Harry Redknapp is an ambitious man, his comments regarding a challenge for the league title show the faith he has in his team:
“I feel we could contend for the title; we have got the players here. We have to aim for it. We could win the championship.”
However, it is not everyone at Tottenham who shares his thoughts. Tim Sherwood, a first team coach under Redknapp and Joe Jordan, believes that any talk of the Premier League crown is too hasty, and just emulating last season will be a difficult enough, and I for one agree with him. Sherwood told Ham & High:
“I think we overachieved massively last season. It was beyond expectation, everyone would say that. For us to emulate that would be a massive success. We know how hard it was last year, it would be even more difficult this year. It will be far harder for everyone this year. Manchester City are obviously going to be stronger, and Liverpool won’t be as bad as they were last year. We’re obviously going to try to finish as high as we can.”
As it stands, Tottenham have essentially the same squad as last year – just the one signing of Sandro – while, as Sherwood highlighted to, their main rivals, Man City, Liverpool and Everton, have all improved their squads. What Spurs do have in their favour is the self-belief that they can get finish in the top four having got there last year.
Eastlands has already seen a number of new arrivals, will conceivably be adding more, and will be hurting from missing out on Champions League football. It is hard to imagine Liverpool being as bad as they were last season; Torres has committed to the club, they have the excellent Roy Hodgson at the helm and have been shrewd in the transfer market. If Everton can avoid the injuries they had last season and get off to a good start then it will be a closely fought contest. Admittedly Spurs also suffered injuries last season, particularly to their defence, but currently those problems don’t look like they have improved significantly, with big doubts over Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate.
I can understand that Redknapp wants his team to aim high, and that maybe this time last season people wouldn’t have believed that his team would have finished fourth, but the talk of the title is off the mark. Spurs had an amazing season but they were still 16 points off Chelsea, whose goal difference was 45 better off than Redknapp’s team (71 compared to 26). To make up that difference over a season is unrealistic.
Before Redknapp can consider a title push, he must first concentrate on qualifying for the Champions League, failure to get through the qualifiers will mean that their fourth place finish will mean far less than before. Playing in the biggest club competition will be a fantastic feat for Spurs, but also brutally tough. Spurs will have to match last year’s achievements alongside the Champions League – a skill that takes the world’s best teams, with huge squads, years to perfect.
Perhaps what Redknapp said were simply mind games to ruffle the feathers of those around him, show the league that Spurs would go into this season fearing nobody. The reality is that last season there were only two teams really competing for the Premiership, and they will probably be the only two again this season. Over nine seasons, Chelsea went from league finishes of about 11th, to 6th, then 4th, then 3rd and then stayed around that mark for a few years until Abramovich and Mourinho pushed them over the finish line. Spurs have improved gradually over the last five years and will continue to do so, but probably over the same rate as they have been progressing thus far; a jump from 4th to 1st is out of Spurs’ grasp. An exciting season awaits Spurs and a repeat of last season will be an achievement in itself.
Read this and more of my articles by following me on twitter.
*
With the PL season nearly upon us, let’s see the WAGS that will be keeping the players on their toes. Click on image to VIEW gallery