HARRY Redknapp admits that Tottenham have 'dried up' in front of goal, conceding that his side are too reliant on top scorer Jermain Defoe. The 27-year-old England striker is the only Spurs player to score in the last five games...

By Ben Pearce

HARRY Redknapp admits that Tottenham have "dried up" in front of goal, conceding that his side are too reliant on top scorer Jermain Defoe.

The 27-year-old England striker is the only Spurs player to score in the last five games, starting with the 1-1 draw with Birmingham at the end of January.

Defoe has netted five times in that period, including a hat-trick against Leeds in the FA Cup replay, and taking his tally to 21 in all competitions.

But Redknapp is concerned that his Lilywhites seem impotent when Defoe fails to score - a major factor in their fall from the top four.

"We've not scored recently, goals has been our problem in the last few games," said the manager. "We just haven't scored as regularly as we did. We had a great run where we were scoring goals every week and then suddenly it's dried up a bit.

We drew 0-0 with both Hull and Aston Villa, and at Birmingham we were 1-0 up and could have put the game to bed but couldn't get the next goal.

"We didn't get any goals last week [against Wolves], and that's just suddenly been a problem for a recently. We haven't scored enough goals.

"It's hard to say why, I think we maybe need to weigh in with a few more goals from different areas, like we did earlier in the season or a few weeks back when everybody seemed to be scoring from all different positions. We need to get back to that again, because if Defoe's not scoring then we need other people to score."

Ironically, Redknapp has highlighted Spurs' goal crisis in the week leading up to their visit to Wigan Athletic.

Tottenham hammered the Latics 9-1 at White Hart Lane back in xxx, with Defoe scoring five goals, and Redknapp admits that Spurs may have used up all their luck in that momentous victory.

"Some days they go in and it just seems to be the way it goes," he mused. "Nine go in in one game and the next week you batter a team even more and don't score a single goal. We probably had more chances against Hull than we did against Wigan, and yet we get nine against Wigan and get none against Hull.

"I would happily take Jermain's goals from Wigan and spread them about. He's a top-class finisher when he gets the opportunities but some days it doesn't happen. He's our main goalscorer but we do need to get a few from midfield as well.

"That's where a Frank Lampard or someone is invaluable, he gets 20 goals a year from midfield - silly really isn't it. Every year, 20 goals from midfield, what a star that is for your team.