Redknapp impressed as Tottenham get back in party spirit

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp praised his team’s new-found grit as they kept up their push for the Champions League places with a 2-0 win at Blackburn.

Redknapp has had a difficult week after discovering his players had defied his orders by holding a secret Christmas party in Dublin and then learning that he has been charged by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs over unpaid tax.

But Redknapp was pleased with the response of his team to a difficult game at Ewood Park on Saturday and he insisted their performance had nothing to do with wanting to do well after their trip to Ireland.

And the Spurs boss feels that the game would have been one his team might have lost in the past, which is a measure of the progress his team is making.

“It was not a pretty game of football, but it was the type of game that Tottenham may have lost in the past,” Redknapp said.

“This wasn’t a response because they provided that against Man City in midweek.

“The going out was the Tuesday before and we didn’t lose to Wolves because they went out, it was because we couldn’t break them down.

“It’s history now. We keep moving forward and they’re a good group of lads and I haven’t got any problems with them.”

Redknapp was also pleased with the performance of striker Peter Crouch, who has not played regularly this season but scored twice to double his Premier League tally for the campaign.

“Two good goals from Crouchy. It was nice for him to get on the score-sheet. He deserves it and works hard for the team,” Redknapp added.

Redknapp will have to deal with the charges from HMRC in the new year and a statement from his solicitors, BCL Burton Copeland, insisted the charges are “totally misconceived”.

The statement said: “Harry Redknapp is extremely surprised and disappointed to have been informed that HMRC intend to institute proceedings against him in the week commencing January 11 2010.

“We believe that the decision to commence proceedings will, in due course, be shown to have been totally misconceived.”

Blackburn have dropped to within three points of the relegation zone and manager Sam Allardyce feels that his lack of a striker of Crouch’s quality is costing his team.

Allardyce’s strike-force of Benni McCarthy, Franco Di Santo, Jason Roberts and Nikola Kalinic have failed to fire in recent weeks, with Rovers only managing one league goal in their last six matches.

And Allardyce was full of praise for the striking instincts of England striker Crouch.

“You pay that extra money for the extra quality when you need it. Crouchy?s finishing was the difference between the sides – nothing else,” Allardyce said.

“He had three chances. He scored two and one got disallowed for offside but he still stuck that in the back of the net.

“The first one’s a foul on Ryan Nelsen 90 seconds into injury time and only one minute went up on the board.

“It’s blatant. You can see two arms round him and he wrestles him to the floor. The referee’s in a good position but doesn’t give it.

“You can’t control these decisions and instead of being comfortable in the first-half and coming in at 0-0, we’ve been let down by the referee as far as I’m concerned yet again.

“Nobody else on their side has had a chance on goal and that’s the disappointing thing from our point of view.”