Harry Redknapp hailed the performance of Charlie Austin and his Queens Park Rangers side following their second victory of the Premier League season, a 2-0 win over Aston Villa which lifted the London club off the foot of the table and condemned their opponents to a fifth successive defeat.
Austin scored either side of half-time during a win that eased the pressure on Redknapp but increased the scrutiny on his opposite number, Paul Lambert. Villa have not picked up a point nor scored a goal since Lambert signed a contract extension in mid-September.
Redknapp claimed a turn in his side’s fortunes had been coming following a number of impressive displays in recent weeks. The QPR manager was embroiled in a war of words with Adel Taarabt after the defeat by Liverpool the Sunday before last but on Mondaynight insisted the Moroccan midfielder had a future at the club.
Redknapp praised Austin’s performance but stated that the win was born of a collective effort. He said: “[They were] two great finishes for Charlie, I couldn’t be more pleased. He’s an absolutely smashing lad and a fantastic boy. He’s come out of the non-league, played down at Poole Town and Hungerford and God knows where he’s been around the lower divisions and to be scoring goals in the Premier League is great for him. There is no reason he can’t get a real good tally of goals this year.”
Austin was clear on the significance of the win, which narrowed the gap to 17th-place Leicester City to two points. It followed an encouraging display against Liverpool. “We knew if we put in half that performance today we’d get something from the game and luckily we put in even more of a performance and got the three points. It was massive for us.”
Redknapp praised his defenders, starting with Yun Suk-young. “There were lots of good performances. Yun came in at left-back and has done fantastic. Richard Dunne and Steven Caulker were up against Benteke. I thought they were great.”
Taarabt is set to play in a reserve match on Tuesday and Redknapp was adamant that the player could feature again for QPR. Of their recent spat he said: “It’s finished. Absolutely he can still play a part in the future, if he gets himself fit. That’s all I ask. All I ask people to do is come in every day, train, be thankful for being a professional footballer and work hard. If he’s fit and ready to play he’s a great talent.”
Lambert said he was unconcerned by his side’s repeated failure to score. “I tend not to get them down on that. They will come out of the traps on Sunday [against Tottenham] and I know we are going to be all right in that department because, when Benteke gets up to speed and, with Agbonlahor, Weimann, N’Zogbia and Bent, there are guys there with goals in them and it will happen.”
