‘Arry was an excellent man manager.
The north London derby has provided some incredible encounters. It’s one of those derbies that never disappoints.
Ever since Harry Kane emerged from the shadows to become one of the world’s best goal-scorers, Arsenal tended to dominate these fixtures. But occasionally, Spurs would pull off an upset.
Take the game at the Emirates in 2010 for example. Arsenal took a 2-0 lead early on with goals from Samir Nasri and Marouane Chamakh.
At 2-0, Spurs were not showing any signs of a resurgence. But such is the nature of derbies, and the Premier League more generally, they came flying out the blocks in the second half and pulled off an incredible comeback to win 3-2, thanks to goals from Gareth Bale, Rafa van der Vaart and Younes Kaboul.
‘So what happened at half-time?’ I hear you ask. What did Harry Redknapp say to his players that made them explode into life?
Nothing, as it turns out. Nothing at all.
Speaking to inews, Van der Vaart revealed that it was Redknapp’s silence that inspired the comeback, rather than a rousing, passionate speech.
“Afterwards we went into town and all the people we met were like: ‘wow, Harry is a brilliant manager!’ Because we were losing 2-0, people were asking me: ‘what did he tell the players before the second half?!’ I was like: ‘what he told us?!’ ‘Nothing at all, haha!’,” Van der Vaart explained.
“When Redknapp came in you could tell he was angry but he didn’t speak. The only thing he said was: ‘Lennon out, Defoe in.’ And then he left again. We were sitting there and were thinking we should perhaps try and keep the damage limited, like to not concede more than four goals. But then we came out of the changing room and won 3-2!”
Sometimes, it’s best to say nothing at all.
