Champions League Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Twente Enschede FC (Part
2)
Although one of the main reasons of sleepless nights for Harry Redknapp is the form of Aaron Lennon, but another problem that has been lingering around his mind are his defensive options. Right now they have just one fully
fit defender and that is the centre half, Sebastien Bassong.
He has to enter the match with an inexperienced and error prone defence. This means that Redknapp will be looking forward to his midfielders to control the game and play the ball in their opponents half.
He will probably have to risk his skipper Ledley King, but if he does not have enough stones to do that he will have to rely on Vedran Corluka who so far has impressed on the flanks and centre of defence.
Redknapp has reckoned that the injury issues have led their team towards a poor campaign in the English Premier League. He relayed that if his unbalanced team was played in the Champions League fixture a similar result to
Barclays Premier League fixtures could be seen.
Redknapp and his men have just won two of their domestic league matches and even though they are in the top half of the table, they could have performed much better. He stated, “The biggest problem you have is probably getting
the players up for the Premier League games after the Champions League.”
Redknapp told that any team who had talent on the bench and changed their key players constantly was not expected to give a stable performance as it takes time for a team to grow an understanding, “You have to juggle around
your team, I've found and when you keep changing your team, it makes it difficult to get continuity.”
On the issue the Englishman Redknapp declared, “We've had to do that an awful lot - change the team - probably through injury more than anything, especially in the back.”
On the other hand the FC Twente manager Michel Preud'homme has told that he understands the weakness that the Spurs are facing now and therefore as any wise man would, he will certainly try to target them.
He told that he was ready to expose Tottenham's defensive weakness. He explained that though they are an experienced side hailing from the lustrous English Premier League and have loads of experience to back them but his
team is confident that they can take on Redknapp and his men at White Hart Lane.
While talking to the media he commented, “You find pain points, pain points for the other team, points where you can hurt them.” For effect he added, “That's how we approach every game.”
Preud'homme is a former Belgian goal keeper, who has replaced his predecessor Steve McClaren as Twente’s manager this summer. So far in his first campaign with the club it seems that he will lead the club to another successful
year.
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