Tottenham Hotspur Boss Harry Redknapp Faces Roman Pavlyuchenko Conundrum

Harry finding it hard to fit Pav in plans...

Oct 27, 2009 12:38:54 AM

EPL: Roman Pavlyuchenko, Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United (PA)

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EPL: Roman Pavlyuchenko, Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United (PA)

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Harry Redknapp has admitted it will be difficult to keep Roman Pavlyuchenko at Tottenham Hotspur while depriving him of first-team football.

The 28-year-old hitman is set to be given a rare start in the League Cup tie against Everton tonight; however, as he is well below Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Peter Crouch in the Spurs pecking order, the tall Russian has been persistently linked with moves away from White Hart Lane.

Redknapp confirmed that there was interest in Pavlyuchenko from other clubs, but has publicly declared his admiration for the Russian forward and his reluctance to let him leave.

Still, the Spurs boss has been unable to offer him first-team opportunities due to the form of the other strikers at his disposal - a difficult situation for a player looking for regular football in a World Cup year.

"He's a player on the world stage. He's a World Cup player. So you'll always have interest, particularly in goalscorers," Redknapp said to Sky Sports.

"Italian or Spanish teams would want him. Four strikers can be a problem. In all honesty, I'd rather have three good strikers.

"People say you can't have too many, but it can be a problem when you're talking about top-class players who want to play every week and in the World Cup for their countries.

"We have two who aren't playing every week. It is a problem."

Pavlyuchenko's lack of football has raised the concerns of Russia boss Guus Hiddink, who shared some ideas with Redknapp as to how to motivate the relaxed striker.

"Guus Hiddink was here on Friday and we spoke about Pav [Pavlyuchenko], how he is, how you get him going," Redknapp said.

"He had the same opinion as me, really. He said sometimes he shouts at him, sometimes he's nice to him, sometimes he doesn't speak to him at all, sometimes he talks to him. And he's tried all those things.

"He's a very laid-back guy, Pav, but he's got good ability. We both feel he's technically such a good player. But he just needs to be a bit more aggressive.

"I'm looking for a big performance from him. A performance that says 'you can't leave me out the team now'."

Philip Wen, Goal.com UK

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