SOCCER:WHEN HARRY Redknapp recently talked about having "three of four players who can make the difference" it did not take long to work out Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart were uppermost in the Tottenham manager's mind. Imagine, then, how Redknapp feels as he contemplates going into Tottenham's biggest game of this or any other season without two of that revered trio and the third member unlikely to be 100 per cent fit after returning from injury.
Redknapp had sounded bullish when the draw for the last-16 stage was made in December, but he could be forgiven for believing fate has conspired against him since his side were paired with the Serie A leaders. During that period, Bale has picked up a back injury, Modric has had his appendix removed and Van der Vaart has been sidelined with a calf strain, ripping the heart out of Tottenham’s attacking threat.
Peter Crouch has also been out with a back problem, which means when Spurs faced Sunderland on Saturday they were without four players who have contributed 13 of their 24 goals in their eight European matches this season. Redknapp’s side still won, but nobody in the Spurs camp would dare to pretend defeating Sunderland with a weakened team is a barometer for what can be achieved against a club that has won the European Cup seven times.
After Bale’s exhilarating performances against Internazionale, it is no surprise much of the focus in Milan had been on whether the winger would be fit to return to the stadium he illuminated with a hat-trick in October. Yet many Tottenham supporters may argue that being deprived of Modric’s mercurial talent will impact on their team every bit as much as the absence of the “Welsh Cyclone”, which was how one Italian newspaper described Bale after he blew Inter away in that breathtaking second half.
Being without Bale and Modric threatens to have huge consequences for a team whose tactics in this competition seem to be based around the premise that attack is the best form of defence. Exhilarating forward play and thrilling goals have compensated for their shortcomings at the back, which were horribly exposed during their last visit to San Siro, when Spurs were 4-0 down against Inter after only 35 minutes. Redknapp knows Spurs will be out of the competition if they start in similar fashion tonight.
The Spurs manager has vowed he will not dispense with the cavalier approach that swept his team into the knock-out stages on the back of an avalanche of goals yet the changes he has been forced to make are hardly like for like. Niko Kranjcar, who appears the most likely to deputise on the left flank, might be a flair player but the Croat would never claim to have the searing pace that enables Bale to make Spurs such a dangerous counter-attacking force or the Welshman’s quality of delivery from wide areas.
As well as missing a few of their main acts, Tottenham’s supporting cast have also been stripped bare and highlighted a lack of creativity in central midfield. Tom Huddlestone remains injured and Jermaine Jenas is suspended. All of which means Redknapp has been forced to pick from the bottom of his midfield pile when he turns to the Brazilian Sandro and Wilson Palacios to play in front of the back four.
Milan have their own selection problems. Antonio Cassano and Mark van Bommel are cup-tied and Andrea Pirlo has joined the veteran striker Filippo Inzaghi on the sidelines after he suffered a knee injury in training last Friday. Massimiliano Allegri, the Milan manager, has suggested he could push the Brazilian defender Thiago Silva into a midfield role, with Rino Gattuso and Mathieu Flamini likely to be deployed either side of him.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexandre Pato and Robinho are fit, and therein lies the key difference with Spurs’ problems. The challenge for Spurs is to contain that attacking trident – assuming Pato starts ahead of Clarence Seedorf – and take a scoreline back to White Hart Lane that gives them a chance of progressing.
