Keane vows Spurs are on way back

ROBBIE KEANE insists he is unconcerned by Tottenham’s lack of firepower, even though Martin Jol’s squad has been ravaged by fresh injuries ahead of the UEFA Cup tie with Slavia Prague.

Jol is now down to just two fit strikers — Keane and Egyptian forward Mido — after Jermain Defoe was ruled out of the first-round, second-leg tie with an ankle injury.

The club’s new £10.8m (€16m) striker Dimitar Berbatov remains sidelined with a persistent groin problem, leaving Jol to face the Czech side at White Hart Lane with limited attacking options.

Jol is further hampered by new injuries to defender and captain Ledley King, midfielder Edgar Davids and full-back Paul Stalteri.

Spurs have failed to score in the Premiership for seven hours and 13 minutes but they did manage a vital away goal in Prague to give them a slender advantage going into the return leg.

But Keane, who has not scored for the club since hitting the net against Arsenal in the north London derby at Highbury last April, remains confident it is only a matter of time before they start scoring regularly.

He said: “We know we have players who will always score goals. It’s just a matter of getting that first one and then to kick-on from there.

“I’ve gone past the stage of worrying about not scoring. When I was a kid I used to worry about it too much and end up having nightmares about it. But I’ve gone past that stage because the older you get, the more experienced you become. I’ve played the game a long time and sometimes these things happen in football.

“We know we are not performing as well as we would like to. But we also know we are doing the right things. In football you need a bit of luck and at the moment we haven’t had that.

“I want to score goals and that hunger has not gone. But when you are younger and you don’t score, you think things are against you. I’ve been through it before and so have other players, and once you get that first one, the goals will start flowing.

“I feel very good and quite sharp and it is just a case of getting a tap-in or something like that to set me off.

“As strikers we take the responsibility for scoring because that’s our job. But the players we have in the squad, the talented midfield players, they know they need to score goals as well.

“There is no frustration among the strikers. If you get frustrated then things can get even worse.”

Spurs have not scored in the league since Jenas fired the second in their 2-0 win over Sheffield United and Jol admits he is struggling to find the right midfield blend after the sale of Michael Carrick to Manchester United.

But even though Carrick’s array of passing skills would have provided the perfect service for Tottenham’s strikers, Keane insists it would be wrong to say they were missing him.

Although Spurs have a one-goal lead, Keane is warning that any complacency could see them tumble out of the competition.

“It’s always important when you play away from home that you get a goal or don’t lose and we did that,” he added. “It was a good performance and a great strike from Jermain.

“But we know we can’t take anything for granted. They are a decent side and by no means is this tie over. If we take the tie for granted, they could turn us over. We are aware of that and we know the job we have to do.”

Jol is naturally worried by a lengthening injury list but believes he still retains enough talent in his squad to help them through to the group stages.