Rafa Van Der Vaart reveals Redknapp's tactics/training secrets

[Man Ray]

--- Tottenham are crushed - Man Utd and Arsenal have been doing this to them numerous times over the years. ---

Oh, Harry has lost to Man United and Arsenal, so he doesn't know enough about tactics. If we accept that conclusion, then we also have to conclude that England and Europe is full of absolutely clueless managers, who just keep on losing against Arsenal and ManUtd time and time again.

It is when a team can deal with Bale's direct dribbling style, Huddlestone's calm movement, good passing, but slow pace and Lennon's pace and can negate the 2 strikers by using a defensive midfielder, it is in that situation, that Tottenham are crushed.

...Yes. Choose a good full-back, tell him to take care of Bale and tell the winger/def midfielder/whoever you think the most suitable to help out your full-back. Tell your midfielders to take time & space from Huddlestone. Et cetera. Do you really think that you can do that just by very clever tactics, or could it possibly be that you need good players as well?

Again: think first what you want to do with your team long term. Build the squad according to that. Then, think what do you want/need in the next match. Choose and advice your players according to that plan.

As far as I can see, Harry has a clear idea how he wants his Tottenham team to play. He's built the team according to that (although he inherited a relatively good squad from Jol/Ramos). And has achieved good results. And team seems to know their tactics rather well, Tottenham looks like itself every time.

Now I'm not claiming that it's all about "go out and play", but to get your team playing according to your gameplan, you really don't need hours of dvd's and tactic boards. Manager and coaches need to know the gameplan in detail, players indeed don't need to know much more than their position and role, maybe 1 or 2 opponent-specific instructions. And for creative player like Van Der Vaart, "have fun, work hard" might indeed be the best instruction. He'll do what he can, but he wouldn't play something he can't (let's say, for the sake of an argument, Pirlo-style creative player) no matter how tactical his manager wants to be.

[Neil Roberts]

Mourinho is easily the best manager alive. Tactical genius, excellent motivator, contemporary approach to the game....and that's coming form an Arsenal supporter. A very biased one at that.

Alex Ferguson for me, with Mourinho a close second.

[Kiwi_Mark_LFC]

That is still a billion times better than Woy...he does nothing tactically then he demotivates them by calling the crap and blaming them for his inadequacies...