Redknapp: City no big deal

A GOALLESS draw provided only a point each to two Premier League pretenders, but it also gave some valuable pointers to how realistic their ambitions are.

Tottenham edged City out of the race for fourth place last season, which meant Harry Redknapp is preparing for a Champions League game in Berne tomorrow while Roberto Mancini has no more than the Europa League to look forward to.

City’s failure to break into the elite prompted their Abu Dhabi-based owners to shell out another few quid – £100 million, to be precise – to give Mancini more ammunition for their assault on the title.

But for many observers, Redknapp included, City still do not have what it takes to overcome the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United at the top of the tree.

Tottenham ran them ragged for most of a one-sided first half, with City only avoiding a humiliation because of the brilliance of Joe Hart, the young England keeper newly-installed as number one in place of Shay Given.

Even though City eventually got into the game – and Tottenham’s penalty box – in a more even second half, only a fool or a true blue of the most optimistic persuasion would bet on Mancini’s men finishing top of the Premier League pile in ten months’s time.

Redknapp likes a punt, but this is one horse he would not back. “I wouldn’t tip them from what I’ve seen. I wouldn’t say that they’ll win the championship. They have a long way to go. Chelsea are a team, Man United are a team. They are fantastic teams with people who have been there, done it all and won everything, Champions League winners. No, I wouldn’t see City finishing above them. Arsenal and Liverpool will be strong, too.”

So where does that leave Tottenham? “I think we can be right up there, but it will be tough. There are seven or eight teams going for the top four.”

What Redknapp has in his favour is a settled side who know each other well and work together as a unit, though he admitted he failed with an attempt to bring in a top-class player from another Premiership club. “He would have been an unbelievable signing for us, but his club want to keep him now,” he said.

Redknapp still wants one or two additions, but knows the problem Mancini has of trying to keep a big squad happy.

“Sometimes I think you can have too many players,” he said. “That may be a problem for City. You ain’t going to keep them all happy. It’s very difficult when you walk in that dressing-room and people are not playing. They are not walking around with all the joys of spring, they’re looking at you and they’re not too happy with you, that’s how football is. You can cause your own problems having too many players.”

One player who springs to mind is Given, whose body language said it all as he walked off after the warm-up. Mancini wants to keep him, but the Ireland keeper may need to move on to get first-team football.

“I like Joe Hart and I like Shay Given, but I have taken this decision now,” said Mancini. “They are two fantastic goalkeepers so it is difficult for me to choose. It is impossible for me to keep all the players happy but we are in four competitions, we play every three days so all the players can probably play.”

How he could drop Hart after his performance against Spurs would be hard to justify. The keeper made six excellent saves, three times denying England colleague Jermain Defoe, tipping away a Tom Huddlestone drive and flipping over a deflected shot from Benoit Assou Ekotto, as well as saving from Aaron Lennon after the outstanding Gareth Bale hit the post.

City had little to offer in response as Spurs overwhelmed them, certainly in the first half, but should have scored when Wright Phillips was through after the break, only to hesitate and lose the chance. They looked short of firepower, and the arrival of the volatile Mario Balotelli this week will give Mancini more options – and more problems. “At the start of my career, when I was 18, I stayed on the bench for many games. I was angry but that is normal. Every day you must work to convince the manager to change his decision.”

He is already prepared to let Craig Bellamy and Joleon Lescott go on loan, two players who cost a combined £40m last year, but will not let them go to rivals like Spurs. “They would loan Bellamy to Fulham, but wouldn’t loan people to us,” added Redknapp.

But the Englishman is less concerned about changing his side, knowing they are well set up for another good season and a first tilt at the Champions League, if they can overcome Young Boys of Berne over two legs, starting tomorrow.

“They are very strong at home on Astroturf but we’ll go there and give it a real good go,” he said.

Match rating 4/5 – as goalless draws go, this was a belter, and contained more quality football and goalmouth incident than much of the World Cup managed in total.

Referee – Andre Marriner (The Wirral) 9/10 – No controversy from the referee, who let the game flow when necessary and even allowed a couple of good old-fashioned shoulder-to-shoulder barges that Nat Lofthouse would have approved of.