Portsmouth boss ‘Arry Redknapp today joined Tim Sherwood in hitting out at Dimitar Berbatov, saying that he needs a damn good boot up the backside, although why Harry is getting involved is any body’s guess. In his column for The Sun, Redknapp fired off at Berbatov questioning his character and desire to play for Spurs, ‘Arry wrote:
“The very last thing boss Martin Jol needs right now is Dimitar Berbatov spitting his dummy out because he’s not in Tottenham’s starting team every week. You only find out the true character of your players when the chips are down and the pressure is on. And we all saw what Berbatov is made of when he was sat sulking on the bench at Newcastle the other night with a face like a big baby.”
Redknapp continued his rant, pointing out that although Berbatov was a 23 goal man last season he looks disinterested in fighting for Spurs in this campaign, ‘Arry also suggested that Berbatov isn’t playing on top form because “he’s sulking because he didn’t get a move to Manchester United in the summer.”
“When your team is in trouble you need the big characters to stand up and show some b*******. That’s just what Robbie Keane has done for Spurs and Berbatov should show the same attitude. I have always believed that when you lose a player’s support you get him out as quickly as possible. No matter how good, you’re better off without him. You can’t have a situation where you allow players to stir things up and undermine your authority.”
‘Arry draws a parallel with Arsenal’s crazy keeper Jens Lehmann – who has been behaving like a loon of late. Redknapp asks “How can he publicly slag off Manuel Almunia after the mistakes he made at the start of the season?”, and also reflects on his experience with stroppy players. Redknapp said: ”
When I was manager at West Ham I put Paulo Wanchope on the bench for a home match against Newcastle in 2000. An hour before the game he strolls into my office and tells me he’s going home. He said he did not sit on the bench for anyone and refused to get changed. The argument went on for 45 minutes before Paolo Di Canio intervened and told Wanchope to think of his team-mates. Eventually we convinced him to get changed and, as things turned out, he came on when we were a goal down, scored twice and we won 2-1. But the damage had already been done by then.”
So if it does come down to one of Martin Jol or Dimitar Berbatov, who would you have?