BSC Young Boys v Tottenham Hotspur: IT IS the tie Tottenham Hotspur have dreamed about for 48 years and there is the feeling at the club that the entire season could hinge on what happens against Young Boys of Bern over the two legs of the Champions League play-off.
But manager Harry Redknapp has admitted the stakes are not high enough for him to risk captain Ledley King on the artificial pitch at Stade de Suisse in this evening’s first leg.
“I have thought about the astroturf and it could just kill Ledley completely, it could ruin his knee,” Redknapp said, ever mindful of the central defender’s chronic problem. “The surface will be harder than grass and it would be a problem for him.”
At the time of the play-off draw, Redknapp admitted he did not “know too much” about Young Boys, who are the lowest ranked team Tottenham could have got.
There was some relief that they avoided Dynamo Kiyv, Sampdoria, Auxerre and Braga in the tie that represents the gateway to the Champions League group stage.
Redknapp has sent scouts to watch Young Boys against Grasshoppers and Neuchatel while his staff have pored over videos of the Swiss Super League runners-up for the past three seasons.
The Swiss season started on July 17th and Young Boys have taken five points from five league games to sit seventh. They sold their star striker, Ivorian Seydou Doumbia, to CSKA Moscow over the summer and go into the tie on the back of a 1-0 home defeat to Neuchatel, who had started the game bottom of the table.
Redknapp is too long in the tooth for any complacency. He has noted the impressive manner in which Young Boys beat Fenerbahce to advance into the play-off round – they won 1-0 in Istanbul for a 3-2 aggregate win – while the synthetic pitch provides the biggest imponderable.
Redknapp is aware some Tottenham fans have said that if they cannot beat Young Boys the club would not deserve to be in the Champions League groups.
“That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Redknapp said. “We played Man City on Saturday and the expectancy is, ‘oh, we’ve got Man City, it’s going to be tough’ and everyone comes out fired up. It’s the other games that are a problem for any team.
“I spoke to Roy Hodgson (who has managed Neuchatel, Grasshoppers and Switzerland) and he said it would be a really difficult game on astroturf; they know how to win on it. And we looked at the video of them against Fenerbahce and they absolutely battered them at home. They could have beaten them by six.
“But let’s be honest, we should beat them, shouldn’t we? I’m sure we’re ready to play and the Astroturf shouldn’t be a problem because technically, we’ve got players like (Luka) Modric. You can see him and all these people playing on Astroturf.
“You could see Modric playing on anything, couldn’t you?”
GuardianService
