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Harry Redknapp visibly shook with anger as he delivered his verdict on a third consecutive league defeat that threatens the course of Tottenham Hotspur's season. He was then asked if uncertainty over his future is shaking Spurs. The reverberations must have been felt across Liverpool 4.
"Absolute rubbish. Absolute rubbish. Absolute rubbish," the cockerel crowed three times. "You saw the effort out there. How can it destabilise the team when they come out and play like that They haven't just said: 'The manager is leaving, we ain't bothered any more.' We have had three very, very difficult games – Man U, Arsenal away and Everton away, who have beaten Man City here and Chelsea here."
The Spurs manager had a valid argument, the second‑half display at Goodison plus the effort against Manchester United were not those of a team downing tools due to England's interest in their manager. And there was another performance that undermined the theory that Fabio Capello's departure has had damaging ramifications throughout the Premier League. Everton's.
They too have been surrounded by talk of managerial upheaval since early February, when Capello quit England, Redknapp was anointed heir apparent and David Moyes his likely successor at White Hart Lane. Since then, or more precisely since a productive transfer window closed on 31 January, Everton's season has been transformed and they approach the Merseyside derby on Tuesday, the day before Moyes marks his 10-year anniversary in charge, and an FA Cup quarter-final against Sunderland on Saturday with renewed hope his exit is not a fait accompli. "There is a buzz around Goodison again," beamed Moyes after Nikica Jelavic marked his full Everton debut with an instinctive, match‑winning goal.
"More than anything I want David Moyes to get that FA Cup so he can say I got you some silverware," said Bill Kenwright, the Everton chairman whose greatest challenge is to convince Moyes this summer that he can achieve more than just prized scalps for the club, however routine victories like this may be. "Why wouldn't people want him But he is our manager and I do believe he is our manager because he wants to be our manager and he gets what he can and what he wants out of this club. I think that is important to him. He is ambitious. I am hugely ambitious, but I have got to be realistic and that is why I have to find a new owner [for the club]."
Everton deserved their lead for a first-half display in which they beat Spurs to every loose ball and hunted in packs, as you would expect, but also passed with finesse, broke with pace and, in their recent £5m signing from Rangers, had the finisher Moyes has long craved. It was fitting their best player should be Leon Osman, who has made more appearances under Moyes than any other player and created Jelavic's winner with a sublime spin away from Younès Kaboul.
"Ossie is part of the furniture here," said Moyes. "He does so many jobs for me. He is not underrated by me but sometimes he is by the supporters."
Spurs cannot be subdued permanently, however, and in Redknapp's words "battered" Everton in the second half without seriously troubling Tim Howard until stoppage time, when Rafael van der Vaart's deflected shot looped on to the roof of the net and, from the resulting corner, Louis Saha missed a glorious chance to punish his former club from six yards.
Redknapp, whose mood was not lifted by the away supporters bemoaning his decision to isolate Gareth Bale in right midfield, insisted: "We have moved into that top group now and that's where Tottenham will be for many years to come. Winning is difficult. You try to finish above teams like Man U, who have been there and done it every year. Arsenal are in the Champions League every year. So it is a tall order to finish above those teams. We have a lot of quality but maybe we haven't got the strength in depth of some of the other clubs. But we are bang there and we will still be there at the end. We will still finish third."
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