Redknapp can´t fault Spurs effort

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp was pleased with his side’s output in their draw to rivals West Ham, but not the result.

The scoreless draw did no favours to either club, with Spurs’ ambitions of a top four spot taking a hit with the two points dropped, while Avram Grant’s men climbed out of the relegation zone, but are only out of the bottom three on goal difference from Wolves.

Redknapp said he was satisfied his side maintained their attacking mindset, but was disappointed they could not break the deadlock.

“We hit the woodwork a few times. It was just one of those matches. We played great today, we moved the ball around the park fantastically well,” Redknapp told Sky Sports.

“(West Ham) defended well but we kept hitting the woodwork today. We were unlucky in front of goal but I couldn’t have asked for much more. I thought we were excellent.”

“I’ll go home tonight satisfied with the way we played, not the result. You want to win at home, obviously, but they came here not to lie down. (West Ham) worked their socks off, rode their luck at times but full credit to them, they kept going.”

Redknapp said his substitution of Spurs’ leading goal scorer in the English Premier League this season, Rafael van der Vaart, was not a fault of the Dutchman’s form, and the English boss voiced his disappointment in van der Vaart’s reaction at being brought off.

“I don’t like that. I’ll talk to him about it. If you are part of a team you should stay to watch the rest of the game,” Redknapp said.

“The fans have come to watch the team play so if you are a player you should stay to watch the game, you’re a part of it.”

“He’s a good lad. I just made a substitution. I thought he did everything he could in there today and went for a change in Pav (Roman Pavlyuchenko). He could have scored and was unlucky. You make substitutions and it’s difficult who you take off.”

West Ham manager Grant said his side’s clean sheet against a Champions League side like Spurs proved they were worthy of retaining Premier League status for next season.

“I think we have a good chance (of survival),” Grant told Sky Sports.

“When we were five points behind and had played two more games (than rival teams) we still had a chance, but it will be a battle to the end.”

“But if you see the football we are playing, not just today but all season, we deserve to stay up. But we know you don’t get points for deserving to, we have to win by ourselves.”