club and the woeful performances of late.
I feel the same way about Levy and Enic and in my opinion they set us up to fail after our first qualification for the CL by not adding quality players in positions that everyone knew needed filling. So the question raised by Spurssince82 ie: "would u give this man a streak of piss if he was burning" is moot in that Levy didn't and we have had to make do with market-stall bargains. People chunter on about squad rotation but in reality there is no real depth to our squad, especially in key areas...where is the cover for any of the back 4...oh it's in the treatment room...where is the cover for Bale, Lennon and Modric...oh there isn't any (of any real quality anyway).....where are the strikers...oh we haven't got any, well none they know how to fit into a team anyway or even know the off-side rule.
So, disappointed as I am at our current demise, and even though I think our CL qualification attempt is over for this year, I am still going to wait until the end of the season, or until it is mathematically impossible to achieve, before passing judgement on the manager. At the start of the season, 4th place was the target. If we achieve it, job done. That doesn't mean I want him to stay for next season, but he will have achieved his brief and as such should not draw the level of abuse currently being thrown his way.
The Harry lovers are out sticking up for him through thick and thinI see. Levy has given him every player he has asked for except Phil Neville (I fucking ask you) He Loses to Everton, Stoke, draws to Stoke at home, draws to Sunderland away (bus parked in readiness for Wembley), then it's excuse after excuse and, Oh that draw at Chelsea, wasn't that a big result Harry. The time for bullshit is over and third place and an FA cup please Harry or 'just fuck off'.
We have got past our hardest fixture in the run in with a point. Wanted three but at least we didn't drop. Gooners have Chelsea and then Stoke away and I don't think there is any way they will get 6 points out of that. We can still get third.
er, can you all calm down please. I'm in a fight for 3rd place and an FA cup and you girls are getting hysterical again. Next time I'll leave you at home. Its embarrassing really. Now leave me be, I need to get re stuck in. Ladies. PLEASE.
personally, i think that this was a good point. could have one with the 3 but here again we have those that feel we are Barcelona. We are tottenham and we are slowly turning into a very good team. This doesnt happen overnight. This takes time. It takes years to inspire a mindset into a team, it has to be bred and taught repeatedly. The best teams that play open, expansive football like we do all have extreme patience. Its the only way you can win games against negative teams. You keep playing the football, dont give into the bullying and wait for your opening. We arent too far off being there. 2 clean sheets in our last 2 away games against Chelsea and Sunderland.....fantastic. All im saying is patience. We arent the team most of you have put on a pedal stool YET - we have a little bit to go but we are learning. How can any of you be angry or upset about that - progress is Key and of all the teams in the top 6 - we have and are progressing the most. COYS
how is a clean sheet agains a bad sundeland team a win-win situation as some of you mean?? as the game was largely played by one team, us. sundeland did nothing, but we dont have enough firepwer to break teams like that. what is great with that? if we was being out played, sure 1 point would have been nice, but that was not the case, we should have won the game easely. but we lack the right players or our player could not be botherd to put in a shift. and if redcrapp cant see that, he is blind. but verry often that seems the case with our players, they just dont show commitment, and urgency. arsenal a team most of us in hear have called bad, worse side in decades, have closed a 13 point gap, and is 2 points ahead of us. lets not forgett what they did to our best team in decades?? something is not working at the moment, and it is redcrapp job to figure that out. since this has been ongoing since x-mas, he has not figured that out, and so is not doing his job. and that is what angers me, plus alomost all things about him. but when we fail to beat stoke home and away,everton away, sunderland away. those games should have been 3 points a game, when you look at the way we played in those games, and yet we did not win any of them, why cant we not manage to kill off games? teams around us can, so why cant we? and we are satisfied by that? well i am not, i would like us to win every game, and against weaker teams i am alowed to expect that our team put in an effort. and a manager that take actions if our players dont, but he dont do anything. standin up in the 90th+ minutes of a game and starts telling players what to do, now thats just sad.
I am a Harry supporter and give him the benefit of the doubt wherever possible. Worrying signs in the last few weeks but it ain't over. Big test and it's all on Harry and our supposed world class players to at least play up to their potential.
COYMFS
Newcastle and Pardew are 3 points behind us. Newcastle! Pardew! Yet some of you still think Redknapp is some kind of Messiah. Redknapp is piss poor. His 75th minute substitutions are a joke and this team could probably make 5th if it was managed by a 10year old retarded boy.
I hope the FA sticks with him and doesn't evaluate his performances vis resources in comparison to the likes of Alan Pardew. Because if they do....we are stuck with Redknapp for another 3 years. Levy has lost his mojo. He won't sack the media darling for fear of being haunted by his journalist buddies.
Truth be told...Adebayor works hard but is not good enough. Saha? while other (lesser) teams are buying the likes of Papiss Cisse? And what happened to our transfer policy? How did the likes of Saha, Friedel and Nelsen manage to get through? Who is next, Joe Cole and Neville?
Lennon is coming back from injury, that is the only reason I can think of that he didn't start. I'd rather see him for 30 minutes a game over 3 or 4 games than start him when he's not fit and see him get injured again, or start him against sunderland and him not be able to play at all against Norwich.
Re: the signings, as I understand it Nelson was let go because he had this opportunity and because of his years of service to blackburn. He probably can't play every week, and was probably a high(ish) earner there. He has been good for us in my opinion. Charlie had been going steadily downhill for a while, and Kaboul makes an excellent right back if it comes to it. Pav was crap, people remember the goals, not the 99/100 poor touches, no passing etc. The attack always stopped with him, he either scored or wasted it (like saha actually). We were better of taking cash.
IMO we did need a winger. For me system > individual players: I would rather see Danny rose/dos santos on the pitch than shoehorn Sandro in and shift someone wide. Victor Moses/Nathan Dyer/Junior Hoillet would all have been solid shouts for us in January, and with the no. of players we were sending out on loan we could easily have made it worth those teams while to trade+cash.
On any other transfer we should have made, I think Levy is a bit more canny in the market now. In previous years we wasted our precious cash on the likes of Pav and other panic buys. Now I think they have a select list (Remy, Hazard et al) who they want, and a price they are willing to pay. If they can't get them or the price isn't right, then they move on. If it still doesn't work they buy a v.cheap stop-gap (saha, nelson, pienaar) for a year and try again. They do not want to get lumbered with another Bentley or Pav eating up wages long term. This is a much smarter, long term way to build the team IMO.
All that said, we need a better plan to break down packed defenses, and we need to be smarter about resting players. Bale and Modric have needed resting for some time now, and it shows. Kyle Walker is getting forward less too. I guess its the age old momentum vs resting players (and our run of tough games last month could not have come at a worse time, that was the point we needed to rotate a bit, and we couldn't).
On the packed defenses, lennon helps massively, but I think we needed to try the ball over the top to Ade more (not smashing it, but from halfway line etc), when we were (v. slightly) on the break, keep them guessing. A lot of our good moves in the first part of the season came from diagonal passes to lennon after drawing the defence left. We were't really able to switch play in the same way on saturday. All that said, it is extremely difficult to break a side down that does not want to play football. You have to get players in the box and get the ball wide, and we struggled to do that.
Facts are that since Harry had his court case, things have gone 'tits up'. The same players were delivering pre- 23 January that are not delivering today. Modric looks as though he is just biding his time until May. Generally Redknapp isin't doing the business with the tools he has at his disposal. We should have had 3rd place wrapped up by now, looking forward to a date with Chelski at Wembley, but no, here we are worrying about whether we can get points of the likes of Norwich, Aston Villa, QPR, Blackburn, Bolton and Fulham. Harry's had two bad season's now and, even had the England job not have surfaced, I'd have wanted to see the back of him. He's never won fuck all and he's 65 years old.
Quote from Harry in his programme notes;--Every game is important to us and we will approach them all at full tilt. We can’t afford to take our foot off the pedal in any of them.
Why the sudden change of plan, we usually dance around around the place loosing the ball in the final third and get up with big smiles to show how happy we are at Harry's funny farm. Are we sure that 'full tilt' won't be too much of a culture shock for them.
Oh dear.........1.0 down after 13 mins, at home, to little Norwich. This is becoming embarassing......
finally some of my fellow lilywhites r seeing thru the myth that is redkrapp!! Our collapse since da turn of da year has been as shocking as bad as city but u wont hear anything negative said by the media about their darling!! Levy cannot b waiting around for england get rid of this bufoon anyway!!
@DaveK- I hear your point mate, taken on board too.. in response to your suggestion that Levy hasn't spent the right doe (for key positions) we are not man city, Rednap brought back in players; Chimbonda- Keane- Defoe (who can't get a game, not a massive fan myself but i never resigned him) and Rednap replays the same mistakes game after game ( can u imagine this thick touchy blame master being able to win game of connect four before his 50th attempt?) I can't...the pieces are too red, or just too yellow..
He himself reckons/ reckoned he had just about the strongest squad in the prem' worthy of winning' 'worthy of challenging' and now we are challenging Sunderland reserves ( Newcastle ) ... Luckily I dont know the man personally , so only take him on 'his words' ( all 4.5 million of them) and his actions (freezing out Pav_ (freezing out gds)(freezing out todays goal scorer jd) the list goes on..(playing bale as a pre madonna ) instead of a old fashioned winger/// - Levy signed our current most cretive payer VDV..the same will happen in the summer and as i stressed, i wouldn't trust him with tenner to go down the shops with, the blind 'sensitive one' would probably come back with a fiver and a handful of plastic pearls from petticoat lane ...
That embarrassment has turned into a seething pain.... vdV for Livermore, that's an interesting sub.
Game over.........capitulation. And Everton, with no recognised strikers, are spanking Sunderland, whom we could not score
against, despite dominating the game. I am numb and to be honest, it does not hurt anymore. Adios Harry.