Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp insists they do not "fear" Manchester United ahead of this week's Carling Cup final.

"You respect but don't fear them because we also have good players for them to worry about," Redknapp said.

"You have to make sure you stay in the game and therefore there is no point going out there and starting gung-ho. You need to adopt a good shape, be solid, have a plan and know what you are doing against them.

"But we won't sit back - we will have a go. We have good attacking players and we hope to cause them problems as well."

For Redknapp, the key to the final will be about striking a balance between attack and defence.

"You have to be so careful because if you open up too much you can get absolutely ripped to pieces," he said.

"You can't just think 'okay, we'll play 4-4-2 and attack them all over the place' because they are possibly the best team in Europe. But we will be getting at them in all departments."