Redknapp’s simple, gutsy approach to the beautiful game pays off

Maybe Jermain Defoe has a future as a soothsayer.

Just months after the often misfiring Tottenham Hotspur finisher was derided for saying Harry Redknapp’s side could do better than illustrious rivals Arsenal on the club game’s biggest stage, he has been proven right.

Of course this had as much to do with the incompetence of Rafa Benitez at Inter and the slick brilliance of Barcelona as it did with Spur’s own endeavour, but that is the nature of football. As disgraced pundit Andy Gray is wont to say “you pays your money, you takes your chances”. Spurs certainly have.

Redknapp has employed very simple tactics in the past few years at Portsmouth and Spurs. A rigid 4-4-2 revolving around the following elements:

1 Rock-solid, old-school centrebacks.
2 Speedy, attacking-oriented wings and fullbacks who are unafraid to go for goal — Glen Johnson, Gareth Bale.
3 A big man with an aerial threat or in the case of Peter Crouch, flailing limbs and an awkwardness that disorients defences.
4 Zippy, accurate, finishing little guys playing off their shoulder.

It is remarkably simple football and it is also effective more often than not. And when it comes off, it is a thrill-a-minute rollercoaster ride. Ask the many souls who pack White Hart Lane for their milestone Champions League home games. Granted it has yet to be proven consistently against big teams at the top of their game; Milan are not the force they were three or four years ago, Inter under Rafa were not far from a farce and their precarious position in the Premier League top four is telling.

Yet, 80% of Spur’s matches will be against teams weaker or equal to them. Their stern tests in the Champions League are yet to come and one would still back the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona over them, not to mention the remaining English contingent in the cup. But if they draw Shakhtar Donetsk in the next round, who is to say they won’t progress further with two more nights of electric European energy?

But having come thus far, albeit on the back of a nervy, back-to-the-wall defensive performance, which better Milan teams would have torn apart, deserves congratulations. It has been said before but warrants further mention, the capture of Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart has given a classy sheen to the rudimentary system Redknapp enjoys.

Gareth Bale’s emergence as an occasional barnstorming goal threat, when not facing Phil Neville, has also been a boon for the other North London team.

The quarter-final draw may yet throw up a stumbling block for Spurs, but until then, kudos to Harry and his band of Happy Spurs.

From an Arsenal fan who will now curl into the foetal position and cry.

This article first appeared on www.newstime.co.za