Tottenham vs Stoke City preview - Redknapp: Don't blame Crouch

Posted Saturday, April 09, 2011 by PA

Harry Redknapp has urged Tottenham fans not to hold a grudge against Peter Crouch over his damaging dismissal against Real Madrid.

The genuine belief that Tottenham could overcome Real in their Champions League quarter-final clash all but evaporated on Tuesday night as Jose Mourinho's team ran out 4-0 winners at the Bernabeu.

The story may have been a lot different had Crouch not seen red for two late fouls in the opening 15 minutes.

Within seconds of the rash challenge on Marcelo that earned Crouch his second yellow, the internet was awash with comments poking fun at the towering striker - some of them from Spurs fans.

The 30-year-old apologised for his sending off and looked chirpy at the club's training ground today ahead of Saturday's Barclays Premier League game against Stoke.

Redknapp admits Crouch's confidence has been hit by the sending off, but he has called on the fans to remember that without the striker's seven European goals, the club would not have made the last eight.

"Crouchy has been low and feels he's let everybody down, but you have to remember that without Crouchy we wouldn't have been there," Redknapp said.

"His goals took us to the quarter-finals. He has won games for us. He's a great lad and I have got so much time for him as a person and a player. He's sorry for what he did but we have to move on."

Spurs' recent poor form, particularly against teams in the bottom half of the table, has seen them fall five points behind fourth place with eight matches remaining.

The Londoners have not won for almost two months and have failed to score in their last four, but Redknapp insists he is not worried about his side's poor run.

"I'm not concerned about our form at all," the Spurs boss said.

"We've made lots of chances, but the form isn't bad at all. We have had one defeat in the last nine league games. You can't always win. I have been pleased with the way that we have been playing.

"It's tough to break into the top four. We beat Manchester City to do it last year and they went out and spent about £140million on players to make sure that they got there this year. That's how hard it is, but we still have a good chance."

Aaron Lennon, who pulled out of Tuesday's game at the last minute due to illness, will be given a late fitness test on Saturday, along with injured Croatian duo Vedran Corluka and Niko Kranjcar.

There was some good news from the treatment room concerning Ledley King though. The injury-plagued defender has not played since October but no longer requires a second operation on his groin problem.

"Ledley is not having surgery," Redknapp added.

"He's doing a little bit of fitness training. Let's see how he goes. It's week to week with him."

Stoke boss Tony Pulis has heaped praise on top-scorer Jon Walters - but stressed that the contribution made by his strikers should not be measured by their goal count.

Walters has netted in the Potters' last two games to take his tally to nine in an impressive first season at the Britannia Stadium following his move from Ipswich in August.

His fellow frontman Kenwyne Jones, Stoke's record signing, cost more than twice as much as Walters when he joined the club from Sunderland for £8million a few days earlier, but the Trinidad and Tobago international's total so far this term is seven goals, and the last of those came on January 1.

Regardless of their respective strike-rates, though, Pulis has been delighted with the form of both players.

"Jon has been a breath of fresh air, even when he wasn't scoring goals," Pulis said.

"His effort and commitment to the football club has been fantastic and he is the type of player that every club needs.

"Whether he is playing well or not, you always get the same from Jon and sometimes those players don't get appreciated.

"I think the crowd have started to take to him because he's scored some goals, but take those goals away and I still think he has been absolutely fantastic this year.

"What we try to emphasise at this football club is that it is not the person who scores the goals that we are worried about - we are more concerned about the performance of the team.

"If it's Ryan Shawcross, Robert Huth, Jermaine Pennant or Matthew Etherington and there are no forwards involved in scoring the goals, if we win games, that takes nothing away from the forwards."

On Jones, he added: "Kenwyne's last three or four games have been absolutely fantastic."

Pulis is optimistic recent absentee John Carew, missing for three games with a back problem, will feature against Spurs, but Stoke will be without Danny Higginbotham, who could be facing up to six months out due to a cruciate knee ligament injury he sustained in the Chelsea game.