Ledley King fears the drop - Times Interview

[Hoddle_Ledge]

Ledley King fears the drop
Spurs’ captain wants a win over Portsmouth to kickstart a climb away from the bottom of the Barclay's Premier League

Full interview in The Times

Neither club expected this after finishing comfortably in mid-table and winning a cup apiece at Wembley last season but Tottenham versus Portsmouth this afternoon is a bona fide relegation scrap and nobody knows that better than the Spurs captain, Ledley King, who will stand in the middle of the dressing room at White Hart Lane before the match and tell his teammates: “If we carry on like this, we’ll go down.”

King, a natural leader, likes to talk to the other players, individually and collectively, before each game. He will remind them before they run out and again in the huddle that customarily precedes the kick-off that this is a “six-pointer” and that they should not allow themselves to be distracted by the crowd’s reaction to any of the participants.

“Focus entirely on winning” will be the gist of his message.

Harry Redknapp and Jermain Defoe both come up against their old club for the first time since quitting the south coast for north London and are steeling themselves for hostility from their erstwhile fans. The Spurs supporters routinely abuse Sol Campbell, who has never been forgiven for transferring just down the High Road, to Arsenal, back in 2001. It is a combustible mix, requiring additional security. More significantly, Tottenham are back in the bottom three in the Premier League, having lost momentum and nearly all the ground gained after Redknapp’s appointment towards the end of October.

Unbeaten in the new manager’s first six games, which included two victories over Liverpool and a thrilling 4-4 draw with Arsenal, the tide turned with a 2-1 defeat at Fulham in mid-November and they have taken only eight points from their past nine league matches.

Pompey are in trouble, too, on the slide since Redknapp’s departure. Guided by his assistant-turned-successor, Tony Adams, they have lost each of their last four in the league and have won only two out of 12 in total. Both managers have appeased followers lately in the knockout competitions, with Tottenham odds-on for a return trip to Wembley to defend the Carling Cup and Portsmouth safely through to the fourth round in the FA Cup after a deserved replay victory away to Bristol City in midweek.

The two clubs, however, readily admit that survival among the elite is their priority. “That’s obvious,” King said. “The Premier League is where we want to play our football, it’s as simple as that.”

Redknapp had complained that the balance of the squad he inherited was “all wrong.” Did King agree there were not enough “battlers” for the job in hand? “I think that’s probably been a problem as long as I can remember really,” he said. “We’ve always had players who could beat anybody on their day, but we’ve not done it consistently enough against the teams around us, or lower down. We’ve got enough quality, but look at the games we’re losing. We’re unbeaten against the top four, which speaks for itself, but we have to toughen up and scrape our way through against the others. We have to be realistic, we’re in the bottom three and we’re in for a fight.”

At 28, this most stoic and reliable of centre-halves is Spurs’ longest-serving player, having made his debut in May 1999. He recently completed 200 league appearances and would have made many more but for the chronic knee condition that now prevents him training or from playing more than once a week.

The same applies to his international career. He was capped in March 2002 and played twice at Euro 2004 but missed the 2006 World Cup through injury, had to withdraw from Fabio Capello’s first squad and has been restricted to four appearances in the past two years, the most recent a start against Estonia in June 2007. Last season he was able to play only four times in the Premier League.

After sitting out training on an exercise bike, as usual, King admitted on Friday his ongoing battle for fitness was a serious concern and accepted that the knee problem had to be “managed” rather than cured. “I’m experienced enough now to understand the tactics and the game plan without being out there every day, but not being able to train is a disadvantage from the fitness point of view. Just playing matches is tough because it means putting myself on the line in a game situation without having done any physical work all week.”

It will be of scant consolation, but should offer considerable encouragement, that Paul McGrath played with distinction for Aston Villa and the Republic of Ireland for years under identical circumstances, ticking over between matches on a bike or in the swimming pool. Explaining why Redknapp had rested him from all the cup games since taking charge, King said: “When the manager first came, our situation was a really bad one and he said the league was what mattered and that he wanted me to concentrate on playing in that.” He does not expect to play in the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final at Burnley on Wednesday.

Addressing his team’s loss of form, King said: “When the manager first arrived we picked up some very good results but we’ve gone off the boil and it’s vital that we get back on track. We need six points from these next two home games.”

Why had Spurs regressed? “I think it tells the story of our season, and why we were down there in the first place. We’ve not worked hard enough — certainly not as hard as when Harry took over. When you’re not playing at your best, it’s important that you dig deep and grind out results. Too many times we’ve let in cheap late goals which have cost us.

“This is a big club with good players and we should definitely be doing a lot better than we are. People were asking the question, ‘Are they too good to go down?’ Well, if we carry on this way, obviously we’re not. We’re losing too many games and if it keeps going the way it is, we’ll be relegated, so we have to pull our fingers out and turn it around.

“When we got out of the bottom three, maybe subconsciously the relief caused us to ease up a bit, but the league table says it’s very tight and it looks like it’s going to be that way until the end of the season. It’s up to the players to get us out of this situation.”

The sincere hope, in both camps, is that the match is not marred by crowd misbehaviour of the sort that saw 11 Spurs fans charged with verbally abusing Campbell at the corresponding fixture at Fratton Park in September. King said: “It’s important that the players concentrate on the game and don’t get wrapped up in the hype and the atmosphere. I like to put certain things in the players’ minds. That’s why we have the huddle just before kick-off — to make sure people don’t forget what has been said back in the changing room. Just before we go out, I’ll emphasise that it’s all about the three points, nothing else.

“I looked up to Sol when he was here, he’s been a great player, and I hope our fans show him respect this time and it doesn’t happen. I don’t know whether the Portsmouth fans will have a go at Jermain, but he’s got a tough enough skin to be able to deal with that and get on with his game.”

Of Redknapp’s characteristic wheeling and dealing in the January transfer window, King said: “A few fresh faces could give the place a lift and could make all the difference.”

Ditto maximum points this afternoon, which would lift Spurs above Pompey on goal difference.

 

[milkman]

I think its more of the case that we need to win, rather than we want a win!

Ledley is a player that we need to motivate the rest of the team, and get them working hard again for maximum points.

 

[hughy]

We need a win, and we also need goals. The better our goal difference is, the stronger our chances of surviving are. It's like having an extra point when the League is tight.