In Defence of Harry

[Krafty]

I love optimism, and god knows sometimes us Spurs fans are full of it, but I completely agree with Harry’s priorities.

Lets look at the facts – we are in a relegation fight, we are in a cup final, we are a good team amongst some very strong teams in the Uefa cup. If Blackburn win their game in hand we are one point above the bottom three. This is not five games in, this is twenty five games in and anyone who thinks we are sure to stay up needs a reality check.

We should not be relegated with the players we have, and I do not think we will, but we have won only 6 league games! 6!!!!! Amazingly in 13 home league games we have only conceded 9, but we are not scoring enough and as a result we are far too susceptible to draws and narrow losses. Every league game we have left could be a win, if we play to our very best. Equally, given some of the performances we have seen this season, every game could be a loss (or a draw versus Middlesbrough). I can see why the league is a priority. Premier league survival is paramount.

However, I think we may have seen a stronger team in the Ukraine if it were not for the cup final. It’s a massive opportunity to win some silverware, it’s another great day out for the supporters, and it is our only route into Europe. I think this game is the top priority for Harry and our club, as it should be.

Then there is the Uefa cup. We face a team full of quality and experience that has dropped down from the Champions League having beaten a second string Barcelona and gone within two minutes of beating a first string Barcelona. Its in a cold, far off place, on a crap pitch, and if we do beat them we have another couple of fixtures against the team third in our league or another team full of quality and experience that has recently won the Uefa cup etc etc etc. I cannot see us getting to a stage in the tournament where 'anything can happen'.

Would you really want to go through another round or two in the Uefa Cup, at the expense of losing the final or getting relegated?

We also had the plus of seeing Dean Parrett who belied his age and inexperience and slotted in seamlessly into the midfield, and some of the fringe players get a game. It appears the second leg will see even more youth players starting which, while disappointing that we are not really going to give it a go at the Lane, will be interesting to see, and lets be honest here, if we win on Sunday nobody will care.

I do not think we have ever been real contenders for the Uefa Cup. Our best chance in the last few seasons was against Sevilla, and 5 terrible minutes at the Lane ruined that. We barely struggled to get out of the group stage, and the draw for the knock out stage was not kind, but when we are not challenging in the league why do people think we will be challenging in Europe?

I do not agree with all of Harry’s decisions. I cannot see why Bent was not picked ahead of Campbell, for instance, nor why Jenas is rated captain material, but I think he has got his priorities right.

 

[alfiespurs]

Well balanced article. I for one totally agree with Harry's decision. The League is our NUMBER 1 priority, I really want to see more of our youngsters given a run out ! We will beat Hull and Man USA ! CoYS !!!

 

[JimmyG2]

I agree with Harry too. His brief was to avoid relegation and that's what he's doing. Even if we don't I think he should be tasked with the job of getting us back. I said the same about Juande, two points in eight games,Ramos.
We need some stability and long term team building. I doubt that Harry will be given much of a long term chance in any case, and I'm not sure he has the managerial qualifications for the job anyway.
But he has enough qualities to have a shot at it and in the name of stability he should be given the chance. At least our complex fixture schedule forced him give some youngsters a chance and they did not let us down and showed some promise for the future, unlike one or two of our more senior members.To the neutral it would have been difficult to distinguish between the regulars and the occasionals last night.
Zokora will get some stick for the clumsy foul which led to the goal but I thought he played pretty well. Gomes similarly will be criticised for the first goal but essentially it was exactly the same as the first Bolton goal with 3 attacker s and not a Spurs defender in sight. Cudocini chose to stay and Gomes chose to come ,both were beaten
We nearly got the draw against a quality side on a cold Russian night with a very young side and bench and though disappointed at the end, the day after I can see more positives than negatives.

 

[ikan]

Harry is right

I seconded Harry's decision. I remember during the past few seasons, I questioned previous manager's decision not to include youngsters from our Academy in matches (not to mention to give the brighter prospects a few minutes to show what they are worth), which we put least priorities. This season, the competition, which we put the least priority (common sense) should be the UEFA Cup. I doubt we will go far in this competition, not with a squad with so many players being cup tied. I like the idea of Harry giving the youngster to show what they are worth and who knows, Harry can even gain some faith in these youngsters and play them next season. After all, these crop of youngsters are at the moment in HOT form. Lost only once in the league, scoring for free and are in the Quarter Finals of the FA Youth Cup ... something which we did not achieved even we have King, Barmby, Barnard, Gower in the youth ranks. I am not from England but I sure like Spurs to have more young English players joining the Senior Squad next season!!

 

[whitelightwhiteheat]

The problem I fear comes if we lose to Hull on Monday after resting the players for last night. People will then start to question decisions, etc.

For 78 minutes it worked last night, and we'd have been seriously over-joyed to get away from the Ukraine with a 0-0 draw but an error and a lack of closing down later and we're 2-0 down. That's European football, teams have the quality to do things like that, especially ones with Champions League experience.

 

[fridgemagnet]

Also Harry's been hamstrung in that Ramos and co didn't even name the Tarrabt's and Rocha's in our squad despite having bought cup tied players.

OK so Harry's going to field a weaker/younger side next week but he may also have a strong bench. That Shaktar side is beatable on a good quick pitch providing we play 442 and keep the ball on the floor, if we get an early goal we're back in the tie.

 

[doom]

You talk about Harry getting his priorities right but there is no need for priorities. The players have not played for 10 days and they need to get a run around. 3 days rest has been ok for us in the past. We should put the best players that we can out and breed confidence with a win. If he isn't going to play his best team then he needs to tell the fans 4 weeks in advance so that we don't have to buy tickets - I find this completely disrespectful to the fans.

 

[billnick]

Cudocini chose to stay and Gomes chose to come ,both were beaten

And this is a point I find myself thinking all the time - goals go in sometimes. You can't play the Spurs way and not concede. You can't play any way and not concede.

I remember being at the Lane once (forget the game), but Keane ran from behind a keeper who'd put the ball down to kick it, stole the ball and scored. Why, at Spurs, was he a genius, but a mistake from a Spurs goalkeeper or defender is criminal?

I didn't want Redknapp at Spurs either, but I agree that he did the right thing last night and should be supported in his brief of keeping us in the 'Premier' League". I'm not sure of the exact ruling, but I'm not sure we'd be in the UEFA cup next year if we get relegated, regardless of winning the CC or the UEFA. If we get relegated, which I think is unlikely with Redknapp in charge, you can forget all about European qualification.

I thought we held our own last night, and if it had stayed 1-0 hardly anybody would be complaining. Our back five got it wrong twice, but half our team (especially Dawson, who I felt had a fantastic game) could have scored. Zokora had a good game, with one mistake. Had we a captain with a good understanding of the defence of set pieces, I'm not so sure it would have been punished. Someone has to take charge of who to mark in these situations, and that's probably THE area in which we most miss the likes of Campbell or Naybet.

 

[billnick]

Also Harry's been hamstrung in that Ramos and co didn't even name the Tarrabt's and Rocha's in our squad despite having bought cup tied players.

OK so Harry's going to field a weaker/younger side next week but he may also have a strong bench. That Shaktar side is beatable on a good quick pitch providing we play 442 and keep the ball on the floor, if we get an early goal we're back in the tie.

The first point couldn't be more true. What Ramos did right and wrong pretty much balances out, though our form was poor and I agreed with the decision to terminate his contract. What was unforgiveable was the short-sightedness exhibited with the size of squad we were left with for league and especially UEFA games.

I agree that Shaktar are beatable, but I don't get this obsession with 442. Or is it that it took England so long to adopt it you're all scared of letting it go?

 

[Boaman]

The priority is the Premier League, there's no question about that. However, I don't think we are in a position to choose when we want to win, momentum is gained from winning games, and we need both momentum and to win games. It doesn't matter what game, we just need to get that winning feeling again.

Also the psychology in openly not caring about a certain competition and not caring for a result worries me, I just don't think it's constructive to a team to be changing mentality all the time. We should have one view and that's to get the required result every time.

 

[Krafty]

You talk about Harry getting his priorities right but there is no need for priorities. The players have not played for 10 days and they need to get a run around. 3 days rest has been ok for us in the past. We should put the best players that we can out and breed confidence with a win. If he isn't going to play his best team then he needs to tell the fans 4 weeks in advance so that we don't have to buy tickets - I find this completely disrespectful to the fans.

The club has not played for ten days, but a lot of players were away with their countries. They have probably got back on thursday, and then we flew out on wednesday? That narrows it done to five days.

The other problem with putting our best team out yesterday is a win would breed confidence, but then in come Pav and Keane, and maybe a player or two who was injured, because we want our best eleven on the pitch.

I do agree the fans have a right to be annoyed, and as I'm going to the second leg it would be nice to see us go all out to win the tie, but I think doing that will leave us exhausted for the final (its ridiculous that the final is 3 days after, but thats how it is)

 

[spud]

Would you really want to go through another round or two in the Uefa Cup, at the expense of losing the final or getting relegated?

Therein lies the issue. There appears to be an acceptance on the part of Harry's apologists that to progress in the UEFA Cup has to be at the expense of league points. That dropping league points is the inevitable consequence of winning in Europe. It is therefore acceptable - in fact imperative - that not only must senior players be rested for european games but it should be made clear that the competition is a distant third priority and it doesn't matter if we lose.

This is an extremely dangerous path to tread. It creates a climate of indifference among players that can not but be reflected in their performance in UEFA games (watch thursday's game and argue if you dare!) and this can carry over into other competitions. Can anybody who has played any sport - or even undertaken any task where a consistently high standard is important - simply 'switch on' and 'switch off' according to the importance of the game?

What is needed is consistency. Consistency in the (high level of) performance and consistency in the message. To waver from this, to allow sloppy thinking and performance in one competition, inevitably means that the other, 'important' competitions will be affected by it.

So don't be surprised if our performance on monday is just as insipid as the last one. The players will be different, it will be a different competition with a higher level of importance; but the mentality may be the same.

What Harry needs to do is to stress that we must win EVERY game in EVERY competition. Then our players might - just might - develop the mental strength necessary to avoid relegation. If this does not happen, I fear for us.

 

[JimmyG2]

You write very persuasively and in general I tend to agree with you but as they say the proof of the pudding will be on Monday. On a practical level injuries are more of an immediate concern than attitude.
We are in such a mess this year that special measures are called for though as you say one might undermine the other. I am usually a go for everything and play good football at all times kind of guy. Prioritising the league just seems sensible but having read your and other posts I'm not so sure.