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Redknapp pleads for new blood as second string flop in Europe
Simon Johnson, Football Correspondent19 Dec 2008
The lacklustre actions of Harry Redknapp's players last night may just have persuaded Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy to get his chequebook out next month.
The Spurs manager stunned the board this week by declaring at the club's AGM that the team will have no chance of challenging the elite unless he can buy new talent.
He is looking at improving the strength of the squad by signing Peter Crouch and Sylvain Distin from Portsmouth, but Levy is not so sure about spending more money despite making £50million from the sales of Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov in the summer.
However, one look at a near second string's struggle to secure a draw at home to Spartak Moscow last night should make him reconsider.
Trailing 2-0 at half-time, Spurs were in serious danger of going out of the tournament at the group stage and the weaknesses were there for all to see.
Injuries had deprived Redknapp of key first-team players Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate, Darren Bent and Jermanie Jenas while Vedran Corluka and Roman Pavlyuchenko were cup-tied.
Too many of the fringe players laboured in their absence in the first half, most noticeably Gilberto who looks certain to leave next month.
With Didier Zokora playing as a makeshift centre half alongside Michael Dawson, Spartak Moscow striker Artem Dzuba, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Crouch, made the most of the confusion to score two goals in the first half.
The opening effort was a gift as Gilberto let Dzuba run onto Gareth Bale's back pass to strike home, while Zokora was the one at fault in the 33rd minute when the forward ran past him with ease to again beat keeper Heurelho Gomes.
Luckily, Luka Modric is starting to justify his £16.6m price tag and helped turn things round after the break, and he scored his first goal in Spurs colours after being set-up by Aaron Lennon on 68 minutes.
Tom Huddlestone then finished a neat move to pull the home side level 16 minutes from time.
The fight back came at a price however, as Modric and Lennon are now both doubtful for the match at Newcastle on Sunday due to hamstring and groin injuries respectively.
Finishing second in their group means Spurs will now face a team dropping out of the Champions League in the draw for the last 32 today and it was no surprise then that Redknapp launched another appeal for signings after the match.
He said: “We are short in certain positions without a doubt. We've got a good squad here, it just needs thickening up. If we find the right players, we will bring them in.”
While Spurs have all three cup competitions to look forward to in the new year, their League position is still a concern.
They are just one point above the relegation zone, but Bale hopes for a good run over Christmas.
He said: “The League is so tight and if we can have a good run over Christmas and a few teams don't, we can push right up.”
Reader views (8)
I'll click with Harry finishing 17th and collecting a nice fat bonus!
- Ted, London, 20/12/2008 16:05
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rob hotspur is like a jive bunny record..same old thing time and time again....lets get on with it..FORGET THE PAST...ITS HISTORY
- Tom Spur, uxbridge, 19/12/2008 13:36
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Rob - I don't think it would necessarily cost anything like that much.
Yohann Pele from France would probably only cost about £2 million for a GK. Also do we really need an additional centre half - we have King, Woodgate, Dawson and Corluka already - how many centre halves can we keep happy at the club?
Left back options: Wayne Bridge or Royston Drenthe perhaps? both can also play at left back or left midfield in a 4-4-2.
The left wing position is the problem position really. Arshavin would cost about £15M I guess - although it seems that he is probably on his way to Chelsea. Then there is Downing available for an apparent £12M - which seems a little steep. Affelay at PSV could play on the left side. Also Ryan Babel from Liverpool could be an option - and would also cover one of the centre forward positions as well.
Up front it depends on what sort of player we want? A target man, a number 10 or both? Possible options would be: Defoe/Crouch/Podolski/Ashton (£10 - £12M?)
Cavenaghi or Fred (£8M).
Owen or Heskey (£5 - £6M)
Ibsevic - £12M?
Personally I think we need a central midfielder too. It seems that Annan, Van Bommel and Appiah are defintely available. How about:
GK: Pele £2M
CM: V Bommel £0
LB: Drenthe £6M
LW/CF: Babel £10M
CF: Fred £8M
£26M for 5 top class players - all fitting into our policy of young promising players with sell on value. Wouldn't leave Harry too much shopping to do in Summer either.
- Davey D, London, England, 19/12/2008 13:27
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simon johnson you need to get a new job mate how can you say that a team with so many changes coming back from two silly mistake & going through to the round of 32 a flop did you watch the game for most of it it was controlled by us & with a little luck it could of been 5-2 to us at the end cheers for the backing anyway not!!
- Justin, watford ,uk, 19/12/2008 10:48
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Spurs are a great side the problem we have is that wee seem to look at the bigger picture berb and keene big lost but i feel we need 1 very gud striker and not sale any. Keep Gommes bring in joe cole and a gud center back. keep midfield the same. Dont sale lennon bentley russian striker bale bent jenas . sell the outsiders. Spend 20m 30m in jan or 40m in summer. Why cant we find gud quality defender apart from king dawson bale
- Rob Wheeler, Albany WA australia, 19/12/2008 10:13
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Then was nothing lucky about the Modric inspired revival in the second half and it was not a flop. The second string almost got a couple of winners that would have put Spurs top of the group!
- Spurs Gog, Landudno, Wales, 19/12/2008 10:00
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This was not a bad performance. I doubt if Dawson and Zokora ever played in defence together and overall they did ok. Look at some of the results of Villa and Man City and this does not look too bad
- Abe, South Africa, 19/12/2008 09:48
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This was blantantly obvious after our disasterous transfer dealings. We need a decent second goalkeeper, quality left back, additional centre half, left sided midfielder & at least one, probably two forwards. This lot will set us back around £60 million. This is the cost of Daniel Levy's meddling, taking into account payments to Jol, Ramos, Comolli, etc the whole escape will have cost us millions.
- Rob Hotspurs, South London, 19/12/2008 09:33
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