Tottenham's Pavlyuchenko feeling isolated in London

Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko admits he still doesn't understand what manager Harry Redknapp is saying to him.

Despite spending hours learning English, the 27-year-old Russian was left wishing he had paid attention to English lessons in school as it could take him up to a year to fully adapt to the Premiership.

"I thought that if I studied English really hard I would learn it in six months," said Pavlyuchenko.

"Now I see I was way too optimistic. When we played against Manchester United I had a chat with Nemanja Vidic who told me he reckoned it would take a year to fully adapt.

"'It is such a pity I had to start from zero. I absolutely regret not paying any attention in English classes at school."

The Russian striker said that the language barrier was also proving a problem off the pitch when he added: "Me and my wife miss our friends in Russia so much. In our spare time in Moscow we liked to go to the cinema or a theatre.

"In London we can't do that. We have to spend all the time at home but can't even invite team mates round for dinner."