Source: Daily_Mail
Harry Redknapp - Q&A with Spurs boss
On the eve of Tottenham's Champions League showdown with AC Milan, Harry Redknapp took time out to answer a series of questions on the glamour tie...[LNB] You have a big champions league game coming up. Realistically, what were your expectations at the start of Champions league campaign? [LNB]Well, I wanted to get past the qualifying game against Young Boys of Berne. I didn't want to go out against them at the qualifying stage. Making the group stage was important. When we were 3-0 down in Berne after 30 minutes I thought this looks like the end. Playing on the astro turf pitch it looked like we couldn't cope with it at all. But we pulled ourselves out of it in the end, we got a couple of goals back which were all important and got into the group stages. [LNB]Once we hit the group stages I thought well, OK fine, now we can enjoy it a little bit now. We ended up with a very difficult group which included Inter Milan, Werder Bremen and FC Twente (all champions), who are all very strong teams and I thought if we could get through this group it would be fantastic. On the other hand if we failed it would be a good experience. To actually win the group was a fantastic achievement from the players, with teams like Inter Milan in the group. We now play AC Milan, another top team who are top of the Italian league, so it's got the makings of a great game and we just want to go as far as we can now. [LNB] Good times: Harry Redknapp is looking forward to the showdown with AC Milan[LNB] It is certainly a glamour tie, did you ever look at Chelsea's draw (Copenhagen) and think I wish we could have been drawn against them? [LNB] I didn't want to play Copenhagen. I just thought that everyone was saying if we get Copenhagen we are in the last 8. I was thinking well no it's just not that easy. They are not a bad side, it's a banana skin if it goes wrong and all that great work of winning the group goes out of the window. I fancy Milan. It's a tough game and there's not much between them and Inter, they are pretty evenly matched teams. We saw off Inter Milan, We would have gone through against Inter Milan if it was on aggregate, but it wasn't. Obviously it was in a league system. So there's no reason we can't do the same to AC Milan, it's a tough game but we've got a chance. [LNB]Obviously they are a star studded team but who are your major stand out players for the Milan team? [LNB]Well their centre forward is a top player in Ibrahimovic. He is their star player for me. He is a top player who is a fantastic talent. I went over last week and watched them play against Lazio and he was outstanding. They have lots of good players but they have had lots of injuries like us - a few are coming back now. It will be a tough game but we are looking forward to it. [LNB]Last time you went to Milan, Gareth Bale announced himself on the international scene. How much has he improved since you have been here and how good can he become? [LNB]His improvement is unbelievable really. It's a confidence has made a huge difference to him. When he arrived he had played 25-26 times and had never been on the winning team and you began to wonder would he ever play on a winning team. He had drawn lots of games but had never been on a winning team. Suddenly that changed and his game took off and his game went to another level. He is just an amazing player. He has just got everything. [LNB]He is 6ft 2in, he's got pace, he can dribble, he can shoot, he can head it, and he can run all day. He's the complete all-round footballer. Unfortunately he has an injury at the moment which makes him doubtful but we're hoping he might recover but its touch and go. Obviously with him (Gareth Bale) almost becoming an overnight sensation has led to a lot of transfer speculation and in previous jobs you have had to sell your star players. [LNB] Danger man: Redknapp is wary of the threat from Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic[LNB]Do you feel you can do your job in a very different way, feeling more secure that you don't have to sell your best players? [LNB]Yeah, Tottenham as a top four club in the Champions League shouldn't be looking to sell our best four players, but it's not easy to hang on to your best players. If they want to go they will. Torres decided out of the blue that he wanted to leave Liverpool. It is very hard to keep them, you know. When he walks in and says I don't want to be here anymore, it's hard to say you're not going. I don't think he's (Bale) the type of lad that would do that. He knows he needs to stay here to develop more and keep improving and if Tottenham can go where we want to go in the next few years then he is going to be at a top club and there is no reason for him to move on.[LNB] In terms of incoming transfers how closely do you work with the chairman in terms of identifying transfer targets? [LNB]Yeah I work with the chairman, but Daniel (Levy) does all the deals. I didn't make one phone call on transfer deadline day. I gave him the names of some players I liked but I didn't really see anything happening that day. We nearly got close to one or two things but we weren't desperate. We were only looking for somebody that was better than what we had that might improve the team but it was hard to find players. We weren't going to pay crazy money for any players and we weren't desperate or in a relegation battle. Unless you wanted to spend ?170,000 a week to get someone like Torres you weren't going to get much better than what we had here anyway, it was very difficult. [LNB]Does it ever frustrate you that people focus on your excellent transfer record over the year than perhaps your other qualities as a manager?[LNB] Yeah, the team that has been successful here at Tottenham were all here when I started. The team that played last week: Gomes, Ekotto, Dawson, Hutton, Corluka, Modric, Pavlyuchenko, Lennon, Jenas, Bale. I inherited all the players; it wasn't just a case of doing fantastic transfer deals or anything else. I have just taken a team from bottom of the league to the UEFA Champion's League. I gave them a bit of confidence and put them in the right positions. [LNB]It's not rocket science this managing game, it's just a bit of common sense and understanding football. Kenny Dalglish has come in at Liverpool, and people are saying, 'Can Kenny do it as the game has changed so much?' I thought we were still playing the same sport with 11 men and a round ball, is it still 11 a side? Are players passing the ball and moving? I think they still do. Did they do that back in Kenny's day? I think so yes! [LNB] Hot property: Gareth Bale has emerged as one of the Premier League's leading men[LNB]I really don't see any difference. People think the game has suddenly become very clever. Well it's not really, it's all about understanding football, how to get the best out of people, putting people in their best positions, playing to their strengths, and putting people in the right positions and organising the team correctly, nothing has changed. [LNB]Could George Best have played today? Yeah I think he would have still beaten five or six players and probably scored two or three goals every game, no different really. People try and make themselves look clever these days, walking around with clipboards all day and looking at video machines and God knows what. It's really not that complicated, it's made a lot harder than what it is. It's a simple game made difficult by some people. [LNB]That common sense approach certainly reflects your calm demeanour on the touchline. [LNB]Well, I get up and excited sometimes, but it's not good to keep shouting and screaming all through the game. It's not the way you want it to be. No one wants to be shouted at all the time. People go on the pitch, if they don't know what they're doing then they shouldn't be out on the pitch. It's common sense; you should let your eyes be the judge. At half-time If you can put it right what's going wrong or continue to do what's going right, it's not that difficult. [LNB] Harry Redknapp was speaking to Yahoo! Visit The Dugout at www.yahoo.co.uk/sport[LNB] Bale in line for shock Spurs return in Champions League clash with MilanSunderland 1 Tottenham 2: Kranjcar's cracker fires Spurs into the top fourAll the latest Tottenham news, features and opinion[LNB] Explore more:People: George Best, Harry Redknapp, Kenny Dalglish, Gareth Bale Places: Copenhagen, Milan, Liverpool
