Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
Saturday’s North London derby appeared therefore to be the perfect arena for Redknapp to suffer an humiliating put-down at the hands of that purveyor of only the finest tactical theory, Arsene Wenger.
Redknapp, lest we forget, recently declared: “You can argue about formations, tactics and systems forever, but to me football is fundamentally about the players. Whether it is 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, the numbers game is not the beautiful game in my opinion. It’s 10 per cent about the formation and 90 per cent about the players.” Sounds like one of those kids who incessantly harps on at school about “the point of, like, doing maths when you have, like, calculators and stuff.”
Wenger, on the other hand, has continually re-invented the shape and nature of his team, from the striker-less formation of the ‘Invincibles’ through to this year’s increasingly versatile 4-2-3-1. Here was the perfect chance for him to take apart an increasingly chaotic Spurs team who, though entertaining to the extreme, have consistently played with tactical confusion this season.
The game appeared to be running away with itself: Spurs were unable to deal with Fabregas’ guile and, having gone two goals down before the game even got started, looked as though they were ready to succumb to a vintage Arsenal pass-fest. However, instead of the Gunners controlling the game, something strange happened.
Wily ‘Arry removed Aaron Lennon from wide right and replaced him with the newly-refurbished Jermain Defoe. This squeezed Spurs’ shape, pushing Jenas back to help pick up Fabregas, linking Modric and Van der Vaart much better, and allowing all of the above the luxury of Bale, Defoe and Pavlyuchenko bounding about in front of them, itching for a cutting pass. Indeed, the breakthrough came thanks to Tottenham’s new skinny shape, and, like Fern Britton in Hello! magazine, they were keen to show it off. The 3-2 win only highlighted the dramatic shift in the game.
So, whether he likes it or knows it, Redknapp is capable of tactical influence. Arsene Wenger was left to throw his water bottle on the floor and curse the fact that his goalkeeper was dressed like a highlighter pen. Perhaps the Spurs boss ought to concede that he has a greater tactical awareness than the guru himself. Maybe not top of the table just yet, but certainly top of the class for Harry Redknapp.
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