- May 20, 2005
- 9,705
- 3,232
Joey
I find it a little surprising that people are still convinced Ramos only likes one formation when he has demonstrated already (both poor choices on the day I felt though) a couple of times that he very prepared to alter his starting formation. Even at Sevilla it wasn't a strict 442. Kanoute often played very, very deep almost as an attacking midfielder with the wide men (inc fb's) bombing on and around the attack.
He tried to get Berbatov to play this role, but to be honest I don't think he was quite as good at it as Kanoute who is probably tailor made for it. Berbatov was better in the role than Keane (who Jol mistakenly tried to play there) because Berbatov isn't as scared of contact as Keane (which is vital in this role).
You say you think Ramos tried to sign Downing, but I find that hard to believe. The ITK (which could have been bollocks) suggested Ramos actually blocked it. The thing is Downing's agent was interviewed on SSN saying how much he would relish a move to spurs, so I find it very hard to believe that if Ramos ("he who must not be denied") wanted him we wouldn't have signed him. Don't you ?
No. If the price isn't right we wouldn't have signed him. It wouldn't have got to the stage it did if Ramos hadn't have wanted him. We wouldn't have even made an inquiry if Ramos didn't want him. We wouldn't even consider him an option unless Ramos wanted him. And judging Downings form since, Ramos was right in wanting him. I suspect the issue was that we also needed to spend in other areas and they wanted more for Downing they we were prepared to pay and we perhaps concluded we'd be better off saving the money and looking at different options in the summer when more players are available. The idea of Ramos blocking a deal seems unbelievable. If a deal has got to a stage when it needs blocking, then Ramos should have already given his consent. Without Ramos wanting a player there should be nothing to block. Well at least if the club has learned anything in the last couple of years that should be the case.
And am I right in thinking that your latest criticism of Jol is that he played our strikers wrong? Given we scored an average of 1.19 goals per game last season and 2.07 per game until he was sacked this season, i don't think you can really criticise our froward play. Especially as since he's left we've scored slightly less at 1.75 per game. And seeing as between then Keane and Berba scored 45 goals in 80 games last season and 46 in 91 this season, I think it's fair to say, however Jol played them, it was very effective.