Redknapp left to rue day he let Robbie go

ROBBIE KEANE could only watch from the television studio as his two clubs fought out a goalless draw and must have wondered if he could have proved the difference on a frustrating afternoon for the north London club.

Keane was surplus to requirements at Tottenham and was shipped out on loan by Harry Redknapp to their London rivals West Ham in January.

Under the terms of his loan agreement, he was not allowed to play on Saturday, but you have to question if Redknapp could have done with his services as Tottenham missed a host of chances and blew a golden chance to close the gap on the top four.

Jermain Defoe is normally prolific in front of goal but he missed four golden chances and was a bit premature in wearing a t-shirt under his jersey which celebrated him scoring 100 Premier League goals if he had got on the scoresheet.

There are major question marks over Defoe’s inclusion in the team in the first place as he lost his grandfather in the early hours of Saturday morning and could not have been 100 per cent focused on the match.

But after throwing away crucial points against Blackpool and Wolves in their last two league games, Redknapp was desperate to field his best strike-force.

The Tottenham manager does not have an alternative to Defoe in terms of a proven goalscorer and has similar target men in Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko.

You also have to question if Redknapp made the right decision in allowing Keane to leave back in January, when he never brought in a replacement for the Republic of Ireland international.

Tottenham were linked with Luis Fabiano and Diego Forlan, but the moves never materialised and he was left with just three forwards in his squad. Are the north London club now paying the price for that decision?

Tottenham might be firing on all cylinders in the Champions League, but they are throwing away league points at a crucial stage of the season and it now seems highly unlikely that they will finish in the top four.

Redknapp refused to lay any blame for Defoe being below his best and said he wanted to play despite being at his grandfather’s bedside for the majority of Friday night.

Redknapp said: “To be fair to him, he was up half the night because one of his grandparents died and was at their bedside.

“But he wanted to play and I’m sure he’d have loved to score against the Hammers because the fans love him there! He always gets a good reception and I’m sure he’d like to have put a goal past them.”

Redknapp was not so sympathetic when he was told about Defoe’s t-shirt and said he would ban him from wearing it in their next league game, against Wigan on April 2.

Redknapp added: “I hope he doesn’t wear that again. It’s tempting fate. He was unlucky.”

Despite Tottenham’s poor run of form in their last three league games, Redknapp sees no reason why they cannot mount a serious challenge for the title next season.

The club are certainly heading in the right direction and there was more evidence of that on Saturday night when Tottenham announced that highly rated winger Gareth Bale had signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract to stay in north London.

His manager has no doubts he has the squad needed to win the title if he can bring in the players he wants at the end of the season.

“Whether people believe it I don’t know. They might think I’m mad, but I think it is possible. I said last year that I thought we’d get in the top four and we did it,” said Redknapp.

“There is nothing between us at the top now. I think the players believe it too.

“We have some real good players and if we can get one or two in to improve the squad, then the sky is the limit.”

It remains to be seen if Keane will be part of that Tottenham squad.

The Irish striker will sign a permanent deal with West Ham during the summer if they manage to beat the drop and stay in the Premier League. But if they go down he will return to White Hart Lane.

On the evidence of this display, he stands a big chance of helping the east London club retain their top-flight status.

West Ham defended for their lives and even though Tottenham hit the woodwork three times, they showed they have enough quality to compete against the best teams.

Keane will be available for their next league game against Manchester United and his midfield colleague Mark Noble has no doubts they should be challenging in the top half of the table.

Noble said: “If we can do good business in the windows, with the foundations we have, the fans we have and the club it is, there is no reason why we can’t do what Tottenham are doing here.”