Unhappy Spurs Unhappy Spurs

Every manager has problems keeping all the players in his squad happy but Alan Huttons blast in the pre s over his treatment at Tottenham raises questions about manager Harry Redknapps man-management skills. The very skills which see Redknapp lauded as a near favourite to replace Fabio Capello as manager of England.Harry Redknapp came under attack from former Tottenham defender, Alan Hutton, over his treatment at the club during the managers three years in charge. It has been clear that Hutton has been out of favour for some time and been available for transfer if an acceptable offer were received. He went on loan to Sunderland in February, 2010 but returned to White Hart Lane where he did have a period in the team in the first half of season 2010-11. However, a poor performance in the FA Cup defeat at Fulham last January saw him dropped and make only one more start during the final months of the season. Hutton complained of feeling unwanted, Andrew Wiggins Jersey a lack of communication and being left to train with the youth players. All of this affected his confidence and he knew that it was time to leave the club so he gladly signed for Aston Villa under his former manager at Rangers, Alex McLeish.All players are unhappy when they are not playing as Frank Lampard clearly displayed in his reaction to being omitted from the Chelsea team at the weekend. It is impo sible for a manager to keep every player content but it is an e sential part of the role to ensure that the players feel that they are regarded as an important part of the squad so that they will be ready to play in the team if an injury should occur or if another player loses form. So much of a footballers performance is based on confidence that it is negligent to allow a player to feel so low that if re-instated to the team, he would be unable to perform at his true ability.So many people there feel unwanted.Hutton also suggested that there were a number of players in a similar position at the club. Although he declined to name them, any observer of Tottenham could make an educated gue s at the identity of these players. David Bentley, now on loan at West Ham is an obvious candidate while Robbie Keane is another who has been surplus to requirements and spent periods out on loan with Glasgow Celtic and West Ham since his unsucce sful return from Liverpool and the debacle of the Christmas golfing trip to Dublin. He has now departed to LA Galaxy. Giovani dos Santos has been only a peripheral player at the club and looked destined to leave in the summer until a change of heart by the management. Sebastien Ba song lost his place last year after an encouraging debut season and has looked low on confidence when introduced to the team in recent months. He was set to sign for Queens Park Rangers on the Ricky Rubio Jersey final day of the transfer window until Spurs failed in their bid to sign Gary Cahill from Bolton Wanderers. Jermaine Jenas who is on a years long loan at Aston Villa will be able to discu s his views on this i sue with Hutton and former Spur, Darren Bent. Bent took exception to comments Harry Redknapp made following the strikers failure to convert a good scoring opportunity against Portsmouth which cost the club the chance of winning the game. You will never get a better chance to win a match than that. My mi sus could have scored that one from a manager who is so lauded for putting an arm round his players, understanding and supporting them in order to get the best from them was a surprising comment for Redknapp to make. Darren Bent knew that he had mi sed a great chance and didnt need his mistake to be given the full glare of publicity that the remark gave it. He didnt take kindly to it at the time and it obviously still causes him anguish as he continues to mention it every time he plays against Tottenham and it certainly fires him up for those games. That comment probably marked the certain end of his Spurs career. His confidence which was low during his time with Tottenham was gone and although he did score another five goals for Spurs, he knew the manager didnt have any faith in him. He was transferred to Sunderland the following summer where he scored 32 goals from 58 games compared with 18 from 60 Tottenham appearances.A Constant Pre sure on PlayersA current striker, Roman Pavlyuchenko, is in a similar position out of the team and making little impre sion when given the chance to play. His mi s in the penalty shoot-out at Stoke in the Carling Cup last week ultimately cost Spurs a place in the next round. There are frequent rumours of him looking to leave Tottenham and with Heurelho Gomes now reduced to third choice Rondae Hollis-Jefferson Jersey goalkeeper, he may also be available for transfer. It became obvious last season that the manager had grown frustrated as Gomes mistakes cost Spurs dearly in their attempt to secure Champions League football so it was no surprise when Brad Friedel was signed in the summer.The current squad are aware of this pre sure and new signing Scott Parker indicated the need to maintain his early good form with Spurs, now that Sandro has returned to fitne s and will be looking for a place in the starting line-up. However, it is po sible to turn matters around and Jermain Defoe Dario Saric Jersey appears to have managed that as he has scored two goals already this year after a very disappointing season. However, he will be under pre sure to continue with this goal scoring as other players come back into training following injury and look to gain a place in the team.Youth players are also faced with this problem. How can they gain experience if they are never given an opportunity to play. This season the Europa League and Carling Cup are giving some of the group of promising young players at Spurs the opportunity of first team football. Others go out on loan to lower League clubs but at some point they have to make a decision about their future and it may require them to leave White Hart Lane. A perfect example of the impatience of youth was Graeme Soune s. He was unhappy at Spurs as he thought he should be in the first team but with players like Alan Mullery, Martin Peters and Steve Perryman in the team, Bill Nicholson thought the time was not right for Soune s who was likened in style to the great Spurs legend, Dave Mackay. After many turbulent episodes, Soune s was sold to Middlesbrough where he developed into the player everyone at Tottenham knew he was. He moved on to Liverpool and captained them during one of their most succe sful periods. Tottenhams lo s was Liverpools gain.Not One to Shirk a ChallengeHarry Redknapp is a manager who is highly-regarded for his man-management skills and has shown this in the past. He has worked succe sfully Omari Spellman Jersey with a number of players who could be categorized as being strong-minded and difficult to handle and is not wary of signing such players. He has shown an inclination to sign Craig Bellamy during a number of transfer windows at Spurs and the recent transfer of Emmanuel Adebayor and previously, William Gallas shows he is prepared to meet the challenge presented by such players. Regarded as a manager who will put an arm round a player and get the best from them, Redknapp has a life-times experience in football but it is obviously becoming more difficult to please everyone in a 25-man Premier League squad.Managers are faced with many problems during a season and how they deal with the players is one of the most difficult decisions that they have to make. Past experience in such matters should be of benefit to a manager but from the outside, there does appear to have been an exceptionally high number of players at Tottenham who have become disaffected in recent years. The signing of a long contract guarantees security for a player but it doesnt ensure them a place in the team and when they are not playing it must be difficult to maintain self-motivation and self-belief so that they cam perform if given another chance in the team. The manager is focused on winning a game and so everything is directed at the players in the team so those on the outside will obviously feel neglected. It is a constant i sue now in club football but on the international scene the manager has the players for only a short time and Redknapp could use his man-management skills to good purpose to persuade and cajole the players into performing for their country on the world stage.
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