HARRY Redknapp is confident that he will have no problem lifting his players after the defeat at Old Trafford, pointing out how his side responded to their FA Cup semi-final defeat. Spurs beat Arsenal just three days after their shock elimination...

By Ben Pearce

HARRY Redknapp is confident that he will have no problem lifting his players after the defeat at Old Trafford, pointing out how his side responded to their FA Cup semi-final defeat.

Spurs beat Arsenal just three days after their shock elimination at Wembley, and Redknapp is adamant that there will be no hangover from Saturday's defeat in Manchester when Spurs host Bolton this weekend.

"It hasn't been hard to lift the players, they didn't get too low after the cup defeat," said the Tottenham manager.

"If the lads were up and down too much I think you would have seen them on the floor after Portsmouth, but they weren't. They came in and got on with it, and came back strongly for the Arsenal game.

"The semi-final knocked us all flat but we just got on with the next game. It should have knocked us for six really, but it didn't.

"We all came back in on the Monday and we were all low, but we had to pick ourselves up and the players were all great. They all picked themselves up and said 'there's nothing we can do, we tried'.

"The competition for places is fierce. Suddenly Wilson Palacios is available, Ledley King's available, so is Aaron Lennon. There's competition for places everywhere again, which is good.

"I think we'll keep going. We've got people like [Luka] Modric, we've got some good footballers here when everyone's fit. Lennon coming back now is a big bonus. We're looking strong. The bench was a load of kids at one time, but we still kept on going.

"When we lost Lennon everyone thought 'that's the end of them' but we came back. When we lost against Portsmouth everyone said 'that's the end of them' but we've come back strong again, and we're still right there."

With headline-grabbing victories over Arsenal and Chelsea coming in between defeats against Portsmouth and Manchester United, critics suggest that Spurs still lack consistency. However, the manager disagrees.

"I don't think we've ever been inconsistent. We've been very consistent, that's why we're fourth in the league this year," said Redknapp.

"I don't think there's been any inconsistency in Tottenham this year. If you look at the number of games we've lost our record's been fantastic.

"The only games we've lost at home are a couple of games where we absolutely battered teams, and some days you just can't score.

"We had 30-odd shots against Portsmouth and just didn't get the goal. Some days it happens in football. It wasn't lack of effort or not trying, it wasn't lack of anything, it just wouldn't go our way. We had a good goal disallowed in that game and we were on a hiding to nothing.

"Man United got beaten in the cup by Leeds this year. They're not inconsistent. Chelsea were beaten by Tottenham. It's football, it can happen. But we've certainly not been an inconsistent team this year. To be fourth you've got to be consistent.