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By Tony Attwood
Since 1960/61 the Football League’s top division has been won twice at White Hart Lane. Unfortunately for Tottenham, both times the league was won by Arsenal.
As a result last season Tottenham celebrated 50 years since they won the league – although I was rather sorry to see that there wasn’t much made of the great anniversary in the press.
But it was a close run thing this year as Tottenham were in the running to win the league until quite late on. I know this because Mr Redknapp said that this was the case on 22 November after Tottenham beat Villa 2-0 (there was an article in the Guardian on it). And then again the Sun on 15 January 2012 had the same approach after Tottenham drew with Wolverhampton. They were third at the time.
He also said it was “an even-matched league” and that “there is a title in this club” (both quotes from the Guardian article).
So why did it not happen?
In one way it did not, not happen, if you see what I mean. While Arsenal and Arsenal fans like us were awash with utter and total disappointment as Mr Wenger raged in anger and frustration, after the opening games of the season, Mr Redknapp has taken a different line.
For even after the QPR game Mr Redknapp said that having only one win in nine EPL games was not too bad because the only bad show was the 1-2 against Norwich. Even though during the run they also played Wolverhampton.
Now however another enemy has appeared to harass Tottenham’s push for the title – too small a squad size. And it was when I saw that argument I decided to write this little note.
If you recall last summer, we couldn’t find a cabbage to sign for the club (at least according to the AAA) until the last couple of minutes of the transfer window. It started when our side was raped by the money clubs. Remember Cesc? Remember Nasri? And if that were not bad enough we then had the loss of Jack. And all the while no one wanted to sign for us.
But Tottenham however took a different route. Their manager wilfully sold their squad. Keane, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko, Pienaar, Palacios, Corluka, Bassong, Jenas and Woodgate. Either sold or leased out for the duration.
As a set of theories to explain a down turn the notion that there is no crisis, that the club is short of players because they have all been transferred, and it is the fault of the ref, is not much of an explanation. So the Independent then took on Mr Redknapp who came up with another reason for the downturn. “We are the biggest threat to ourselves, probably,” he said.
Today, 26 April, is the 102nd anniversary of the re-birth of Arsenal
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20 Years of the EPL. Good or bad for England?
Penalties: Comparing Manchester U and Arsenal
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Untold Ref Reviews
Norwich 1 Man City 6 – a pattern emerges?
History Special: The flavour of football in 1973 – fights bookings and the end of civilisation
The press told us that Tottenham had a better first team and a deeper squad than Arsenal.
If the Press can manipulate the truth so brazenly about things we are relatively expert in, it scares me to think how much garbage we are being “spoon-fed” (thanks Dogface) on matters we are less informed about…
e.g. politics, economy
Spot on marcus. I read recently that only 2 current Arsenal players would get into the Tottenham first team. Conveniently forgetting Chez over Friedel, Sagna over Walker, Gibbs over BAE, Kos over Gallas, Song over Parker. The list is endless.
I’d argue personally that Bale would be the only player that i’d have in the left wing position.
Life is too short to read all the articles by Arsenal fans about Spurs. You guys are obsessed with us, not something I’ve noticed in reverse.
A very good link from a Spurs fan who is against Redknapp http://oneinthehole.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/why-harry-redknapp-is-no-longer-the-manager-to-take-spurs-forward/
Dude check out the Spurs forums…. everyone wants arry out of the club as soon as possible. The guy really is a joke! Talks so much rubbish in the press, is never wrong, says that we should not play 442 as it leaves us too open and the goes and plays 442 in the next match. The only bright spot is that as soon as he gets found out with England the press are gonna absolutely batter him. There was proper aggro in the Spurs end at QPR last weekend with about 50 Yids having it with each other. Disgraceful behaviour but the frustration is definitely starting to boil over. If Blackburn win or even get a draw on Sunday the whole crowd will turn on him. Get him out please!
@Iain – why is it then that every year I get you lot banging on about how this is your year and how you are overtaking us and how the power has shifted and how you’re the only team in north London now etc… and then every year I have to rub your grubby little noses right in it, in the hope that you might learn something, because you were wrong again – who’d have guessed it – yup, yet another false dawn down the shit end of Seven Sisters!
We don’t do this because we enjoy it… deep down we like you – like an annoying little cousin who’s always trying to copy you – but you must realise that whenever you get out of your box [our shadow] we’re going to have to put you right back in your place.
This is ‘tough love’ – you should be thanking us for caring.
All you Arses will be crying when we finish above you this season. As for sagna over Walker, get real!!
Thank you Phil for assisting Iain. Talking about obsession, some people were selling “mind the gap” shirts as if the gap was the trophy!!!
Tony,
A cruel demolition job on our nearest rival. Any fan of Spurs reading your post should come knocking on the Emirates’ door seeking membership.
To be fair the guy who wrote this article isnt saying anything us Spurs fans dont know. Harry is bringing us down with a bang and he wont be manager for much longer thats for sure. Anyway A@senal fans i come in peace….at least ur club has some class unlike the chavs from Cheatski.
Harry doesn’t know anything about tactics. How many times does he have to loose until he realises that a flat 4-4-2 system is suicidal against a well organized 4-3-3 or 4-5-1. You will always loose that midfield battle because it is 3 against 2. We saw the same at the Emirates, where our midfield completely dominated theirs… and we outnumberd them everywhere on their half.
When a game probably wont be decided by the midfield (like half of the Arsenal home-games, where the opponent parks the bus, you can play 4-4-2.
He completely ruined an inform Modric by first let him drown in de middle of a 4-4-2 formation, and if that was not enough he starts playing him on the wing all of a suden. He even plays Van der Vaart on the wing… probably the player with the worst stamina in Europe (great player though).
To be honest, i think they have a superior midfield to ours. I think their midfield is 4th or 5th best in the world, despite Parkers presence. But there is no teamplay, no cohesion. Van der Vaart and Modric are worldclass, while Krancjar is very underrated. But you seldomly see a good passing game. All because of Arry.
Arry is the best thing that we could wish for as Arsenal fans. With a better manager they would have probably finished above us this season.
Oh, by the way… he always uses the same tactics. Gets the job, pleases the media, buys old players and gives them long contracts, leaves the club behind with expensive old players who can’t compete at the toplevel anymore… club gets into financial problems… etc.
The funny thing is, now Tottenham is losing, the media blames the uncertainty around the England job. I guess they have the same tactical level as arry does? Cause even a blind man can see what arry is doing wrong.
Tony, you missed Hutton and Bentley off the list of players that he has sold or loaned out this season. That makes a team (excepting a goalkeeper) and a sub!
When he was at Portsmouth he was constantly ridiculed by one of the big football websites (poosibly Footbal365) for saying that he was down to the “bare bones”. You can understand it at a small club like Portsmouth but not at a club that, we are told, with such resources as Tottenham.
Unless of course Tottenham have decided to hold back the money due to the impending construction of a new ground. If it is like this now, what will it be like after it is built?
You obv’ have not looked far because if you had you would’ve found there has always been an anti-Redknaap agenda, but it is not screaming for his head just now because in a few weeks he will be gone regardless. There have been numerous instances he has shown disrespect to the fans and fickle as fans are they do not forget, indeed he recently reiterated “you’ve never ‘ad it so good” shortly before dropping out of 4th (patronising to say the least!). Re’ our lack of transfers this I believe is easily explained by the fact that Levy is no fool and has likely been saving up a warchest for an incoming manager, not squandering the money on a departing disloyal Redknaap. Re’ Steve about 6 months ago the popular concensus was that only RVP would get in the Spurs squad because we looked untouchable, you are comparing then with now and I wonder how yours would be fairing knowing that Wenger is off to manage France?
One thing I couldn’t get was the media hype about how short on players Arsenal are compared to other top EPL teams.
It doesn’t take so much brains to figure out that numerically, we’re at least even; in terms of quality, we’re not that far apart from ManU, though trailing City (a distance we cover by team spirit). We have a significantly younger squad than all the rest (especially if you exclude players who have performed in 2 games or less this season…), with several key players returning from injury somewhere before the next season. Some would say it’s a work in progress, but in fact we’re 2-3 players short of a perfect setup. (Which is perhaps why all business is going to be made only this summer.)
You couldn’t say the same about Chelsea (old squad, many empty slots to fill), ManU (lacking a key creative outlet, proficient fullbacks and a reliable striker), Tottenham (aging squad, not enough quality on the bench & in several areas) or Liverpool (a lot of players who don’t work together at all).
Now, the comparison with Tottenham is particularly shocking because despite the fact that they’ve made a lot of good business prior to the season (Friedel, Parker and Ade), they’ve made a lot more mistakes than Arsenal – which is where most of you are totally right (they’re short on players because they have let too many go). But the most shocking aspect of this is the fact that the players who do work at WHL are usually not as good as the media have them be. True, Friedel is among the best in the EPL, but Kaboul, Gallas and King are quite average. Assou-Ekotto may be good crossing, but he’s a very poor defender. Walker still has a lot to learn before he can challenge Sagna for the title of EPL’s best right-back (Richards did much better than him, why didn’t he get the prize?). Parker, Modrić, Van Der Vaart, Kranjcar, Bale and Lennon are all players of quality, though sometimes painfully one-sided. But what is Sandro doing next to them? And why is he the only alternative? In attack, Adebayor is unsurpassed, but he’s not matched by either Defoe (too selfish) or Saha (too slow and uncreative). If anything, Tottenham’s squad looks much like Chelsea’s – there are so many mismatched cogs in this machine it’s a wonder it’s still working. And I can understand Redknapp’s sudden recognition that he doesn’t have enough players – he barely has half an XI’s worth of EPL quality on hand! The fact that they could challenge for the 1st place early into the season shows how much you can achieve if you’re an underdog and believe you can do anything. By now, it’s become clear as day this is not a team that could challenge for top 3; and if it could, it would mean the league has lost half of it’s worth. It’s good Arsenal can no longer be said to be a part of this supposed depreciation.
Jayspur, you are quite right – I didn’t look hard enough – and it is most interesting to read the comments here. I genuinely did not realise how much the view of Arry at Tottenham has developed.
And yes, I missed out Bentley – my only excuse being that he has been out on loan for quite a while – and of course he got a long term knee injury didn’t he?
He signed the Tottenham contract in 2008, and if that was a four year deal he will be out of contract this year. If a five year, he has one year to go. (Except that I am currently suffering from a bugger of a virus, and may have got all this wrong).
for all the Sp*uds Fans you are dreaming every season Arsenal are the TOP in North London and we are the best . as for you not bad from rank 10 and now 4-5-6 challenge but i guess next year Modric & Bale will leave you will be back to 10th your original rank.
There are always one or two Tottenham supporters who write in, asking why we are so hypnotised by Tottenham, and why we don’t just write about Arsenal.
The general point is that this blog doesn’t just cover Arsenal – we write mostly on Arsenal but on all sorts of other issues too. Just look back and see what we have covered recently. Ref reviews, financials at Reading FC…
The other is that the rivalry between the two goes back to the late 19th and early 20th century when the Woolwich Arsenal / Tottenham games had a special feel to them, and the earliest crowd trouble was at these matches (even reserve games!) (Details in the forthcoming Woolwich Arsenal book).
Additionally Tottenham were very active in opposing the move of Arsenal to N5, and helped the Highbury Defence League oppose the move as well as calling for an EGM of the League to get the move stopped. Again in 1919 they were very active in making allegations against Arsenal, and claiming Arsenal’s promotion was fixed, and we have done a lot of research into this period, dealing with this.
So historically I would say there has always been this mutual interest – even long before the clubs were situated next to each other.
Don’t think there is a lot wrong with Spurs players (especially our first 11). Harry has been our biggest problem since Jan. A really bad transfer window, and then a series of tactical blunders. he also talks too much!. We did have some bad luck in games and injuries. Arsenal’s biggest weapon is Wenger, and I wonder where Spurs might have been with Wenger in charge.
Iain,
As Spurs fans, you all have enough to worry about so should stick to your own little blogs. As for not happening in reverse, well you’ve come on here haven’t you???
Sadly I have seen @abe’s comments on tottenham boards from other spurs fans – a lot of them seem to recognise Wenger’s ability as a top manager more than we do.
Tony – very well considered article, and responses. As a Spurs fan I can say that those of us that supported the manager (as you should do when things are going well!)always had a concern and now those concerns are becoming reality. I dont believe that the England job is the problem; we had the same “half season” last year. It was only a half season when he took us from 2 points to safety. The half season always occurs becuase geeing up players and playing at 90 miles per hour in the opening 60 minutes only works for half a season – especially when injuries occur, players get tired and there is no rotation. Add to that the fact that any astute manager gets over the defeat and realises that there isnt much in the tactical locker; just let them tire themselves out and stifle them for 45 minutes in the return game. Thats why we fall away after Christmas. It takes a strong and astute individual with tactical awareness, man-managment skills and experience to challenge over a season – not some “gee-up” merchant picking the same 11 week in week out. And as for the coaches….. Harry, Jordan, Bond, Clive Allen, Les Ferdinand, Sherwood (have I missed anyone?!). More coaches than Kings Ferry and not one can teach Lennon to cross with accuracy; Walker or Bale to defend effectively; Bassong or Dawson to maintain discipline or Defoe to finish effectively. We have recruited a squad of youngsters who Wenger would love to have a chance of moulding into the next big thing, but they are all out on loan or rotting (Bostock, Rose, Naughton, Caulker, Townsend, Kane, Celabos, Falque). Can you imagine Wenger bemoaning a lack of defensive cover and leaving a player like Caulker to get man of the match reviews at Swansea because he needs the experience?! Ridiculous! rant over – I’ll leave you to your Arsenal chat! 🙂
I sympathize with Tottenham and their manager. The way he was making statements of success does not allow anybody to sympathize with him when the trying days came. To be honest, he has the players this season to make a difference but why he is achieving so little has to do with his ability to utilize them. I hope he learns from this experience.
According to Dogface, “deep down we like you”. That’s the fact man.
Tottenham fans should know by now that should Arry remain, the future will be really grim.
Considering the style of play that Arry mostly deploys, even the strongest of any player will tire our by the end of a game and stretching that over the course of a year, the weakness will be very obvious. It’s the simple obvious symptom of tactical inability.
Man management wise, Tottenham must dig deep down into their reserves and youth team to reduce overhead on player wages. It’s only a manager that has no foresight that scraps the youth and reserve team.
Spurs fans critical of Arry are amongst the most fickle around and will change their tune completely if they qualify for Europe a head of us.
Might be a tad premature to be writing Arry and Spurs off this season. They look about as capable as we do at present- after all we have just lost to Wigan and QPR and then drawn at home to a weakened Chelsea side- hardly a record that justifies gloating about our neighbours- and they have easier remaining games than we do
Can anyone (Spurs fans included) explain to me the thinking behind taking Spurs shares off the market to ‘make it easier to raise funds for a new stadium’?
A little correction, Piennar moved to Everton in january not begining of season, i think the problem for spurs is that Harry didnt rotate well and the players who were not in the starting XI were kinda schemed out of the team so when they were needed they were not commited to the cause E.g. Everytime i have watched Defoe enter a game and he seems to think all about himself(doesnt bring teammates into the game) in a manner that suggests he wants to score goals to make the Euros not to help Spurs win anything.
I do think that in some ways Tottenham have been their own worst enemies with the constant change of manager. That probably more than anything has made it impossible to grow and develop, setting up a good youth system etc.
The pulling out of the Reserve League for example was a bit petulant, in my view – and I have never seen a clear statement from the club as to why they did it.
And yes, I too would love to know what that thing about pulling out of the market to make it easier to raise money, was all about.
insideright – can you provide a link to that story?
It would be a fairly strange decision, as a share issue would be one way to raise the funds (not that I imagine there would be much interest in investing in Tottenham shares, or in football-related shares for that matter).
They’d have less reporting standards etc from being private, but unless you have a link on that story that’s the most insight I can offer.
One thing a manager should never do is lie to his players. When you deceive your players, you lose their trust.
March 21, at halftime with Spurs drawing 0-0 against Stoke, Harry told his players that both Arsenal and Chelsea were winning their respective matches when in fact only Arsenal were winning. Chelsea were 0-0 at halftime against Man City and ended up losing 2-1. Arsenal beat Everton 1-0, and Tottenham salvaged a disappointing draw at home.
The players must have been disappointed knowing they probably dropped points against Arsenal and Chelsea, and it only must have made it worse when they found out their manager lied to them in a vain attempt to motivate them. The plan backfired and Harry got egg on his face.
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Tottenham-Harry-Redknapp-lied-to-his-players-at-half-time-to-try-to-get-them-to-beat-Stoke-article881711.html
@DogFace: “Sadly I have seen @abe’s comments on tottenham boards from other spurs fans – a lot of them seem to recognise Wenger’s ability as a top manager more than we do.” – You are absolutely right, and that is where we have to feel shame!
The way I see it, sometimes both North London teams get a bit too blinded by the rivaly side of things, so much so that it become a distraction.
If your minds on another team that you only play a couple of times a year, and not on the task in front of you, then your results are going to suffer. We’ve seen that this year with the Manchester clubs, both looking over their shoulders to see where the other is. If either one of them just got on with simply trying to win the league, not worrying about the other team, then one of them would have probably won the league by now. Focus is the key thing, and it’s not just local rivals you’re trying to get above in the league table.
I’m quite happy just to love my club and support my team through thick and thin, without worrying about anyone else.
Great piece Tony. Us Spurs fans feel sick with what has happened to our’squad’ Harry certainly doesn’t know how to keep a squad happy unlike SAF Arsene. Good luck England. COYS
Tony. The Anti-Redkrapp and Anti-Tottenham Tottenham(?!LOL) Site you cant find, can be found at Harry Hotspur blog. TTFN CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYSSSSSSS
Has no-one got a good word for HR?
Everyone is keen to point-out the small squad (and maybe that is his fault), but despite this they played some good football in 2011 and managed to keep in 3rd-or-so for most of the season.
Maybe all the rest of the complaints are due – but surely he is due some credit for that?
I am always saddened by the pettiness and occasional cruelty that raises its ugly head when Tottenham and Arsenal fans debate the relative merits of their teams,management,facilities and rank but at least the Totts supporters coming on this site are far less full of false bravado and boastfulness than usual.
Having followed both clubs closely all season, and watched Harry drag them kicking and screaming into 3rd and then lose the plot (we Gooners know this term well) in the run-in supposedly because he is transfixed by the prospect of taking the witless lot called England’s national team to the Euros for a right spanking, I am amused by the naivete of many arguments for and against him.
I enjoy the generally positive respect and appreciation shown by the WHL supporters for AW’s genius and at least in this respect you put some of our own AAA and Wenger-out whiners to shame, if you haven’t done it in the EPL in a very long time. That said, the feeble explanations for Tottenham’s slide from grace are far too simplistic and limited to clarify everything.
Here is my take on the Totts season so far:
1)Their history of regular managerial changes was destabilising but Harry at least brought them some needed stability until he was found out.
2)His reputation did not proceed him but it has caught up with him and the players are paying the price.
3)The team is competitive in the top 6 of the EPL and should finish at least 5th or maybe 4th if they can rescue their season. they have done well over the last 3 seasons but have been let down by their Board and certainly their manager, nearing the finish line.
4)It is clear that they have lost the pride and confidence they enjoyed previously and finding that again is very hard..just ask Wenger and his players. The major difference I see between Aw and Harry is that AW sticks with and supports his entire squad, even the poorer players through thick and thin,season after season but Harry has other things on his mind,namely his own self-interest (the england job or another big name Club)and has mentally and emotionally abandoned WHL before the job is done.He is short on class and loyalty, just ask his former clubs.
5)If WHL can recruit Rogers from Swansea, it will ensure that you develop a style of play and a quality of competitiveness very similar to Arsenal’s, thus ensuring better results and more fun in the EPL.
6)The Totts are not a big money club despite many Gooners claims. They, like us, have to work within limited resources (Levy,like Wenger, is a careful spender) so they’ll need to develop their youth and reserve system like AFC and also try and retain their best players, which, from our bitter experience is a challenge for any rational team trying to protect their stars from the avaricious,cash burdened, buy at all costs/win at any cost teams in the EPL, Liga, Seria A, Ligue 1 or Russian oilygarchs.
Here’s hoping that our Seven sisters neighbours won’t fall afoul of the Redknapp curse like all his former clubs have.
@Dom how can you say spuds are not big spenders? have you seen their net spend since 2006? if im not mistaken they are 4th(or 5th)behind city,chelsea and liverpool
@Domhuaille
You make a good point about ‘Arry not supporting his entire squad. Do you remember his public scathing and ridiculing of Darren Bent after a match where Bent missed a shot from close distance that wasn’t as easy as some have implied?
Speaking of Harry, has anyone read this article about him?
http://footballisfixed.blogspot.com.br/2012/02/harry-redknapp-is-bag-of-shite.html
Off topic (sorry Tony)
No doubt the rumours will start again that Arsene will be leaving to manage the C***s of Catalonia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17855980
Arry is over rated and over hyped. Spurs fans have known this for some time, just took the media and aaa a while to catch on.
Now even his players know it http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/tottenham-slump-harry-redknapp-fault-807877
He is scared to rotate, he is certainly scared to put trust in youth. Does not sound like much of an England manager, personally, I hope he stays at spurs.
Heard the spurs fans were chanting ” gareth bale he plays on the left” and ” Aaron Lennon he plays on the right” at arry during the QPR game. Says all we need to know about what his teams fans think of his tactical acumen.
Some have made the correct point, he gets a much easier ride than wenger
some managers should learn to keep their mouth shut like Arry of Duds for eg.
“we can win the EPL title” ….later?
“we will certianly finish above Arsenal”…and then?
“forget Arsenal, we need to finish 4th” ….and still later?
“i will take 4th now” ….what would he say if they finish outside 4th?
“we did not have a strong squad [forgettig the fact the sold 1/2 his team], so what we achived is good” ……and then he will f**k off to ruin the England team [who are aready in tatters to make it worse] leaving Duds on the verge of bankruptcy.
Toni – the reason why Spurs dismantled their reserve side was apparently down to the fact that too many players were happy to play in the reserves (or so Harry believed). Personally, I dont see that. Now, we have a choice of either playing tired players in the first team or players lacking match fitness/sharpness from the bench.
Dripping with sarcasm, the lowest form of wit. Admittedly, we at Spurs have no comeback, having witnessed the wheels come off in a way that even we have never seen before. But we’re still fighting. Our day will come. COYS!!