On Harry Redknapp And Sticking With The Hot Hand

The live match thread for the match between Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton Wanderers here at Cartilage Free Captain was not a happy place for most of the match. From Daniel Sturridge's equalizer up until Niko Kranjcar's winner, we were acting like typical Spurs fans. Pouty. "The season is over," we all said. "We won't catch Chelsea if we drop two points here." Really, who could blame us? It's not like the pouting came out of nowhere. We were being typical Spurs fans because our team was playing like typical Spurs. Not last year's team, but the choking, gutless bottlers of old. Then, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Niko Kranjcar happened.

A stoppage time winner and a Raul Meireles goal later, and Spurs' season is not over, in fact, but just beginning. We're level on points with a Chelsea team who appears to be struggling to integrate Fernando Torres into their lineup. We appear to be getting healthy, with all of Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Tom Huddlestone, and (supposedly) the Cartilage Free Captain himself, Ledley King over the next few weeks.

However, the four above listed players are not healthy, for the time being. Spurs have looked suspect at times when Harry hasn't had his best options available to him, and the players that are available to him right now are...fairly average, for the most part. Obviously, Aaron Lennon, Rafael van der Vaart, and Michael Dawson are both first choice and good enough to start for a top four team when everyone is healthy, but outside of those guys, everyone is either a backup or possessing some serious question marks.

The good news is that right now, Harry has some serious hot hands. Roman Pavlyuchenko and Niko Kranjcar have to be filled with confidence after they combined for the winner against Bolton. Additionally, Jermaine Jenas has inexplicably put together two straight fantastic performances. We might not have world class players, but it appears that we have some confident and hot players.

So, Harry. If you read this site, start all three of Kranjcar, Pavlyuchenko, and Jenas against Sunderland. They're hot. Play your hot hand. Dooooo it.