Saturday's Tactical Misfailings

[Top_Boy]

I haven't written on this site in many months, but after going to White Hart Lane on Saturday I feel the urge to share my thoughts with the forum.

It was fairly predictable we'd get all the "oh it was just one of those days" or "their keeper had a blinder" articles today, but this excuse just doesn't wash with me. Dropping points at home to the poor teams has happened too many times this season for it to be purely luck. I believe we failed to win on Saturday due to the tactical misfailings of the management. Before I get shouted down for being incredibly pessimistic and reactionary please hear me out.

When Lennon doesn't play we desperately lack width.

To break a team like Hull down at home you need to be able to stretch the opposition.

While I am huge fans of both Krankjar and Modric, they are not wide men, they are central midfielders. They do not hug the touchline and create space for our two central midfielders and strikers to move into. The expression square pegs in round holes springs to mind.

And to compound this problem of overcrowding in the middle, Robbie Keane (who started the game yesterday despite being in the worst run of form of his career) naturally plays extremely deep, often picking up the ball in his own half and effectively closing off more space for the midfielders.

And these tactics were employed against a team that played 5 in midfield and were extremely narrow. We played directly into their hands.

In fact the only real width on Saturday came from our attacking full back Bale, who played extremely well, but without a target man to aim for when getting to the byline, his options were extremely limited.

We talk about our great strength in depth, but it was obvious on Saturday that Harry doesn't believe this.

His insistence on keeping players like Pavlychenko and Bentley on the bench astounds me. He has no intention of ever bringing them on, so what is the point? Meanwhile Lennon's natural replacement, Mexico's star man, former Barcelona star, Giovanni is kept out of the squad.

What I would love to see is Gio given a CHANCE on the wing when Lennon is injured. His instructions would be purely to hug the touchline, run at players and deliver the ball. Much like Lennon does. This would create space for the likes Modric or Krankjar to roam in from the other wing and play more centrally. Much like they do when Lennon plays.

Failing Gio, I'm sure Taraabt could do a job out on either wing, with the same instructions as Lennon or Gio.

So why aren't these players given a CHANCE??? Have they offended Harry profoundly or does he really believe that changing the team's tactics so dramatically when Lennon doesn't play is the best course of action?

Also while I'm on this mini rant, I'd like to turn our attention to Corluka.

At home against poor teams who have no intention of attacking, I suggest the best thing to do would be to USE OUR SQUAD and bring in the likes of Naughton (another signing who seemingly won't be given a chance) or Hutton (although I appreciate he was injured on Saturday).

Corluka is a consistent player but not one who can attack with any real intent. He is slow and often has a very poor delivery. I'm not questioning his inclusion against the better teams where more defending may be required, but against the weaker teams he must be dropped.

Apart from his decisions mentioned in the above, I genuinely think Harry has been fantastic for us. He has lifted us from bottom of the Premiership to real Champions League contenders. I just hope he has enough nous to keep us there.

Edited solely to remove HTML code

 

[ethanedwards]

I haven't written on this site in many months, but after going to White Hart Lane on Saturday I feel the urge to share my thoughts with the forum.

It was fairly predictable we'd get all the "oh it was just one of those days" or "their keeper had a blinder" articles today, but this excuse just doesn't wash with me. Dropping points at home to the poor teams has happened too many times this season for it to be purely luck. I believe we failed to win on Saturday due to the tactical misfailings of the management. Before I get shouted down for being incredibly pessimistic and reactionary please hear me out.

When Lennon doesn't play we desperately lack width.

To break a team like Hull down at home you need to be able to stretch the opposition.

While I am huge fans of both Krankjar and Modric, they are not wide men, they are central midfielders. They do not hug the touchline and create space for our two central midfielders and strikers to move into. The expression square pegs in round holes springs to mind.

And to compound this problem of overcrowding in the middle, Robbie Keane (who started the game yesterday despite being in the worst run of form of his career) naturally plays extremely deep, often picking up the ball in his own half and effectively closing off more space for the midfielders.

And these tactics were employed against a team that played 5 in midfield and were extremely narrow. We played directly into their hands.

In fact the only real width on Saturday came from our attacking full back Bale, who played extremely well, but without a target man to aim for when getting to the byline, his options were extremely limited.

We talk about our great strength in depth, but it was obvious on Saturday that Harry doesn't believe this.

His insistence on keeping players like Pavlychenko and Bentley on the bench astounds me. He has no intention of ever bringing them on, so what is the point? Meanwhile Lennon's natural replacement, Mexico's star man, former Barcelona star, Giovanni is kept out of the squad.

What I would love to see is Gio given a CHANCE on the wing when Lennon is injured. His instructions would be purely to hug the touchline, run at players and deliver the ball. Much like Lennon does. This would create space for the likes Modric or Krankjar to roam in from the other wing and play more centrally. Much like they do when Lennon plays.

Failing Gio, I'm sure Taraabt could do a job out on either wing, with the same instructions as Lennon or Gio.

So why aren't these players given a CHANCE??? Have they offended Harry profoundly or does he really believe that changing the team's tactics so dramatically when Lennon doesn't play is the best course of action?

Also while I'm on this mini rant, I'd like to turn our attention to Corluka.

At home against poor teams who have no intention of attacking, I suggest the best thing to do would be to USE OUR SQUAD and bring in the likes of Naughton (another signing who seemingly won't be given a chance) or Hutton (although I appreciate he was injured on Saturday).

Corluka is a consistent player but not one who can attack with any real intent. He is slow and often has a very poor delivery. I'm not questioning his inclusion against the better teams where more defending may be required, but against the weaker teams he must be dropped.

Apart from his decisions mentioned in the above, I genuinely think Harry has been fantastic for us. He has lifted us from bottom of the Premiership to real Champions League contenders. I just hope he has enough nous to keep us there.

Edited solely to remove HTML code

I must be watching a different player, for me Corluka has been excellent this season , has been the supplier of many goals and is the perfect partner for Lennon. As for Gio playing as as a right winger:shrug:

 

[Paxtonite]

There are some merits to this "mini rant" as he calls it. I posted on Friday for people not to be surprised if Keane and Defoe start on Saturday and they certainly did. This is because i'm not sure how much thought Redknapp puts into his tactics. Did he just think, "well it worked at Hull earlier in the season so we'll go with it again" which is what i suspect? Fact is though in the away game, Hull had to come out more and therefore left spaces to exploit. Not only that they have since had a chance to look at the dvd's of the Wolves and Stoke games at WHL!!

Where i will agree on the original post is about putting men on the bench that Redknapp clearly has no intention of using. Ever. Pav, Bentley and Hutton (although not on Saturday) are just blocking the way for other players. Is Redknapp just trying to up their asking prices by parading them as "1st team" produce? He ain't fooling no one if he is.

Harry likes his faves. Always has. Doesn't like too much change and i can see the merits of that to a degree. But you HAVE to look at the opposition especially when its a home game and you must have some options on the bench. Bentley can't get a look in when we have no natural width (Lennon injured) so get rid. When Pav and Crouch are sitting on the bench he will always go for Crouch, so sadly i have to say "Pav move over".

I don't understand his treatment of Gio. At the very least he can be classed an impact player and when we are flying down blind alleys (like saturday) and resorting to the long ball to Crouch's head (like saturday) and getting nowhere, then at least have a different option on the bench. Try something else. Everyone keeps harping on about the quality of our squad, but once you remove all the individuals that Redknapp is reluctant to play (for whatever reason) then it aint that great in the end is it?

 

[Chedozie]

Im all for a good rant, but Gio is a striker and Taraabt plays off the striker, so neither would give us natural width, neither are they better wide players than Modric or Krankjar.

Pav doesn't get a game because the is not as good as Crouch, Defoe or Keane.

21 games played and were only 10 points off the top of the league, i can't remember the last time we were in this position.

Up the Spurs.

 

[bigspurs]

Totally spot-on article for me. As much as I like Redknapp for everything he has done, he has got his shortcomings. Trying to play 4 central midfielders is not good tactically, when there are wingers available. Gio is more of a winger than anyone who actually played on the wing against Hull. How can anyone argue with that?! In fact if you do, sorry but I fear that you may very well be a moron!

 

[Freddiehotspur]

This article doesn't shed any new light on any new stuff which hasn't been discussed for the umpteenth time already.

What we should focus on is Defoe's wastefulness in front of goal. He has lost his awareness and is probably a little hung-up on why his green boots ain't automatically putting the ball in the net for him anymore. We create enough chances, we play exciting football (albeit a bit slow off the mark at times), it's just that our strikers don't put them in the net when they receive that defence-splitting pass from Modric, Hudd or Kranjcar. They just shoot where the keeper is.

 

[Chedozie]

Gio is more of a winger than anyone who actually played on the wing against Hull. How can anyone argue with that?! In fact if you do, sorry but I fear that you may very well be a moron!

I can argue with it, Krankjar plays wide on the left for Spurs, he also played wide on the left for Portsmouth and he plays wide on the left for Croatia.

Dos Santos is not a winger, he's just left footed, i hope he goes on to be a great player for Spurs, but if he does, it will be upfront.

 

[RuislipSpur]

I can't understand the amount of love Gio gets on here. What evidence is there to say he is the saviour that everyone seems to think he is? Harry see's him every day in training and has decided that Gio obviously isn't good enough/ready yet.

 

[BuffaloSid]

well my glass is half full not half empty , we are having a brilliant season the best i can remember in 20 years ..so im not gonna start complaining about harry , if he and our players were perfect wed be top by x amount of points but that aint how football works.

does anyone here really think they are a better judge of these players than harry rednapp , he sees them day in day out and has infinatly more footballing knowledge than any wannabe on here.
but i guess a few yotube videos ( gio + taraabt) and 90 minutes here and there tell you all you need to know eh?
do any of us really think premiership manager 2009 of what ever the hell its called has given us the tactical knowledge above and beyond a management and coaching team that has trained, played and managed at the top for over 100 years combined??
come on get real ?
i find it frustrating ..
i know its a place to share ideas and vent our spleens but its just daft really ....

 

[StanSpur]

I don't think Gio was the answer. He is not a winger and will, like the croations, look to come inside more often than the likes of Lennon. It is a difficult situation to loose your most penatrative forward, if we had someone as good or better than Lennon then he may not play at all for example. Watching the games aginst Hull we did miss width but more importantly i feel we missed pace.

Hull defended very deep and gave little space for our midfield, width would have stretched the space but there still would have been 10 behind the ball at all times. What had me screaming from my seat was everytime Hull had an attack or a corner their defence came fairly high up the pitch, we'd win the ball back and then try and run it out of midfield. If Lennon was there it would be a long ball over the top and a straight sprint between Lennon and one of the Hull defenders - a race our little man would be tipped to win 9 times out of 10. On Saturday we just couldn't counter attack and that would have been our only real opportunity to break down the "parking the bus" tactics of Hull.

Looking at the bench i was surprised not to see more than Crouch and Jenas used, I understand both substitutions (Crouch for the added menace in the box and Jenas for a bit more forward motion from the midfield) but we had one more sub and we could have/should have used it in my opinion. who to use is a good question? Personally i would have liked to have seen a change in tactics in the second half and gone to 3 at the back - Hull offered nothing in attack and three CBs could have dealt with any of Hunts efforts. That would have allowed us to pull one of the croations into the middle for more creative/precise passing and pushed Bale further forward. Who to put on the right? Bentley. I know he's not done the business for us since he arrived but play him out on the right, remove his defensive duties and he will deliver 5-10 good crosses per game, with Crouch in the middle and Niko or Luka just behind the front 2 we may have found the breakthrough.

But what do we know hey - if we could manage we wouldn't be here wasting our companies time on the web, we'd be wearing our tracksuits and chewing gum.

 

[JuanRebelde]

You do know that Lennon played in two of the three home debacles this season? Apart from that when has Redknapp ever been called a tactical genius or anything similar? Never. Why? Because he isn't. He is a manager of the old school - a man manager with an additional great strength which is his ability to sign the same players over and over again. No, in all seriousness he is regarded as a manager who has been able to spot a bargain and as such this should be recognised regardless of any other failing he might have.

I think also Redknapp is a 'lucky' manager but this luck comes from always having a few highly experienced players and coaches around him. From his Bournemouth days through to Wet Spam and Pompey. These people I believe have always had far more influence on events that perhaps the media has realised. Team meetings, half-time changes etc are a sure are decided by his team and coaches far more than by him alone. This I might add is not uncommon or strange as it might sound either but it rarely gets out. Infact I used to know Alan Ball and he mentioned several times similiar things especially at Southampton about when he was still playing there.

I personally have been disappointed by some of Redknapps changes and tactics at home when we are trying to batter down the door against a few of the Pubs teams we have been miserable against this season. The game against Hull was no exception - the lack of pace in the play was our down fall. We were sluggish and rarely moved the ball quickly to players feet. You pull these rigid teams apart by moving the ball quickly and the movement of players. Frequently we held on too long which allowed the to regain their shape. This was the same against the other pub teams.

Also, we still haven't learnt the lesson from the Barca game this season. When you get close to the oppositions box you have to play inbetween the midfield and defence - 'entre líneas' as it is known here. By talking up 'false positions' you start to drag midfielders and central defenders out of their holes. Quick passing and movement like this opens up every one. We on the other hand ran the ball up to about 10 metres from the penalty area and then never worked through the lines of 5 and 4. We went sideways, gave it away or in the case of Defoe shot when there was no shot on. This is what we have to change in my opinion. The ability to play between their defence and midfield quickly must be worked on otherwise they will all do the same to us.

 

[Shirtfront]

What on earth is a "misfailing"? A success?

Who is "Krankjar" and when did we buy him? Did we drop our wide playing Croatian International, Niko Kranjcar?

When did Luka Modric last play in central midfield? When did he last play a bad game from any position for us?

When did our left footed striker, Gio, become a right footed winger? And when did he star for Barcelona, in either position? Wasn't he struggling to make an impression at Ipswich most recently?

And when did our "number 10" playmaker Adel Taraabt ever play on a wing? How would his propensity to try and beat everyone at least twice work better against a 5 man midfield set up to defend than it does in the Championship for QPR? Let alone better than the incisive passing of our Croational internationals who have starred for us?

Sorry to nitpick, but if you are going to write a column it really has to be better written and better thought through than this.

 

[millsey]

appalling article and all that is wrong with some fans.we are forth.we are playing fantastic football.is there many better clubs to support? whenever we don't win its change this and change that.u cant win every game.Chelsea will dominate someone this season and not win,so will scum,man utd.doesn't mean they need a team overhaul.we aren't used to teams coming to us and parking the bus but in years to come we will be.just like the top teams are.have patience,pathetic.

 

[kernowspur]

Didn't Lennon play against Stoke and Wolves? The problem against such teams is not width it is lack of pace in CM, neither Hudd nor Palacios are exactly quick, in fact Hudd is downright slow. We need pace here to spring quick attacks and to get into the box, both penalty and 6 yard, when we do go wide. Harry doesn't seem to have learnt any lessons from the 3 games where we have dropped 8 points.

 

[beuller]

I personally think you make a few valid points but the tone of this whole article is just impatient and greedy. I think we should all just try and chill the **** out a little bit and get behind the manager and the team.

It's like the pathetic booing at the final whistle. I'm all for booing a bad performance, it's the only voice we have. But that was NOT a bad performance! Let's get a bit of perspective!

 

[spud]

Had we created nothing on satrurday you might, have a point. As we created a shit load of chances but simply failed to convert them, you don't.

Had we shown no width you might have a point. As Bale got forward at every opportunity, you don't.

There is no question that we are a better side with Lennon. If we are without him it doesn't mean we have to try to put the same type of player in his position.

Had we won on saturday I doubt you would have written this. Your opinion is valid. I just don't agree with it.

 

[beuller]

When did our left footed striker, Gio, become a right footed winger? And when did he star for Barcelona, in either position? Wasn't he struggling to make an impression at Ipswich most recently?

I agree that Modric and Kranjcar are probably the best/most creative players we have and I would have without doubt started them ahead of Dos Santos too.

But I have heard this "he can't play out wide" rubbish too many times. He can and has to great affect for Mexico and to a lesser extent for Barca. Yes he has stated his preferred position is a number 10 but jesus, Modric has stated his prefers to play more centrally like he does for Croatia, that doesn't stop him playing well out wide.

Also, to dismiss both Taraabt and Dos Santos' achievments whilst on loan (as many are at the moment) is so harsh. Dos Santos did really well (even scoring 4 goals in 8 games) at Ipswich and I personally think Taraabt has done pretty well too.

They were/are both highly thought of and I'm struggling to think of any others we have, who have done well at Championship level. Livermoore? Not really.

 

[Shirtfront]

I agree that Modric and Kranjcar are probably the best/most creative players we have and I would have without doubt started them ahead of Dos Santos too.

But I have heard this "he can't play out wide" rubbish too many times. He can and has to great affect for Mexico and to a lesser extent for Barca. Yes he has stated his preferred position is a number 10 but jesus, Modric has stated his prefers to play more centrally like he does for Croatia, that doesn't stop him playing well out wide.

Also, to dismiss both Taraabt and Dos Santos' achievments whilst on loan (as many are at the moment) is so harsh. Dos Santos did really well (even scoring 4 goals in 8 games) at Ipswich and I personally think Taraabt has done pretty well too.

They were/are both highly thought of and I'm struggling to think of any others we have, who have done well at Championship level. Livermoore? Not really.

I am not intending to be dismissive of either of them. They are young players on loan looking to improve and I hope they have a long and bright future with us. But they were not being used as a comparison to our other youngsters (Livermore), but rather as replacements for two proven internationals, one of whom can genuinely lay claim to being world class. Even if they have done relatively well at their respective Championship clubs, for players of their age, they have certainly not done well enough to substantiate any suggestion that they should be selected instead of Modric or Kranjcar. It is that suggestion that I am being dismissive of; not the players themselves.

 

[michaelden]

I agree with you. Considering that Hull st out for a draw and break away goal droping Corluka and playing Naughton or Bentley there wouldn't have been a bad option.

Gio should be given a chance now Lennon is out.

Pav & Crouch would've both applied an arial threat to the defence where Defoe & Keane can't.

 

[beuller]

I am not intending to be dismissive of either of them. They are young players on loan looking to improve and I hope they have a long and bright future with us. But they were not being used as a comparison to our other youngsters (Livermore), but rather as replacements for two proven internationals, one of whom can genuinely lay claim to being world class. Even if they have done relatively well at their respective Championship clubs, for players of their age, they have certainly not done well enough to substantiate any suggestion that they should be selected instead of Modric or Kranjcar. It is that suggestion that I am being dismissive of; not the players themselves.

I don't disagree with that. Luka and Nico are the top boys. My cat is called Luka.