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)
Harry is a stupid cunt. He's blown our season again. Disgracefull team selection and should not be considered for England.
ha ha ha ha ha little little spuds , spooky u can write shitty articles degrading arsenal all day long but u cant change the fact , spurs will b always in arsenals shadow , ha ha ha ha u will go down to ur usual midtable junkyard nxt season when u will b out of top 4 this season .. ha ha ha clowns..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/apr/08/sunderland-redknapp-tottenham
To all the Harry 'ball suckers', what do you think of him now. He couldn't organise a shag in a whorehouse. He has 'singly handed' overseen Spurs downfall both this season and last season. Even Newcastle could afford to get relegated and come back in the time Harry has had with all the players he has asked for. His shennangins with (alleged) money laundering, backhanders and the like is not what Spurs are about. He should be sacked tonight. I dont want this cunt around my club anymore. He should,nt be allowed to oversee the semi final. What an incentive he has handed Chelsea now, both for a top 4 place and a cup final. Absolute Cunt.
I'd have to wholeheartedly agree with your analysis there A4E. Shocking awful rubbish from the Spurs today and since Xmas on the whole. Nevermind, at least I'm fabulously wealthy, beautiful and devastatingly intelligent.
I was optimistic we'd win today and go full on into the run in. I was in the landing craft, bayonet on, ready to go. I dont know what hapenned. Must have been a direct hit.
Does anyone else think Harry has gone and prioritised the FA cup over the top 4 place? They just didn't seem mentally prepared for today at all. It was AWFUL.
That was... awful. Bale comes close to scoring twice amidst a dreadful match from him. Nelsen looks to be the most spry of the all the center backs - not good. A 2nd half of heavy touches from Adebayor, and too many wayward passes on the whole from the entire side. The remarkable thing is, setting aside Sunderland for a moment, the difference from Swansea to Norwich. Obviously (and rather sadly) Spurs have not recaptured their form; they appear happy to ride the waves. Well, here's hoping Dempsey can put a few past Cech at least.
The only thing harry would prioratise over anything is himself. He does not give a f### about anything else aother than himself.
I said many months ago, big teams formonths ago, big games when the pressure is on, im afraid we capitulated big time and this is down to the Arry and no one else!! We have lost the mind gamne here bog time, he is not a big game manager, he is not a pressure manager. Furthermore, the players do not have the mental strength to compete at the top level. We are weak and teams like Sunderland, Norwich and to follow, QPR, Bolton, Fulham will know it. Mark my words here today, we will finish below Chelski and Newcastle this season.
I also said many and last season that nothbing BUT NOTHING must get in the way of a top 4 finish! here we are again, people talking about the semi final. f### the semi final, i never gave a shit about any cup because this is the "short" game. We need to play the "long" game but Arry, the bastard cant see this. Im surpirsed Levy has allowed him to get away with it for so long!!
The FA cup will not bring us what we want, it will bring us 1 day of glory, half a million and the loss of all our best players. Top 4 brings us the long term success we need!! But this seems to simply be beyond all!!
And another thing, the transfer market and Arrys dealings has fd### us big time. We needed a proper goalkeeper, a central defender and a goal scorer - and wwhat did we get - and what cost us today, L. King!!!!!
I defy anybody to come on here today/tonight and tell me we do not lack the bottle for this. We do not have the mental strength for it, whereas others simply do.
Groundhog's day (season). Is this when, for the third season running, we start talking about papered over cracks?
Notice how many goals Everton scored against Sunderland? Four. Haven't got a pot to piss in Everton scored 4 against the team that stuffed with world class talent Spurs could only manage one shot on target against, despite having 71% of the possession.
Guardian MBM: "Pienaar curls the ball in to the top corner of the goal from about 18 yards out. Another nice goal. Pienaar has been great for Everton since he returned and Moyes will surely want to make that loan permenant."
Nothing to do with the manager, oh, no. Just because this is the third season in a row when we've stumbled badly/collapsed after a bright start to the season. I haven't done the math yet, but it seems to me our slumps have gotten worse with each successive season. It's starting to look like the only thing that's been pushing us into the top four is the deterioration of the former top four sides i.e. we haven't acutally improved, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have all gotten worse.
Given the improvement in the quality of the squad and the deterioration of our top four rivals, any competent manager should have had us nailed on in third place, with a substantial points gap over the free for all for fourth, and able to focus on winning the FA Cup. Hasn't happened, has it? We're relying on Big Martin to do us a favor with Chelsea and, God save us, Newcastle getting a nosebleed from the unaccustomed height if we're to have any hope of getting CL next year.
If only Harry had lost his case and gone to jail. We might have still gone freefalling but it couldn't be much worse than it is now. What a fucking joke of an outfit.
Just heard Harry talking to Collymore about the game.........sounded clueless frankly. Evan Stan thought he was 'broken' and cast
doubt on his motivational skills. There is a rumour going round that Levy invited Paul Lambert out to dinner this evening, with a
view to sounding him out about the impending vacancy , but was roundly rebuffed.
Paul Lambert................... F###, we are in really sreious trouble then!!! If we dont get a top man in we will never step up!!
I think the phrase "a broken man" fits perfectly for Arry!! A broken man with his broken team.
I dont care if we put 10 past Chelski next week, this season was all about top 4 - and now that looks well and truly buried!!
We blew it and there is nobody to blame other than ourselves!!!
Arry will ride into the dream and we will be left minus Bale and Modric!! Thanks a f###ing lot Arry, you selfish one dimensional piece of shit!
And dont come on here telling me he was Ok for most of the season!! This was it, this was the time to turn the screws and show we have bottle, courage and mental strength - but no, we simply cant do it can we!! We simply dont have the mental strength. We failed on both fronts - Arry and motivation / stratgey Levy and the transfer market!!
Some of you guys posts have had me in tears of laughter, can understand how angry you are with your shit form lately, you were on fire before Christmas I couldn't believe it.
Special shout out to; cookiebun, kols, spooky (the cunts post), spursguv, spence and SPURSINCE82 - your laundrette story and the streak of piss had me pissing tears.
I still hope you guys finish 4th. <3
Tottenham Hotspurs lack mental strength!
And Diaby!
I don't understand his love for 4-4-2! How many times is he going to keep saying that we were too open? This is all about grinding out results, not playing swashbuckling football every match. Keep possession and shoot at most opportunities. King should not play any more. He can't keep up with the pace and is seriously imbalancing the back four. Harry Redknapp is just not hard headed enough. If we want a replacement then I suggest we get Moyes.
The reason for Moyes is that Everton always finish strongly in the second half of the season and that's what we need. I can't see us getting any top foreign manager and it's stating the bleeding obvious that we will lose the heart of our team next season if we are not in the CL. And I thought this was going to happen to The Goons....
Blaming anyone, anyone, fucking anyone but Redknapp for the mess we are now is ridiculous. He turned on the fans last season and labelled us morons. He's actually a useless team selector as, time and time again, the likes of Tony Pulis, Martin O'Neill and Paul Lambert easily outsmarted him on that score. He just cannot get one over Ferguson and I don't think he tries (wouldn't if that was by a little arrangement ) the way results have gone. As soon as a team with a bit of steel start turning the screw, our 'fancy dan's' duck tackles and 'powder puff' around the place like ballerina's. You could see today that Bale, Modric, Benny, Walker and Kaboul had other things on their mind. I don't give a fuck about the FA Cup and it pisses me off that the players should be allowed to pick and choose. Everton have a cup match this weekend, but they walked all over Sunderland who we got one half shot on target against last Saturday. These teams that park the bus wouldn't dare do that at Old Trafford or The Etihad, but they know it will disrupt Tottenham's rythm easily as their rythm is so easily disrupted, a couple of hard tackels and the powder puffiness comes straight to the surface. Well, at least we wont have look at his old fucking mush for much longer and the quicker he fucks off the better. Please Daniel Levy, sack him tonight. Actually if he had any decency he would walk now, but he won't because he's a cunt.
Ill tell you why they had other things on their mind. Its because finishing 3rd or 4th to some doe not matter because they will be off at the end of the season. But these few have a chance to play in a Cup Final and thats what this is now about!!!
If we get to the cup final and we do not finish top 4, then i say there is something seriously wrong at the club from a strategic planning point of view!
Absolutely right Hotspurs. If Harry doesn't have the nouse to try and leave the fans with a CL payoff, then it just prooves he's the cunt i'm calling him. I'm afraid the Hammer fans were right.
@ goonertel: i am a spurs fan, and i have said it since well before the arsenal game that arsenal will get better, and i have never said that arsenal was in full down fall, i am not that stupid. i was on a goonersite telling you goonerfans that you should wait and see that wenger would get things right, i said "you should try having redcrapp as manager for a year, and then talk about wenger. this was because there was alot of wenger must go, stuff. wenger knows what he is doing, and you did loose fabregas and nasri. tkes time to get the team working again. but wenger has, and for arsenals sake it is looking good, liked that city got spanked off you guys.
now to what this is really about. redcrapp that fucking idiot has again fucked us over, does he get a thrill of doing this, or is he really this stupid???? 451 worked wonders for us, so why the fuck are we playing 442 and 443!!!!???? and all you harry lovers out there, you called for ramos head after 2 points after 8 games. redcrapp has 6 points after 8 games. the diff is 4 points?? do all of you mean that dose 4 point is the difference betwen a bad manager, and a splendid fellow, a wheeler deeler, has gotten us where we are today manager???? those 4points mean that harry "the tax evading bastard" is not as bad as.... not that he will get us gold and glory. if i lived in tottenham i would have posters crying for levy to sack this,this, lazy-idiot-asseating monkey of a donkeys arse!!!!!!!!!! why anybody still thinks we will get forwar with him as manager is beyond belive. i have to ask all of you, are you blind, do you not se the same games as the rest of the world?? redcrapp has not distanced himself from the england job, that means he is not sticking up for us(fans) or the club. so why should i support this brain-fucked idiot???levy will do spurse a huge favor if he got sacked today, i hate redcrapp, never ever wanted him, as you all know. but what i have said will happend, is happening. why take the chanse and se if? just get him out, and get in somebody with an iq of atleast 24, that would be dobbel the redcrapp iq, it can get worse even. if we loose to chelsea, than he should go and do somthing he can, like getting his dog huge bonuses. hope levy will sack the hell out off him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
We have to accept the fact that Levy, displeased with Harry as he may be, will not sack him, because Spurs would receive no
pay off from the FA when they come calling, that is assuming they do of course. And I am not sure that is now a certainty. It
is more than sloppy to oversee such a calamitous loss of form and H will now be under a lot of pressure and I am sure the FA will be
watching everything he does and says from now to the end of the season. I suspect many people, myself included, have lost respect for him over the England situation and am looking forward to next season with a new, younger manager at the helm.
And Chelsea have just scored. Not a good day.
I wouldnt go along with the hang him brigade but what disappointing is that chickens [that fans saw 12-18 months ago] are coming home to roost. I dont know to what extent that this is the manager or the chairmen's fault. We didnt sign a out and out goalscorer, we didnt sign a right sided winger and we didnt sign a really good centre back [possibly goalie as well but I would lay more blame on defenders].
Is it me or do we also not seem to play with passion and real belief? I would imagine [?] that the players really want to strain every sinew to win - but is this the case? Modric seems to be half hearted or is he over played? Attacking options often seem to solely rely on get the balls to the wings. Now thats great but we need other options as well. P.S thats what made the Swansea game so surprising [headers!] Sadly and I really mean this - we seem at the moment to fit the criticism levelled at us - ie no mental strength or resolve.
Anyway - lets hope that Chelsea dont win and we get back to some pre Xmas form. If as some people seem to be suggesting that The FACup is the manager's or clubs priority - that is a mad argument
can someone who really knows about football and tactics correct the majority of fans if we are wrong in being critical of tactics or apparently missing motivation.
@4mullery: well if spurs care more about the 2-3 mill in compensation from fa? than the wind-fall of money champions league is? well than there is something wrong with spurs, and no one must complain when he is finished with fucking us over for the last time in may.
FFS - that was poor again. They can stick the Fulham and Blackburn games. Next season renewals nah thanks tah.
Oh and to the Woolwich wandering cunts- funny how you have come out again was awfully quiet after a certain game at Loftus Road.
Come on Fulham!!!!!
Thinking about today...who are our winners, how many real winners do we have in the team who really want it....who?? I dont know of any!! We have too many average players with no real winning mentality. Just look at the others, do you think Sir Alex bought back Scholes as a fovour!! No, he knew he had the winning mentality, look at Chelski, they have 3-4 winners, look at Arse, they have 3 or 4, how many do we have??? Their managers are the same, which is where they get it from, they are winners, they have winning charachetristics, our manager, he hasd F### all. All he can do is praise the opposition -How many times have you heard Wenger, Fergi or others praise the opposition, never - because they are single minded F####ers, all they want to do is win, win, win - thats all that matters. We do not think like this, we are pretty boys in white, a laid back bunch of guys!!
I want winners in this team, i want a manager with a winning mentality who works fo rthe club, not some fart who only thinks about his image and his wellbeing. You bastard, the club stuck by you through thick and thin and this is how you repay us!! Ever since you realised you had a chance at the England job, we have gone backwards - nobody can deny this and nor can he. Yes its about form, but he has brougght this about and nobody else and its from the day he was got off and then linked with the England job - that my friends is it in a nut shell!!!
Did you read what he said on Sunday.. "we are not feeling the pressure, we are a laid back type of team........ What the f####!!!! There are managers busting a gut to win and here we have our laid back bunch of f#### relaxed!!!
Martin Jol, we love you! Dempsey, anyone?
i was saying dempsey a while back but everyone was laughing at me
he works hard and gives it his all
more that i can say for that fucking little shit modric who has been playing like he can't wait for the season to be over so he can leave at the first opportunity
and at least now all those deluded "we've never had it this good" spurs fans can shut the hell up and open their eyes
today we had a lot of second rate players out there... nelsen, livermore, saha and even king who just shouldnt play anymore, i feel sorry for the man
Harry says today on the BBC interview that we were too open at 4 4 2. He says people said we would do well in a 4 4 2 formation, but he thought we were too open. What people. Who's the fucking manager, or is he blaming the coaching staff for picking a losing team. VDV said in an interview that Harry doesn't do team talks, just tells them to go out and enjoy themselves. Ade certainly enjoys himself; he never stops laughing when he misses. Also when he's asked about a player he might like to bring in, he always says, that’s the Chairman’s department, I don't know where he's at with that. So the gist of the story is he doesn't select the team, he doesn't do team talks and he doesn't buy players. What I would like to know is, just what does he fucking do. If they win a game however, it's all, I did this and I said that, so obviously if Joe Jordan, Kevin Bond, Clive Allen and Daniel Levy just fucked off from the club Harry would be walking around with Spurs in Europe and an FA Cup to boot. He is one selfish bastard and there people who are closing their eyes to that because they so want to cross that line in forth place. From the players perspective, especially the ones who will be off in the summer, an FA Cup winners medal would be nice prior to their ‘big money’ move to a CL Club. And to cap it all Harry can then take the England job, handing over the FA Cup, whilst muttering; the fucking idiots (fans) didn’t appreciate my greatness.
You're Spurs and you know you are!--Thank you, Martin Jol! You've got no hair, we still don't care, Martin, Martin, Martin Jol!
And as an American and a Tottenham supporter, I could die happy if I could see Clint Dempsey in a Spurs shirt. God knows he would bring some grit and dead-eyed determination that we do seem to be chronically short of.
Keep in mind, it is our karmic destiny to lose to Jol's Fulham on the last day, so we better freaking get some cushion between ourselves and chelsea/newcastle (still can't believe that one) before then.
Once again, on my knees and from deep in my heart, thank you, Martin and Clint!
Oh, and as I've been saying for three years, Redknapp out.
I agree that Harry needs to go, but I don't think we can claim all these 'Harry's in it for himself', 'he's a cnut' etc as if they are revelations or new phenomena. When Harry came, all of the self-serving media-pole-smokery was already in full force. Harry needs to go because he's done his job, and he's not the man for the next job. It's about succession planning.
Think about what we had at the time in Ramos: a manager perhaps pruning too hard on a squad that had been allowed to go to seed on the back of a couple of decent league finishes. Pushing the players fitness, pushing them out of their comfort zones. Maybe he was sacked too soon? Maybe he's the type of manager we need now? But regardless of all that, what was seen as being needed AT THE TIME was a more affiliative manager to win back confidence and morale in the dressing room. Enter one H Redknapp. Ideal, laid back, quick for a larff, just let the boys run about a bit, innit? And it worked a treat, AT THE TIME, but the problem he has solved is gone. We don't need a favourite-playing, wheeler-dealer manager anymore. We need a hard-nosed, no bullshit manager driven to succeed. And a succession plan would identify this, plot it all out and would work.
I think of it like launching a shuttle into space. Once you're entering orbit you discard the spent fuel tanks. Harry is a spent fuel tank. And assuming we make 4th (which I still think we will looking at everyone's runs in) we have to jettison a lot of the parts that took us there, Harry being the main part. we need parts that will work for us in our new orbit, and there's a lot to solve:
Harry: Needs to go. Done his job, skills no longer required. Ideal for whoever narrowly avoids relegation in 16th. Blackburn? Current status: completely focussed on self.
Modric. Will he stay or go? Stalling on a new contract. Citing managerial concerns. Interestingly this is widely interpreted as he wants Harry to stay. I reckon he'd rather him go as long as he believes long the new manager can take us to challenging properly. Current status: concernedly distracted.
Adebayor. Will he stay or go? Go I reckon. He strikes me as a man enjoying the last sunny days of a holiday. Still very good, but knows he's not much longer for these parts so how much will he give? Current status: blissfully distracted.
Bale. Will he stay or go? A lot of Spain talk. Reckon he's have a similar mindset to Modric. He want's to win, but needs to know the club structures are there to allow it. Current status: frustratedly distracted.
Goalkeeper. New one needed. Friedel has been a superb, short term solution to shore up a defence that was getting leakier than the Titanic. Current status: position vacant.
Centre Defence. Bring Caulker back and partner with Kaboul with Dawson/Gallas/King in reserve. OR a proven but youthful defender to partner with Kaboul and add Caulker to the 'in reserve list'. Current status: renovators delight.
Tottenham Hotspur Firesale. So, so many players to consider moving on. Although hard to say what the new manager might want (see Pienaars sudden improvement, or consider Gio when in Mexican colours as evidence) but for now, under scrutinee would have to be (and yes, there is a lot of obvious stating here, and many are on loan, but for review regardless): Gomes, Khumalo, Nelsen, Bassong, Corluka, Huddlestone, Rose, Bentley, Pienaar, Jenas, Towsnend, Dos Santos & Saha. 13 of the first team squad with big question marks.
So like I said a few times. Succession planning seems to be non-existent.
"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.
Apr 9, 2012 at 4:48 PM | 4Mullery"
Says it all....
The English FA can't be stupid enough to still want Harry can they?
"Once again, on my knees and from deep in my heart, thank you, Martin and Clint!
Oh, and as I've been saying for three years, Redknapp out."
You and me both Ziegemonster... but why oh why did it have to come to this though?
And finally, as I leave to go watch some properly managed/coached football...
Dr Oyvind... in a word, succinct.
Typical sky boy comments here. What a surprise.
Sunderland didn't play an open, attacking game therefore O'Neill and their tactics are poor! I'm sorry but a point for Sunderland against a side competing for a Champions League place, having spend trillions on players is a point well earned (you brought on Defoe, Lennon and Saha, three players that would walk into our side). Don't spit your dummy out because you failed to pick-up three points.
Spurs didn't test the Sunderland goal all game. If I was you I would be more vexed at your own managers/players for their ineffective performance. At the end of the day, Sunderland had chances to win the game but a draw was a fair result.
Jamesy
If you bothered to read the comments you'd see that many here were fine with the point and thought it was fair, they were just unhappy in the way we played.
On that topic I thought YOUR result yesterday was fair and I enjoyed watching you lose.
No doubt, Harry and the Players had more than half an eye on the Wembley game, otherwise such a powderpuff performance and line-up cannot be explained.
I sincerely hope Chelski clean the Wembley pitch with our team of gutless, selfish overpaid primadonna's and that the big heads including the manager fuck off in the close season to whoever might think their presence is beneficial.
Well said cookiebun
"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."
Well said Spooky.
I watched the 1st half of the Sunderland bore-fest and at half-time fucked off down to the hotel pool for a swimming lesson. I learned more in that half hour than I thought I taught myself in about a year. What the point of this? The point is what the fuck are the coaching staff actually doing apart from watching games in big jackets with bigger and bigger poncey scarves wrapped around their fucking necks.
A complete clear out of the playing staff and management team is needed.
Levy has a serious piece of work to do this summer. This is when we'll really see if he's in it for the long haul. Ambition needs to be shown wrt a new manager. Get it done quick. Let the new man assess the players and coaching staff and make the changes early. None of the usual deadline day shite.