Express Yourself

Many a man has delved deep into the question “what does Harry Redknapp tell his players before a match?” and yet never found the answer. The secrets of his motivational skills have been left esoteric. Until now. I beleive that iPods have been banned from the team coach, and instead, Charles Wright’s “Express Yourself” is played arouind the coach. Players are playing with style, style that Juande Ramos craved so hungrily after his free-flowing Sevilla team.

Luka Modric

Luka is the player that really stands. Although he was played as a defensive midfielder in Austria and Switzerland 2008, he has always played pradominantly behind the striker(s). No limits set, no holds bared, and the freedom to express himself with his magical feet. Juande has always played with two up top, and thyat left no room for a player like Modric to be given a free role. Jenas and Modric as the midfield paring left the pair making the same runs, filling the same gaps, and, most importantly, leaving the same gaps. Spurs were subsequently carved apart by lesser teams due to those gaping holes in the centre of the park. Under Harry, though, the silky Croat has been left that freedom to link up the midfield and the strike force; drifting from the left to the right taking the ball as far as possible and then making key through balls. He is thriving under the new gaffer, and is starting to look like the player that cost £16.5m.

Tom Huddlestone

Speaking of those gaps that were left in midfield under Ramos, the Hudd is the player Harry placed his trust on to sit in front of the back four and spread the play with his pin-point passing. Huddlestone was on the fringes of the first team, under the previous regime, but has played more games than any other outfield player since the new man took over. Partnered with Jermaine Jenas, who is relishing the oppertunity to make inspired runs through the opposition midfield, has been deployed in a role thyat allows him to do what he does best. He is not the most mobile player, although he did lose a lot of weight under the Ramos regime of salad with a side of salad; but he can pick out a player’s foot from 50 yards.

“The main thing Harry’s done is to tell us we are all good players over and over again and to believe in ourselves,” Huddlestone told Express Sport.

“It’s as simple as that. Harry’s given everyone a lift and we’ve managed to put our start to the season to one side.

“We knew we were still good players. We didn’t become bad players overnight. It was just a case of having a fresh start and being confident. There has been a change in fortune here because under the previous boss I started only one game out of the first 12, which was so disappointing.

“You always fear the worst when you are not playing, especially when you are not getting a game in a side that is not winning.

“If the team had been winning then fair enough, but when they are losing, things do go through your mind. But since Harry has come in it has been a fresh start for everybody. Under him I played five out of five so far and we’ve done fairly well, so hopefully that will continue.”

Darren Bent

A Camoli signing, neither Martin Jol nor Juande Ramos felt an obligation to play Darren, and excersized those rights oh so often. But, having strung together a run of matches, Bent scored seven goals in five games at the start of Redknapp’s reign. Playing by himself, and with Pavlyuchenko, Bent has also thrived under the new system. Clearly the new boss has told Darren that he is a natural finisher, and the aquisition of Les Ferdinand – an English speeking former goalscorer – also seems to be having an affect on the striker.

“It’s great to have Les in. I just love being around good players and good lads,” said Redknapp. “It’s like when Teddy Sheringham came to Portsmouth and [Paul] Merson. It was great. Teddy was at the training ground one day and he was finishing. He just kept hitting the target and the other strikers were watching his technique and learning. Les knows a lot about movement in the box, pulling away to leave the space you want to attack. I actually think Les could still get a game, he certainly looks fit. I think all the tea ladies around the place are pleased to see him back.”

David Bentley

A player dubbed as the new Beckham ( mostly by himself), this is a player who just couldn’t cross a road under Ramos. He clearly wasn’t inspired by the spaniard, and seemed to be biding his time until Ramos got the sack. Enter Redknapp, and Bentley was given the freedom to move into the centre, with Alan Hutton always there to fill any gaps left on the right-hand side. If Bentley had attempted a forty-yarder against Arsenal under Ramos, and it had not come off, he would habve crawled back into a hole for the rest of the game and would have received the riot act when he returned to the dressing room. Redknapp has got Bentley playing on instinct, which is when he delivers those precise crosses and shots. When thinking about the match too much, the winger dwells on the ball and can be a liability.

Those are not the only players to be thriving under the new system, as Redknapp’s motivational words seem to get everybody playing with flair and style. Subsequently, the results have been there.