Harry Redknapp praised his players after yesterday’s agonising defeat at Manchester City and at one point, the manager and his bench were convinced that Jermain Defoe had snatched a late winner.
“Gareth rolled the ball square to Jermain and we were all up on our feet ready for the ball to be put into the empty net,” Harry said.
“But he couldn’t quite get there. He changed his stride pattern slightly and missed it by inches.
“They then got the ball forward, it was a bit of a melee and the penalty came from that. It was heart breaking to lose like that.
“I couldn’t have asked for any more from the players.
Overall, Harry bemoaned a bad start to the second half,
“We came in at half-time at 0-0 and I thought it was evenly balanced, we kept the ball well and passed it great.
“We then had a bad two or three minutes when we conceded the two goals.
“It was so frustrating in the end but I was delighted with the players.”
Spurs remain third after the defeat and of the teams below us, only Chelsea managed a point. As a result, our gap is cut slightly to five points as we head into next Tuesday’s clash with Wigan.
still feel well gutted about how it went yesterday but full praise to the team, to come back away from home against the best team in the land and come within an inch of winning the game shows we are one of the big boys now, we should take alot from this game and keep pushing on, 3rd place is there for the taking.
I think the game shows that we’re equal to the likes of City now. Yes, they won and if Howard Webb had seen the stamp then maybe things would’ve been different. We carved out a great chance to win the game despite going two goals down at a ground where City haven’t lost yet in the Premier League this season and I think that shows you a lot about our mentality now. All you need is a bit of luck sometimes and it looks like City might have the luck this season. But we won’t be too disheartened by the result as we did ourselves proud and can progress from this!
Well, sorry, but you can always ASK for more . . . you just may not realistically get it. King has been huge for us this season and the following is by no means a mean comment. King’s strength is his superb reading of the game that leads to superb positioning, easier decision-making before having to commit, and then with precise and concise challenges. Where you have a player who has this much football knowledge, I think it is fair to ask what was running through his mind in the 89th minute – I can only think he was too tired to chase Balotelli – because Balotelli was not having a great day with his touch and he was certainly not through at the moment of his turn at the top of the box. While it is unclear to me if he could have been shepherded much further wide, I do think his potential shooting angle is not a slam dunk. But whereas his touch was lacking, his strength is indisputable and that is all he needed as he took on King’s rash tackle. I think King has to track to close off the possibility of the cutback move and let Friedel deal with whatever Balotelli can muster.
Like I said, this criticism would be moot for any other player, but I have to think that King knows he made a mistake righrt where he never does – in his arena of strength.