Redknapp's Public Attack on Taarabt Is an Act of Desperate Scapegoating

Never one to be upstaged, QPR boss Harry Redknapp followed the breathless end to his side’s 3-2 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday with an astonishing tirade against his attacking midfielder Adel Taarabt.

Redknapp is no stranger to dishing out criticism—previous targets have included his own team, WAG culture and his successor at Spurs, Andre Villas-Boas—but to hang an individual from his own team out to dry so emphatically was little short of remarkable.

Whether you think Redknapp is right to call the Moroccan out on his lack of effort or if you believe Redknapp himself should shoulder the blame for not being able to motivate him is a separate matter.

What is undeniable is that regardless of whether or not Taarabt deserves the criticism, the incident has been a superb illustration of a Machiavellian master of media manipulation at his best.

Once again, Redknapp has showcased his uncanny ability to play the nation’s media like a fiddle. For a man so often characterised as a streetwise, no-nonsense operator who makes up in charm and charisma what he perhaps lacks in technical ability and education as a coach, he certainly seems to have an advanced degree in wrapping journalists around his little finger.

The fallout from the weekend’s game has been such that it’s easy to forget that QPR even played, which is probably exactly what Redknapp would have wanted after losing for the sixth time in just eight games. It’s a trick that he’s perfected over the years.

At Tottenham, he dealt with any hint of criticism by trotting out the fact that the club had only two points from eight games when he first arrived. He used the stat so often that he effectively painted the picture that he had inherited a team of relegation-certainties rather than a wealthy, well-stocked team that was underachieving.

His use of Taarabt as a scapegoat, then, is not a surprise. What is a surprise is the sheer impudence in his choice of target.

After the way Redknapp framed his attack on Taarabt, you would be forgiven for thinking that prior to this season, he had been a model professional who was more than capable of being a dependable linchpin in a side involved in a relegation scrap.

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Nothing could be further from the truth. Redknapp made clear his opinions on Taarabt at Spurs, where he first loaned him out and then sold him without ever giving him a chance to threaten the first team. His role in the team last time QPR were relegated was predictable, where his occasional brilliance was more than offset by the periods he spent off-form and frustrated.

He was a luxury that a team in QPR’s situation simply couldn’t afford—heated seats in a car that didn’t even have four wheels. This was confirmed during a similar faltering spell at Fulham last season.

QPR could not rely on Taarabt going into the season, and Redknapp knew it. However, the playmaker offered Redknapp a win-win situation. When fit and on form, Taarabt is capable of winning games single-handedly. When not, he offers a convenient scapegoat, a huge talent with a baffling lack of motivation and consistency acting as a shield to all possible criticisms that could be levelled at the manager.

The club’s real failings lie in their profligate, scattergun transfer policy and their tactical shortcomings, which Taarabt was quick to mention in his response to Redknapp, per the Daily Mail.

Redknapp has signed an astonishing number of players in his time at the club—for often exorbitant fees—and he still doesn’t have a settled, established side.

Those shortcomings fall at Redknapp’s door, not Taarabt’s, but one of the few things more unlikely than a vitriolic outburst against his own player would have been a sober admission that he has perhaps spent unwisely or been found lacking in a tactical sense. Ultimately, it will be these factors which send QPR down, not one player’s alleged lack of fitness.

The media will continue to do Redknapp’s bidding as long as he delivers them soundbites like he did on Sunday. However, one man who may not be quite so malleable is QPR owner Tony Fernandes, who has performed a dramatic about-face on the affair.

He first tweeted his implicit support for Redknapp before deleting it and issuing a statement chastising both player and manager.

It is a potentially telling warning to Redknapp. Realistically, whether Fernandes bought the Taarabt defense or not, the manager knows he has around one month to save his job.

His predecessor, Mark Hughes, was sacked in late November with Rangers five points adrift from safety.

Redknapp’s side are currently four points off 17th place, having spent more than Hughes and having considerably longer to put together a coherent team. Should things continue, he won’t be able to hide behind Adel Taarabt’s gut for long.