Source: Daily_Mail
Harry Redknapp's best laid plans ruined by Bernabeu blitz - Martin Samuel
[LNB]When Terry Venables was manager of Tottenham he would always recommend that the staff had a nice meal, a few glasses of wine and a convivial evening the night before a game.[LNB]'This time tomorrow we could all be crying,' he would tell them. 'We've done the work, let's enjoy it now and see what the day brings.'[LNB]So on Monday night in Madrid, Harry Redknapp and his staff kicked back in the Txistu restaurant, beloved watering hole of Spanish football's greatest names. Pictures of legends old and new adorn the walls. Wine and stories flowed. It was a lively night.[LNB] Stupid: Crouch dives in on Marcelo to collect a second booking[LNB]And there is a reason experienced managers are wise not to let their downtime rest on the outcome of a game. Their professional happiness depends on the constancy of footballers and, good grief, they are an unreliable lot. No wonder it pays to get the celebrations in early.[LNB]Rely on footballers for your fun and you would spend most of the week alone in a darkened room with a bottle of whisky. Certainly Redknapp would after the night Tottenham endured in Madrid.[LNB]He may well have felt like hitting the sauce after just 15 minutes. Hitting something, anyway. His centre forward, probably. Tottenham did not lose 4-0 because Peter Crouch got sent off, but he sure as hell didn't help. A goal behind after five minutes, to then go a player down after 14 in the Bernabeu was suicidal and only the most optimistic of Tottenham's glory, glory boys feels this tie is alive in any real sense.[LNB]'We're going to win 5-4,' sang a few lunatics, but the cry was not picked up with any gusto. Jose Mourinho does not produce teams that let in four goals, even if Tottenham strap an outboard motor to Gareth Bale. And if Real Madrid score one at White Hart Lane, Tottenham need six in normal time.[LNB]Showing sympathy: Mourinho and Crouch after the Spurs forward was sent off[LNB]'Beyond stupidity,' said Jamie Redknapp, commenting on Crouch's dismissal on Sky, and it is unlikely his dad strays far from that view.[LNB] Redknapp Snr has placed a good deal of faith in Crouch in Europe this season, and largely it has been rewarded.[LNB]Crouch was magnificent in the San Siro against AC Milan. He led the line bravely and worked incredibly hard in the return leg, too. Tottenham's strikers have not exactly been on fire in the Premier League, but seven of Crouch's 10 goals have come in the Champions League.[LNB]Here, though, as Tottenham reeled from a succession of early blows, he committed one of football's cardinal sins: that of a quite maddening, utterly unthinking rashness that holed his side's ship below the waterline.[LNB]It was ominous when, in the warm-up, Aaron Lennon announced he had a sore throat and was unable to play. It would have been interesting to hear Redknapp's thoughts at that moment, with the Bernabeu filling, the noise growing and Tottenham's biggest fixture in 49 years less than 30 minutes away.[LNB]Jermaine Jenas was drafted into midfield, but tactically and psychologically the damage was done. Within five minutes of kick-off, in which the ball barely left Tottenham's half, Madrid were ahead through Emmanuel Adebayor and then Crouch intervened in a way that must have made Redknapp glad he had not wasted too much time in his hotel room, poring over redundant sheets of formations and technical strategies.[LNB]There are some things over which a manager has little control: like when a player is struck daft. Crouch was booked after seven minutes for a reckless lunge on Sergio Ramos that saw the player taking off as if bounding on to a springboard. The yellow card from German referee Felix Brych was predictable, and immediate. So it was always going to be a tough night for a forward who relies so heavily on his physical attributes, and is likely to attract the attention of referees in Europe, even when showing restraint.[LNB] Frustrating night: Redknapp endured a tough evening in Madrid[LNB]Yet Crouch compounded this mistake with the most foolish display of exuberance imaginable, made more remarkable because it was so out of character. He seems a sensible fellow, Crouch, more given to a grin than histrionics when falsely penalised, which happens often. This was idiotic, though, and entirely unnecessary.[LNB]SEEING RED IN EUROPETottenham's hat-trick of red cards makes them the worst offenders in this season's Champions League.[LNB]Sept 29: Tottenham 4-1 Twente[LNB]Rafael van der Vaart earns a second yellow for a silly late tackle on Roberto Rosales but Spurs still come back from 1-0 down.[LNB]Oct 20: Inter 4-3 Tottenham[LNB]Heurelho Gomes sparks carnage in the San Siro by getting sent off in the eighth minute for taking out Jonathan Biabiany, before THAT Gareth Bale hat-trick and the great comeback that nearly was.[LNB]April 5: Real Madrid 4-0 Tottenham[LNB]Two reckless lunges from Peter Crouch deep in Madrid's half first on Sergio Ramos and then on Marcelo leave Tottenham with a mountain to climb in the second leg.[LNB]Just seven minutes after his first booking, Crouch chased down full back Marcelo and lunged, catching him late. The timing was only out by a fraction, but that is all it needed to be. Coming so soon after his first offence, the outcome was inevitable. Crouch was shown a second yellow, then red. He was out of the match, and out of the return leg. Not that it matters now.[LNB]Sometimes managers must simply despair. In a matter of minutes all of Redknapp's plans, everything he had worked for and calculated prior to this game, were reduced to so much scribble.[LNB]The test of any coach is how he reacts to adversity but it helps if these challenges are caused by the opposition's successful execution of their game plan - or by a moment of pure brilliance, such as Dejan Stankovic's opening goal from the halfway line for Inter Milan against Schalke - rather than by a self-inflicted wound.[LNB]There was no reason for Crouch to take a chance on mistiming the tackle on Marcelo. He had obviously been told to stop Madrid bringing the ball out from the wide defensive positions, but he could have shepherded Marcelo without diving in. He has demonstrated self-control often enough.[LNB]Everthe cavalier, Redknapp's reaction at half-time was to introduce JermainDefoe for Rafael van der Vaart as Tottenham's lone striker, yet the second Madrid goal never looked far away, and it was no surprise when itarrived after 57 minutes, Adebayor unmarked again.[LNB] Heading for victory: Emmanuel Adebayor scores his and Real Madrid's second goal[LNB]The third, a simply stunning shot from Angel Di Maria, was the real killer and Cristiano Ronaldo merely placed flowers on the grave with the fourth.[LNB]It is barely conceivable that Tottenham progress now, for all their previous heroics. Some mountains are too hard to scale. By the end, while Redknapp was not exactly crying, he was a beaten man. Even with an early goal it is unimaginable that Tottenham can find a way through this tie from here. [LNB]Redknapp should find a very nice restaurant in London for next Tuesday, because Wednesday at White Hart Lane promises to be rather a long night.[LNB] Real Madrid 4 Tottenham 0: How they rated on Spurs' miserable night at the Bernabeu Martin Keown: Park the bus? Not with magic Marcelo!Ade bye bye! Adebayor crushes Tottenham's Euro dream as Crouch sees redReal Madrid 4 Tottenham 0: You've been Ad! Former Gunner at the double as Real run riotCHAMPIONS LEAGUE LIVE: Real Madrid 4 Tottenham 0 - the action from the Bernabeu as it happened[LNB] [LNB] Explore more:People: Harry Redknapp, Aaron Lennon, Jose Mourinho, Jamie Redknapp, Cristiano Ronaldo, Peter Crouch, Jermaine Jenas, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gareth Bale, Jermain Defoe Places: London, Madrid, Europe
