“Everton put their best team out tonight. They didn’t put a bunch of kids out. They had Fellaini, Saha, Distin, Cahill and Yakubu out there.”
Tottenham had a lengthy absentee list of their own with Aaron Lennon, Peter Crouch, Jonathan Woodgate, Ledley King, Luka Modric and Vedran Corluka all injured, Jermaine Defoe suspended and Niko Kranjcar cup-tied.
And Redknapp said: “Everton might say they only put out what they had, but I was the same. We only had what we had. Everybody who was fit was there tonight.
“We were in the same boat as David. He wanted to win and so did we. He could have played five kids but he chose not to.
“I haven’t got a squad as big as Everton. You go through their top players, there’s more at Everton that there are here. We haven’t got a big squad. I’ve got four strikers and four central defenders, but after that I’ve only got three central midfielders. Most have six. We’re not overloaded in other areas.
“I’m really pleased with the lads tonight. Those that came in didn’t do themselves any harm.”
