I will survive OK says Redknapp
AFTER the week he’s had Harry Redknapp isn’t exactly top of the pops – but after QPR’s winless run extended against Leeds he harked back to Gloria Gaynor’s chart-topper, insisting ‘I will survive!’
Reports this week suggest Redknapp was on the brink of getting the boot from Loftus Road and while Jermaine Jenas salvaged a point for the Hoops, if they’re to return to the Premier League it looks like it will have to be through the play-offs.
Redknapp was at pains to point out the length of his injury list and how he could do with Charlie Austin off the treatment table.
A fifth match on the spin without a win did little to lift the gloom at Loftus Road – summed up when Clint Hill’s late effort was ruled out for offside – but Redknapp isn’t losing any sleep.
“I don’t go home at night and worry about my job, I will survive, I love what I do – I don’t need the money, I do it because I enjoy it,” he said.
“I don’t leave home at 5:30am because I have to, I do it because I want to. The chairman’s not a silly man, he knows I’m the right man for the job.”
Redknapp’s day got off to the worse possible start when Ross McCormack fired a dominant Leeds side ahead on 14 minutes.
In truth the hosts could have been further behind had the Scottish international not fired tamely at Rob Green from the spot minutes earlier. Hill thought he had snatched the win but Redknapp claimed it was injuries that were denting his side’s chances.
“If I was picking my best team, I think I’ve got six or seven missing. That’s too many players,” he said.
“But the lads who played the game gave everything and everybody worked hard.
“We will keep going and if it means going through the playoffs, we’ve got to make sure we make that and we will go from there.
“I couldn’t fault anybody, there was no lack of effort from anybody and there hasn’t been a lack of effort from anyone.”
In a lively start, McCormack saw his effort saved following David Dunne’s foul on the striker before he then made amends with his free-kick courtesy of a deflection off Kevin Doyle.
Leeds were dominating proceedings with Cameron Stewart and McCormack threatening.
But after switching to a 4-4-2 formation, the Hoops found their feet, and after previously heading straight at Leeds keeper Jack Butland, Jenas equalised after a clever one-two with Doyle.
Hill’s skilful finish from Aaron Hughes’ free-kick then quickened Leeds’ pulses late on before being ruled out.
And Leeds boss Brian McDermott, who saw his side watched by prospective new owner Massimo Cellino, preferred to look at the positives.
“They scored just before halftime and that was disappointing from our point of view not to take all three.We could have been 2-0 or 3-0 up maybe we should have killed the game off in the first half,” said McDermott.
“Before the game we would have taken a point, but the way the game panned out we could have won.
“It’s a point gained though and I just want positivity around us. I certainly won’t look at that as a missed opportunity.”