Friday, November 12, 2010

Redknapp: Van der Vaart needs to get fitter

Rafael Van der Vaart has shrugged off a hamstring injury
GettyImages
Rafael Van der Vaart has been told to shape up.

Tottenham midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart may have scored in all six of his matches at White Hart Lane, but his manager Harry Redknapp believes that he has to get fitter.



Van der Vaart, 27, has become a firm favourite at his new club since joining Spurs from Real Madrid for £8 million on deadline day in the summer.

But Redknapp reckons the Netherlands midfielder showed signs of fatigue towards the end of Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Sunderland and still needs to fully adapt to playing in the Premier League.

''He should be okay for the weekend [against Blackburn]. He got tired, didn't he? He disappeared a bit, second half [against Sunderland],'' Redknapp said.

''He's got to get fitter and adapt to playing 90 minutes in the Premier League. He's a fantastic player but I think he does just run out of steam a little bit at the moment.''

Van der Vaart aggravated a hamstring injury in Tottenham's 3-1 win over Inter Milan earlier this month and sat out last weekend's 4-2 defeat at Bolton before making a goalscoring return to the side against the Black Cats.

No comments: