​Arsenal legend Merson: Redknapp better tactician than Wenger

Football
5 Aug 2020 • 1:33 PM MYT
Tribal Football
Tribal Football

Tribal Football covers news from the Premier League, LaLiga and Serie A

Former Arsenal star Paul Merson has praised the tactical ability of former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp.

Merson was speaking about the qualities of Redknapp when he compared him to Arsenal's legendary boss Arsene Wenger.

And while he also praised Wenger, he felt the Frenchman was lacking tactically, and that Redknapp was a better tactician.

"One hundred per cent, best man-manager I've ever worked under, by a million miles," Merson told Sky Sports of Redknapp.

"As a man-manager knowing what you want or what you need, you could tell him what you need, he wouldn't tell you what you needed. I think that was a massive thing with him.

"The thing with Harry, people think, 'Oh, he's a wheeler-dealer'… his knowledge of football is second to none.

"I honestly think he's tactically better than Arsene Wenger, in my opinion. I worked under both.

"Tactically, if I know a manager who wants to set up, make sure we don't lose a game and stop the other team playing… for me, Harry is the man.

"He's with George Graham, that sort of [level]. Arsene Wenger, he had some unbelievable players.

"When you've got Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, [Robert] Pires, [Patrick] Vieira, [Emmanuel] Petit, [Marc] Overmars and [Freddie] Ljungberg… if I'm the manager of Arsenal, I'm opening the football match up!

"I want the game to expand, to go end-to-end because if it does, there's only one winner. That's Arsenal because of the players I just reeled off.

"But when you've got a manager who hasn't got that quality of player and you've got to set up, that's why I think Harry is a phenomenal manager.

"He put a team together, he pulled players into certain positions and it clicked. I played in a phenomenal football team."