Roman Pavlyuchenko warned to 'fight' at Tottenham

• Y_Shun

  12 Sep 09, 11:49

  Roman Pavlyuchenko warned to 'fight' at Tottenham to keep Russia place

  • Striker has barely featured for Spurs this season
  • 'If he is not playing, it is worrying' says coach Guus Hiddink

  
  Roman Pavlyuchenko celebrates after scoring in Russia's 3-1 win against Wales in Cardiff. Photograph: Stephen Pond/EMPICS Sport

   

  Guus Hiddink has warned Roman Pavlyuchenko that he is wasting his talent and has urged the striker to start fighting for his place at Tottenham Hotspur or risk being left out of the Russia squad. The Russia manager, who admitted that he is concerned with Pavlyuchenko's lack of football at club level, believes the 27-year-old has failed to recapture the form he showed at Euro 2008 and claimed that the forward's laid-back approach means that "almost daily you have to grab him".

  Pavlyuchenko has played only 11 minutes of Premier League football this season and is behind Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane in the pecking order at White Hart Lane. The former Spartak Moscow player revealed that he would be willing to listen to offers last month but, with the transfer window now closed, his immediate future lies at Spurs. Hiddink maintains he can make an impact there if he applies himself in the right way.

  "He must start fighting for his position at Tottenham," said the Dutchman, who watched Pavlyuchenko come off the substitutes' bench to score the third goal against Wales in the World Cup qualifying victory last night. "When he is playing he must commit himself. If he is not playing, it is worrying. He is depending on the competition for his place in the national squad. If I had more strikers of a high level it would be difficult for him. But I like him very much.

  "He does not use his talents at the top level. When you saw him in the Euros [in 2008] he was well-trained, he was fit, he was in a good way aggressive. He was top. He showed what he can do. But almost daily you have to grab him and put him under pressure. He has a lot of power. I like to challenge him to use his power. He is sometimes laid-back in using his talents."