Threadbare squad irks Redknapp

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp admits their lack of strength in depth could scupper their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.

Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to 10-man QPR saw them slip out of the top four for the first time since November as their woeful run of form continued.

And Redknapp bemoaned his lack of options as Spurs chased the game yet they did not have a single senior player to turn to in the second-half with Emmanuel Adebayor, Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen all ruled out.

But the White Hart Lane boss, whose side have won just four of the 15 games since he was linked with the England position in February.

“We have to keep going,” he said. “Apart from Norwich, when we were awful in our worst performance, other than that we have played very well. I look at all the games [in their poor run], I don’t see too many bad performances.

“We haven’t got the biggest squad. Chelsea made eight changes to play Arsenal and still looked good. They could bring players in.

“Look at our bench and it was nowhere near that level. I couldn’t make too many changes. I only had one striker and two centre-halves. If one of them got injured I had Bongani Khumalo, who has been out on loan at Reading and didn’t get in their side and came back. We had nobody, we were desperate.”

And Redknapp admits Newcastle are in the box seat to qualify for Europe’s premier competition after their stunning late surge.

He added: “They are looking good. They look strong, good, and they will be bang in there for sure.”