Redknapp rounds on 'precious' players and urges Bent and Bentley to deliver

20 January 2009 23:58
That miss: Darren Bent heads wide for Tottenham in their match recent against Portsmouth   More... Spurs boss Redknapp backing below-par Bentley to find his form Redknapp warns his Spurs must fight till the end to survive relegation battle Redknapp has clear-the-air talks with Bent and insists he's not for sale Keeper Alnwick to make his debut for Spurs in Cup clash with Burnley Burnley v TOTTENHAM: Ledley King to miss second leg of League Cup semi-final TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET ‘If I had the hump every time someone said something about me, I wouldn’t get out of the house in the morning. It wasn’t like it was Darren Bent I was trying to knock, I swear. If it had been Jermain Defoe I’d have said the same thing. It was my reaction to the miss. ‘It could have been anybody. Someone said: “Do you think you should have won the game?” and I replied: “Yes, I think my missus would have scored it.”.‘You can’t keep pussy-footing around. What am I supposed to say? “It was a really good try” or “he was unlucky” or “he’s done his best”? ‘He should make sure that next time he gets a chance, he scores. Go out and practise. He spent a bit of time this morning heading balls into the goal.’ Bent’s miss was a bad one but he has scored eight in 10 starts under Redknapp and despite not finding the net in the Barclays Premier League since early November, he is the team’s top scorer this season. Hard work: Bentley has been told to knuckle down by manager Harry Redknapp The 24-year-old may have reason to feel aggrieved and suspect a sub-plot unfolding. Spurs must generate funds if they are to continue buying in the January transfer window and this looks like a clear message that Bent might want to consider a move. Redknapp was far from convincing when asked if the£16.5million striker, signed from Charlton 18 months ago, is in his long-term plans. ‘He’s got a future, they all have, but I can’t sit back here and say I’m not going to bring any players in,’ said Redknapp, who has made no secret of his desire to inject more aggression into his squad.He wanted to sign dressing room provocateur Craig Bellamy but lost out to Manchester City, although Spurs are on the verge of a deal for Wigan midfielder Wilson Palacios after striking a gentlemen’s agreement with City over the two players. David Bentley has also had a pep talk from his manager, who advised him to cut out the tricks and knuckle down to the sort of work-rate which under-pinned his form at Blackburn last season and commanded a fee of£15m in the summer. Don't be precious: Redknapp doesn't want to pussy-foot around players and wants to bring more aggression into his side Redknapp said: ‘I don’t know if he got into a Tottenham mould, where he thought: “We’re at Tottenham now and we have to play the Tottenham style of football”. Maybe he thought he had to be a bit more entertaining, with a flick or something fancy. The work ethic suffered. I could see he wasn’t doing what he was at Blackburn. He wasn’t working as hard but after having a little chat with him I think he’ll get back to that. ‘I told him what I thought of him and his performances, what he can do and what he was doing. He took it on board and has trained really hard, closed people down and won tackles. He’s back to what we saw at Blackburn.’ With Aaron Lennon injured, Bentley can expect to start on the right at Turf Moor. Spurs won the first leg 4-1 but Bentley was hooked at half-time with his team trailing 1-0. Fit to play: Roman Pavlyuchenko, who scored in the first leg, will be ready to face Burnley Burnley fans revelled in the turmoil of a former Blackburn star and will make life uncomfortable for him again. Roman Pavlyuchenko is fit despite having left the pitch on a stretcher against Pompey. Fraizer Campbell is expected to start up front alongside Defoe. Ledley King, VedranCorluka and Heurelho Gomes are all injured and Luka Modric may be given a breather.Redknapp will give goalkeeper Ben Alnwick his debut and the chance to stake his claim as Spurs No 2, especially as reserve keeper Cesar Sanchez is set to sign for Valencia until the end of the season.Alnwick’s opposite number, Burnley’s Brian Jensen, wants his side to lull Tottenham into a false sense of security and book the Wembley date no one believes they can achieve. Jensen admits Burnley’s chances of turning the tie round are grim but thinks Spurs might be vulnerable if they sit on their lead. He said: ‘It looks bleak and it’s just disappointing that we played such a bad game at their place when we are so close to a final. They think they are in the final now but if we get ahead one or two goals then they might be nervous.’   More... Spurs boss Redknapp backing below-par Bentley to find his form Redknapp warns his Spurs must fight till the end to survive relegation battle Redknapp has clear-the-air talks with Bent and insists he's not for sale Keeper Alnwick to make his debut for Spurs in Cup clash with Burnley Burnley v TOTTENHAM: Ledley King to miss second leg of League Cup semi-final TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET  

Source: Daily_Mail