Harry Redknapp believes the 4-4 draw at Arsenal last night could act as a catalyst for his reign at Tottenham Hotspur.
“Hopefully it can be a springboard,” said Redknapp, before he looked ahead to Saturday’s visit of the Premier League leaders Liverpool. “We can’t wait. Bring them on. We will give it a real go. We will be difficult to beat on Saturday.”
“I haven’t experienced many games like that,” he added. “I saw Man United beat Arsenal 5-4; at least I think that was how it finished up. I was here with my Dad, who was a big Arsenal fan. It was a week before Munich. I’ve not had a team come back as late as that.
“It looked all over. But once we had 4-3, we threw [Jonathan] Woodgate up front. They’re either going to score again or we’ll have one last chance. That’s what happened.”
Redknapp was unhappy with the way his team defended set pieces but praised the character that they showed to keep going.
“I’ve just tried to make them believe in themselves,” he said. “There’s ability in the squad. They won’t need motivating after that. I thought that Bolton [on Sunday] was our big game, a game we had to win. After that, it was almost two bonus games. Coming here is so difficult so it’s a great point.
Redknapp’s elation contrasted with his Arsenal counterpart Arsène Wenger, who criticised his players for a “lack of maturity”.
“You have seen the game, I will leave you to judge,” he said when asked whether he thought Tottenham had deserved a point. “We were closer to goal number five than we were to conceding [the third].
“I believe that we produced an excellent game, we were really outstanding. The positive side was that we were superior to Tottenham but the negative was that we didn’t win.
“That was down to a lack of maturity but this isn’t necessarily linked to experience. We were too cautious rather than scoring number five or six. The right pass would have seen us score. We weren’t going forward with enough purpose and we were punished. We made some mistakes defensively, of course. All out title rivals won. With the game we produced tonight, we should have won, too.”
