Bent double exposes Poyet in blame game

Darren Bent has spent the last three months trying to avoid looking at the Premier League table, but perhaps former Tottenham assistant manager Gustavo Poyet would now like to turn a blind eye.

It has taken just two weeks for new manager Harry Redknapp to repair the damage caused by his predecessor Juande Ramos and guide Spurs out of the relegation zone.

Poyet chose the eve of this match at the City of Manchester Stadium to speak for the first time about his and Ramos's sackings and blame the players for the club's poor start.

According to the Uruguayan, the reason for their failure was that half the team didn't know anything about football' and yet results since Redknapp replaced them point the finger closer to home.

The confidence of many individuals in the team has been revolutionised in a short time and none more so than Bent, who is now the top English scorer in the Premier League after his brace against City yesterday took his tally to seven for the season.

Poyet may be justified in questioning some members of the dressing room considering the massive transformation and yet Bent says the explanation behind his renaissance is simple.

He said: "Harry shows more belief in me than Juande did and I am starting to repay that. He has played me in the majority of the games since he took over and I'm just trying to keep fit and stay focussed. He hasn't complicated anything. No disrespect to Ramos, but under him things were a bit too particular, whereas Harry has come in and we are all relaxed. He has shown everyone that they are good players and that he believes in all the players.

"We showed our resilient side against City and how we are a different team from the one a few weeks ago.

"It's massive to be off the bottom of the table at last. It wasn't nice picking up the papers or looking at Sky Sports and seeing ourselves bottom of the League, particularly with the calibre of players we've got."

They were given a helping hand by the kind of fortune that was going against them just a few weeks ago.

Referee Mike Dean didn't take the wet conditions into account when he sent Gelson Fernandes off for two yellow card offences within 26 minutes.

Spurs were trailing at that point, but Bent capitalised on a Richard Dunne mistake to cancel out Robinho's opener. They used the man advantage to claim a fine second 19 minutes after the break with Bent running on to Jermaine Jenas's long pass before neatly sliding the ball in.

Richard Dunne was sent off for a professional foul with seven minutes to go as he tried to prevent Bent from scoring his hat-trick, but Benoit Assou-Ekotto was also shown a second yellow to make for an anxious last few minutes.

Next up is Liverpool in the Carling Cup on Wednesday and captain Ledley King insisted the team have set their sights on retaining the trophy they won in February.

He said: "Confidence is high and it is something we would like to do. Regardless of what team Liverpool put out, we have shown that we have the resilience and the determination to get a result against them."