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What's Weak About Harry?
I know I'm only repeating what everyone already knows but Harry Redknapp's wheelin' and a dealin' caricature of himself is being taken to new limits now. I recall everybody joking that 'Arry would soon be talking about being "down to our bare bones" but considering the size of the squad Spurs have got and the investment they have made over recent years I always hoped that ol' Bagpuss would change the record for once.
But no. Now he talks about a lack of strength in depth, citing lack of cover for the left back position should Gareth Bale ever get injured - conveniently forgetting that he's also got that troll Assou-Ekotto who plays there.
He also says that he needs "three or four decent players in". Now I don't doubt they do in certain positions if they are going to take things forward. But then you here names like Stephen Appiah banded about, a once good player who has now been without a club for half a year.
75% of the other managers of the Premier League would love to have his squad but now Redknapp's "magic wand" has lost its power he's beginning to make excuses.
Spurs' weak squad:
GK: Gomes (£10m), Cesar
RB: Hutton (£8m), Gunter
LB: Assou-Ekotto, Bale (£7m)
CB: Corluka (£8m - can play RB too), Woodgate (£8), Dawson, King, Rocha (£5m)
CM: Zakora, Huddlestone, Modric, (£15m) Jenas (£8m), Ghaly, Taarabt
LM: O'Hara, Gilberto (can also play LB funnily enough), Boateng (£5m)
RM: Bentley (£15m), Lennon
FW: Pavlychenko (£12m), Bent (£17m), Defoe (£15m), Dos Santos (£8m), Campbell
Basically, that's 27 very decent players worth about £180 million in total and a group of players that should on paper, given a decent coach, should easily be knocking on the top 4 door.
Paul Lees
Both Sides Of The Divide Are Unhappy With Defoe Transfer
The Defoe signing raises worrying questions (or answers worrying suspicions) about Redknapp's ability to take Spurs forward.
The reason Defoe was behind Berbatov and Keane was because he wasn't good enough - despite flashes of occasional brilliance, his first touch is suspect, he misses too many chances and his awareness of team mates is often non-existent. Defoe is not the solution. And neither are Levy and Redknapp.
Nick Henderson (repeatedly disillusioned Spurs fan)
...Sirs,
As a loyal Pompey fan I am obviously more than a little disgusted by the actions of Harry "I'm Pompey 'til I Die" Redknapp and latterly Jermaine Defoe. Rather than needlessly debate the subject of loyalty and the blatant 'tapping up' and unsettling of another team's player, my correspondence relates to another matter.
I would like to somehow get across my lack of respect for both individuals in any forthcoming fixtures against my club that they are involved with. In light of the legal action being carried out against several supporters of Spurs after their pitifully hypocritical abuse of Sol Campbell at Fratton Park I am now confused.
My question to the mailbox readers is how can I get my point across in a football chant without being arrested in the aftermath? If there are any legal buffs out there I am anxious to know what would be ok.
Alex, Pompey
Defoe Isn't A Tottenham Man
Just wanted to make a quick point to Spurs fans in yesterday's mailbox regarding Jermain Defoe. You may all believe that he had an affinity with Tottenham, loved the club etc and is coming back to his spiritual home. For me that is total boll*cks.
This is the same Jermain Defoe who leaves his boyhood club Charlton without them getting any worthwhile compensation, then slaps in a transfer request as soon as West Ham get relegated. Then leaves Spurs after moaning for god knows how long about how he should of been in the team instead of Keane and Berbatov. And now with Portsmouth he is finally getting the football he supposedly craved at Spurs and decides that the south coast insist for him afterall.
So Spurs fans don't delude yourself that Defoe is one of your lot. he is one of his lot and always will be.
Ross Jenkins
The End Of The 4-4-2?
I've noticed a lot of top teams breaking away from the "traditional" formation of 4-4-2 and doing very well for themselves. Chelsea perfected the 4-3-3 that Barca are using to rip teams apart now; they are the two prime examples of teams using a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 and still being effective. Milan made the 4-3-2-1 their own in years gone by. I look at Liverpool and see almost the perfect formation: a very well balanced 4-2-3-1.
Alonso is the deep lying playmaker, Mascherano the out-and-out DM, Babel/Kuyt, Gerrard and Rieira the attacking midfielders and Torres the lone striker who works the channels. Even for United, Rooney basically plays the "number 10" role, dropping deep and leaving Berbatov as the target man up front.
As an Arsenal fan, I have a bad feeling Wenger doesn't know our best formation. I the last few seasons we've played a 4-4-2 when all our players were fit, but last season in particular, I thought we played best as a 4-5-1, with Diaby/Hleb sitting in the hole behind Adebayor. This season though, van Persie has been 'undroppable'. I think 4-2-3-1 is the way forward for Arsenal and for many other clubs. If we had everyone fit, we could play Cesc alongside a proper DM, and have any of Walcott/Rosicky/Nasri/Diaby/van Persie playing in the attacking midfield/winger kind of role, with Adebayor up front.
My question is, do the other mailboxers feel that the traditional formation is being experimenting upon with success and will therefore get out-dated soon?
Shravan, Birmingham
An Email That Almost Works
I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate the late Brian Clough on becoming the new Derby manager in 1967. I'm not sure why this story is getting so much attention from the news media some 40 years later but seeing as everyone is getting nostaligc I'd also like to forewarn the 1978 Scotland World Cup side of the dangers of being overconfident. In hindsight they should have studied the demise of the talented 2006 Brazil World Cup side some 28 years later.
This was all.
Davis Paxter
A Good Question
Ok i've been in the dark on this issue for long enough. Could someone please tell me why some blokes at matches insist on going bare chested for the duration of the game, regardless of how cold it is. Is this to prove how hard they are or is there something else I'm missing?
Birdy, covered chest, Ireland
A Nice Mail About Ryan
Whatever Giggsy does I will applaud as he is one of the unsung gentlemen of the beautiful game. You never hear of him causing unrest in the dressing room or behaving like a child on the park. During his long and loyal career with united he has proved what a wonderful example he is to all up and coming young footballers. I wish him every success in whatever decision he makes about his playing future.
Anon
And A Nice - And Signed - Email On F365's Terrible Twosome
Great collaborative journalistic article regarding Cantona's move that never happened to Sheffield Wednesday from Johhny Nicholson and Alan Tyers. Honestly I have to say that their "combined" columns are by far my favourite articles on F365.com. They should just fuse DragonballZ-Style into one person permanently - Johan Nichers.
But the article got me thinking. Surely if Cantona had signed for Sheffield Wednesday, after a season of playing to his high standard he would be snapped up by a bigger club anyway? That's effectively what happened with him playing for Leeds.
My question is this: Which foreign player can you think of that came in for a smaller club, played like a superstar, but never moved to a bigger Premiership outfit?
I always thought Jay-Jay Okocha could have cut it with the big boys. But taking it back to mid-nineties I would have to say that Juninho stands out for me.
What a player.
Neil (If Only I Had Chosen the Defoe Kit & Not the Keane One at the Beginning of Last Season) Green, Durban-South Africa, THFC
It's The Future
Dear Sir,
Looking into my crystal ball* ahead to 2011, I see that Tony Adams will retire from management to live the life of a hermit on the Mull of Kintyre. Thereafter, Harry Redknapp will make a £10 million return from Spurs to Portsmouth, "I will be here for the rest of my career" and soon after conclude a £30 million deal to bring back Jermain Defoe with him.
*which I bought at a car boot sale for £2.
Bill (RIP Scarborough FC) Stickerz
Welcome To The Twilight Zone
This debate on the transfer gossip comments yesterday was top draw.....
markfrost
Posted Today @ 12:10 View all markfrost's posts
tomaswright...You will have to forgive me for putting a 'H' in Atletico (by the way, have you got some sort of problem with the letter H, as it seems it is missing from your name). To be honest I have never noticed that it was Atletico, so thankyou for putting me straight. I won't make the same mistake again. (PS. I would also look at your own grammar, where are the capital letters after the full stops??)
tomaswright
Posted Today @ 11:47 View all tomaswright's posts
markfrost: who are athletico? How hard is it to call them atletico, even one less letter to type. apart from that, valid point.
......Usually the comments on stories on this site take up a forum/text message style that often ends in petty quibbles and insults getting us nowhere.
True to the pseudo intellectual football stance of F365 contributers we have a pedantic scrap for spelling and grammar points more reminiscent of an internet countdown duel rather than the usual 'footballing' ways of players and pundits in the modern era who overuse made up terms like 'great credit' and 'big ask'.
This got me thinking...hasn't the mailbox got a bit surreal? i mean, the art of brackets, (excuse the pun) floods of Indian and Irish posts, Conor Byrne, James Le Beak, miserable gooners, the 46 Newcastle defenders.
Of all things to become addicted to; booze, drugs, sex, even football manager - how on earth does someone explain to a shrink that they've got an F365 mailbox problem?
Hypothetically of course.
Dr (D) Wang, on a very cold day in Lancashire
And Finally...
I just saw a story on F365 that caught my eye : "Scolari in Need of Wide Man".
They have Fat Frank already ; surely they don't need another one?
Mat, Lyon
