Loftus Road star hits back at comments made by veteran manager.
Moroccan international Adel Taarabt has gone on the offensive, responding to less than glowing remarks made by his boss Harry Redknapp, slamming the QPR manager’s training methods according to the Metro.
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Redknapp attacked Taarabt after QPR’s 3-2 defeat to Liverpool, claiming that the Loftus Road attacker was three stone overweight, a claim the player has vigorously denied whilst also taking the opportunity to challenge his training and tactical approach.
I am a professional – this is not about retaliation, this is about protecting my reputation,’ he said.
‘My job is to create, bring goals to the team. Maybe he expects me to make more tackles. I am not this type of player. I can only get fitness playing Premier League. You can train six or seven hours, but you won’t be fit.
‘The training sessions aren’t the same standard as Milan, or what I would expect under another manager.
‘They are not as intense, the players aren’t as motivated. It is the same as we used to do at Tottenham years ago. When we played West Ham he told the players ‘you’re not fit, you’re not this, you’re not that’.
‘I said ‘but the problem is we don’t have any plan in the game, we don’t know how to press as a team. It’s not about just running around, you need to play with your brain…
‘After West Ham he said all of the team is not fit. After Liverpool, because the performance was so good, he said everything was perfect – what, in one week, he changed the fitness? Impossible.’
It was perhaps unwise to attack Taarabt, given he clearly was not involved in QPR’s defeat to Liverpool, and Harry Redknapp is certainly coming under an increasing amount of pressure with his west London side sat bottom of the Premier League.
One imagines Taarabt won’t play for QPR again, not under Redknapp at least.