Last weekend saw Harry Redknapp face his former employees
for the first time since his questionable sacking in the summer. Under Redknapp
Tottenham had their best four years of Premier League football, peaking at Champions
League qualification in 2010, however if Andre Vilas-Boas was to bring Europe’s
elite competition back to White Hart Lane, then it’d surpass Redknapp’s
achievement.
Not for one second am I suggesting ‘Arry’ didn’t do an
amazing job at Spurs, that isn’t in question. When he took charge back in 2008
the club were adrift at the bottom of the league after picking up just two
points from eight games and in 24 months were facing the likes of Inter Milan
and Werder Bremen in the Champions League.
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| AVB's Spurs rescued a late point against Manchester United on Sunday |
What am I saying is everything was in piece for Redknapp to
succeed at Tottenham. He had the core of a very good squad in the form of Luka
Modric, Michael Dawson, Aaron Lennon and the then underused Gareth Bale. During
his tenure the transfer windows were all about who he was going to add, with
none of the departures against Redknapp’s wishes. In Andre Vilas-Boas’s first
transfer window he lost two world-class players in Modric and Rafael Van Der
Vaart.
Vilas-Boas hardly arrived at White Hart Lane with a glowing
CV in English football following his dismissal from Chelsea just seven monthsinto a five year deal. For me he arrived at Chelsea at the wrong time, and his
timing at Tottenham was even worse if anything. Whoever followed Redknapp was
always going to be under extreme pressure. Not many saw the former Portsmouth
manager’s dismissal coming, leaving fans and pundits alike confused.
And following just two points from their opening three
games, including 1-1 home draws with the likes of Norwich and West Brom, the
White Hart Lane faithful were growing restless very early on. However much to
his credit, Vilas-Boas has turned it around! Spurs sit fourth in the Premier
League and even have a better points return from the same fixtures as last
year.
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| The pressure was heavily on Vilas-Boas following their 1-1 draw with Norwich |
One thing Redknapp has always had is he is loved by the
media. AVB can’t say the same. Ridiculed for his job at Chelsea, and not given
the respect he deserved for his amazing season with Porto. Going into the game
at Old Trafford, a tabloid printed a piece suggesting there was ‘choas’ at
White Hart Lane, with all the star players not liking the new manager in
charge. Subsequently Tottenham went to Old Trafford and stunned the hosts
winning 3-2, something Spurs haven’t done since Gary Lineker and go back in
1991. The majority of the players at the end of the game hugged their manager,
and clearly want to play for the ‘gaffer’ as Gareth Bale said at the end of the
game.
Despite having a return of just 0.25 points per match from
their first eight games, Spurs were never going to be relegated the year ‘Arry’
took over, they had too much quality, meaning there was only one direction for
them, up! Champions League qualification the very next year however was beyond
their expectations, but they didn’t have to fight off the sort of quality that
exists currently in the Premier League.
You could easily suggest that eight teams can realistically
challenge for Champions League football, whilst only six could in the 09/10
season. The two that missed out on the top four where Manchester City and
Liverpool. City weren’t the machine they are now; whilst Liverpool were on the
start of their heavy slide which saw them slip from 2nd the previous
season to 6th and even lower since.
With both Manchester clubs seeming to have a stranglehold on
the top two, realistically there is only two spots left, and with Chelsea
favourites for third, meaning it’s likely if Vilas-Boas is to qualify for the
Champions League, he’ll have to do something no Spurs manager has done in
Premier League history, finish above their London rivals Arsenal!
Tactically Redknapp has always been questioned, and there
are signs that Vilas-Boas has already answered a few questions that were asked
last year. Tottenham struggled when playing both Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermaine
Defoe in a 4-4-2 last season, with Redknapp often leaving Defoe on the bench,
often hinting the two couldn’t play together. Yet Spurs’ recent fun of good
form (seven wins in nine over Christmas), started when AVB changed from 4-2-3-1
to a 4-4-2, with Defoe in particular in fantastic form this season.
Having conceded a ridiculous amount of late goals in the
earlier stages of the season, Tottenham appear to have stopped that rot and are
defensively much stronger than at any previous point so far, meaning they’ve
given themselves a very good platform to qualify for the Champions League for
only the second time, and if they are to do so, I wonder if AVB will get the
credit that Redknapp did for the same achievement?
