Harry Redknapp says Gilberto's days at Tottenham are numbered after a poor game against Spartak.
No way back for unconfident Brazilian
Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp says Gilberto's days at the club are numbered after the Brazilian gifted the opener and was then replaced at half-time in the 2-2 draw with Spartak Moscow.
The defender was making his first start under Redknapp as the Spurs chief faced an injury crisis for the Uefa Cup Group D encounter.
But Gilberto gifted Artem Dzyuba the opener by hesitating with a Gareth Bale back-pass before being hauled off by Redknapp at half-time with the score at 2-0 to the visitors after Dzyuba had netted a second.
"He was quite happy to come off," Redknapp said. "There's not really a way back for him here.
"The boy doesn't want to play here. He's a nice guy but just doesn't feel confident playing here."
Spurs bounced back in the second period with Luka Modric and Tom Huddlestone scoring to earn the draw Tottenham needed to qualify for the knock-out phase of the competition, where they will face an UEFA Champions League drop-out in the next round.
Hailed character
Redknapp hailed his side's character in the way they responded to going two goals down.
"We gave two bad goals away, we played that badly," Redknapp said. "It gave them a lift and they suddenly looked dangerous but we showed character to get back at them."
Despite Europe not being his priority, Redknapp added: "I would have been bothered if we went out because I don't want to lose, I just put the best team out I could. The Uefa Cup is now on the backburner."
The Spurs boss had several first-teamers sidelined with injury for the game and there are now concerns over goal-scorer Modric's tight hamstring and substitute Aaron Lennon's groin ahead of their Premier League clash at Newcastle this weekend.
"My plan was to take Modric off at half-time and now he's ended up with a tight hamstring," Redknapp said. "Lennon has a tight groin and they could be struggling for the weekend."
Laudrup pleased
Spartak coach Michael Laudrup was pleased with the result, despite letting a two goal lead slip.
He said: "A 2-2 draw is a good result, it was not enough but we did very well in the first half. It was difficult in the second half due to the high rhythm of Spurs.
"We didn't lose qualification from this game, it was when we lost against NEC.
"I told the players that everyone is saying it is impossible to win here and they said that last year - and we won.
"Our players looked tired in the last half an hour. We could only make three changes and they were not used to the rhythm of the game.
"We knew what type of game it would be, the only thing was Lennon not starting. Tactically we knew the game of Tottenham."
