Tottenham captain Ledley King has warned their under-achieving squad must improve - or "we will go down".
Harry Redknapp blasted some of the players for what he feels is a lack of the stomach necessary in a relegation dogfight after watching them slump to a stoppage-time 1-0 defeat at Wigan - a fifth Barclays Premier League match without a victory.
Spurs had started brightly, but faded badly during the second half and failed to provide new £15million striker Jermain Defoe the service to deliver a goal on his return from Portsmouth.
The north London club - who have one foot in the Carling Cup final following their win over Burnley - have slipped back into the bottom three, with the positive influence Redknapp had when he took charge in October clearly fading.
King - who played his first full 90 minutes since Boxing Day - is in no doubt of the challenge facing his team.
"We have to improve, otherwise we will go down. It is simple," declared the centre-half.
"We need people to stand up and fight for each other, and be counted as men and as players.
"That has not been happening enough, which is why we find ourselves in this position."
King, quoted in the London Evening Standard, added: "We are not playing well away from home, but when that happens, you have to work hard and maintain your focus.
"We are conceding late goals because of a lack of concentration. We are switching off, and that sums us up at the moment."
Redknapp - who left £15million man David Bentley on the bench on Sunday - has made it clear he feels the squad inherited from Juande Ramos lacks strength in depth.
While he has more money to spend in the transfer window, the former Portsmouth manager is not certain wheeling and dealing is the answer.
"The club have paid a lot of money for these players because they are supposed to be quality players but they need to show that on the pitch," he said.
"We have some players in there who need to do a lot better than they are at the moment."
Asked if he had plans to bring in replacements, Redknapp replied: "I haven't got anyone in mind.
"It is pretty quiet really. Where do you find good players this time of year? It is hard."
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Comment 1 - 4 of 4
i agree with you melliott as a spurs fan for over 30 years, you know i think we have to brace our selves for a hell off a battle to get out of the dreaded relagation fight.. its hurts me to see this happening to the club i love,but the players from the performances they have given, dont desevere to be in the prem let alone play for our beloved spurs. now i aint just saying it is the players there are obviously other issues, poor team selection, tactics, stupid money for stupid players the list goes on but i just hope and prey that we can get the season out the way leave itbehind us and, and build on next season..
rednapp needs to look at his team selection before he slags off everyone in the team too much....playing 3 central defenders but not in 3-5-2. that means wingbacks...corluka a wingback??? king was playing in front of dawson and woody...WHY? OUT OF POSITION...zokora playing right wing...WHY? OUT OF POSITION. he should be in front of woody and dawson/king.o'hara kept coming inside so o'hara king modric zokora all jamming up the midfield and no space for modric to play...no natural playmaker to pass to pav or defoe so both having to drop to midfield to get ball...jamming it all up again. no natural width so no space. bale needs to be a winger not a full back as his defending is poor so forget downing...you have a winger already...get a better left back. so harry bringing on lennon for modric was a poor move as didnt help the problem. ...so to the problem of ledley king...someone is going to have to face the fact that if king cannot play every game he is either going to have to get the problem fixed which means a long time out or admit to the fact that he has got a chronic problem which will nevr be fixed and he needs to be let go...a top team cannot rely on a guy to play every 3rd match maybe!!! do you think the top 4 would have that. cut him loose for his sake and for spurs. harry get your tactics right and maybe the team will play for you...look what happened againt burnley when you played bently out of postion and then got it right by replacing him with ohara....get it wrong like ramos and you had better get used to championship football
do yo uthink that with that much passion in my critism of spurs i could support a bunch of whingers from arseholes, read what i said, as a spurs supporter for forty years i think i can tell it as it is
gutless spurs deserve to go down, this stems from the top not just the players. redknapp says the team lacks fight, what happened at the burnley game when ghaly was being readied for action, redknap bottled it cause some sections booed, so what, show bottle then the players might, then yesterday, saying pav and defoe were not that good, rubbish they had no supply from a poor under working midfield, only semi decent player was dawson, the rest aint fit to wear our shirts, time for change and now, before we head to the championship, then there will be no coming back, in that league you have to fight to win games. on recent displays not there is proving to be not one man amongst them, if you think i'm wrong, by all means name one
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