Football Update: Tottenham fall behind on Champions league playoffs
Harry Redknapp the Tottenham manager is saying there is nothing to worry about after his team’s 3-2 defeat in the 1st leg of the Champions League playoff.
The London club who has made it first time to the champions league play off made a less than convincing start. Spurs were 3-0 down in before the half hour mark. Later it was Sebastien Bassong and Roman Pavlyuchenko who got a goal each.
Redknapp after the game said that, he is not really that disappointed by the defeat. He said he would still term it as a good outing for his team. He said it is a great defeat if there is anything like that. Harry said that when the team was 3 nil down, it was looking all gray and it was a desperate situation. However, the team showed good fight and determination.
It was Senad Lulic who showed some good footwork and hit the post early in the game, and soon after, he gave the Young Boys the lead. Henri Beinvenu doubled it few minutes later and Xavier Hochstrasser looked to have sealed the tie with a 3rd before the half hour mark.
Tottenham manager said that his team did not start the game with the right approach; he said that opposition looked more up for it right from the go and got deserved lead early on. Redknapp said that the Young Boys completely dominated the game in the first 3rd of the game and did not let his team have a look in. Harry said still it has to be said that the pitch was not ideal for his team; he added that Astroturf is not the ideal surface to play on but still that is no excuse.
Two away goals were still a massive boost for them; the manager said that the 2nd leg will be at home. The White Hart lane is a huge advantage for Tottenham and it would be a whole different game with the crowd at their back.
He went back to the artificial turf and said that these surfaces should not be part of the game at the highest level. Redknapp said that earlier there used to be a pitch like that at QPR but even that has been changed now.
Harry said that before the start of the game, 4 of his players did not feel comfortable on the Astroturf and he had to leave them out. He said if the player does not feel ok with the pitch no manager can force him on.
The former Portsmouth manager said that Aaron Lennon and Robbie Keane both had knee problems and the surface did not help their cause so he had to leave them out. He added that Tom Huddlestone had a serious knee injury the last time he played on artificial turf, so he could not have been risked either.
Spurs were down 1-0 in the last round of matches against the Turkish side Fenerbache, and in the 2nd leg won the tie 3-2 on aggregate. Therefore, there is still hope for Tottenham and the team, as well as the manager looks confident that they would be able to turn it around at home and make it to the group stages of champions’ league.
If Spurs do not make it through, they would be the 2nd team from England in last 5 years to do so. It was Everton who finished 4th in 20005 and did not manage to get into the group stages of champions league.
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