What's new

Reality Bites

Kurtzen

New Member
Jan 13, 2006
822
0
Source: Daily Maybe/Mail

Avoid Relegation First - Ramos Delivers Reality Check to his Tottenham Players

Tottenham head coach Juande Ramos has told his players to wake up to the reality of a relegation battle.

Spurs were meant to be challenging for a Champions League place this season but with more than a third of the campaign gone they are a point above the drop zone in the Premier League.
There is still time for Ramos' men to mount a charge for Europe, although the Spaniard is aware that getting out of trouble at the wrong end of the table is the first objective.

"It's the reality," said Ramos. "At the moment we are closer to relegation than we are to the European places.
"So we're left with no alternative but to fight against this and get as many points as possible.
"And if we're capable of coming out of this situation we will think about something better. But at this moment this is the reality."

Under Martin Jol last season, Tottenham started poorly and recovered to record a second successive fifth-placed finish with arguably a weaker squad than Ramos has at his disposal.

The new boss has not been helped by a series of injuries in defence - and full-backs Pascal Chimbonda and Young-Pyo Lee picked up knocks against Anderlecht this week and will need to be assessed ahead of Sunday's clash against Manchester City. Robbie Keane also starts the first of a three-match domestic ban.

Adding the calamitous form of Younes Kaboul at centre-back, Spurs have been the equivalent of West Ham last season, a highly-fancied side who could not string results together.
"We have a lot of games still to go," said Didier Zokora, the midfielder who was preferred at centre-back to Kaboul for the Anderlecht match.
"I still see Tottenham as one of the best five teams in England.
"It only takes two or three wins and we will be in a good position.
"I can sense the confidence is coming back because we have the players. You just have to look at Robbie Keane, Dimitar Berbatov, Jermain Defoe, it is not normal for us to be down there.
"I look at the table and see us in 16th and just can't believe it."

Ramos has warned his players not to think they are too good for a relegation scrap.
"It's of massive importance that my players don't think they're too good to go down but concentrate on winning some games and then looking up the table," he said.
"Good results help players restore their confidence and from then on we will see if we're capable of doing something better.
"Let's get to mid-table first and then we will have to think about going a bit higher. But at this moment the situation is much more delicate than it seems. We are at the bottom of the table."

Spurs' opponents on Sunday at White Hart Lane have replaced them towards the top of the table as the team rubbing shoulders with the top four.
Ramos was initially linked with the job at Eastlands before Sven-Goran Eriksson took over but he insisted: "I was never close to going to Manchester City. I never had a direct meeting.
"Those who deal with these things knew more about it than I did."

The clash sees Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov face his Bulgaria team-mate Martin Petrov, who was linked with a move to White Hart Lane in the summer before moving to City and making an instant impact.
One the reasons suggested for Spurs' failure to land Petrov's signature was the winger's age, which is at odds with Spurs' tendency to buy young talent. Ramos faced Petrov in La Liga, but he said: "I didn't know Tottenham wanted Petrov in the summer."
 

tony0379

The bald midget has to go!
May 17, 2004
15,801
41,051
well said
and also the players are playing for their futures
 

double0

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
14,423
12,258
Commile isn't to blame for the biggest comedy show in premiership football at the moment: Robinson and Dawson.

It is amazing that these two players are locked together in such a vital area of the field, unfortunately injuries have been cruel for Ramos to change things. The deficit speaks volumes.

Kaboul has come in for some stick, some of it justified i suppose, I just cant help feeling his an easy target being a forgien player, playing is a shit defence.

Commlie has made some very good buys people should remember...one IMO Rocha who wasn't given a good run under Jol for some reason persisted with the error prone Dawson (bliss him). Robinson has performed slightly better of late but still needs replacing.

I remember when King was fit and playing (long time now), people would reference Kings performance with quote: 'Same as Daws', not realizing King saved his bacon more times than i could remember.
 

alfiespurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 8, 2006
4,058
374
I am getting a sinking feeling of the 2003-4 season ..... there are 2 relegation places that we need to avoid .. It will be between Wigan,Middlesboro,Bolton,us, Brummies & Sunderland ... Goodbye Europe Hello Survivial ..
 

rez9000

Any point?
Feb 8, 2007
11,942
21,098
I don't think your assesment of Robinson is fair, double0. To say he's improved slightly recently is a major understatement. Just in terms of the last two games, we've conceded 4 goals, none of which he was at fault for. However, during those two games, he's made some stunning saves.

There is a reason he has been England's number one gaolie for the last few years - because he is a very good goalkeeper. I don't think a dip in form means that a player suddenly becomes rubbish. Robinson is only considered 'a joke' in the media, who love to dig their claws into someone.

When it comes to Michael Dawson, I would be more likely to agree. Except that there is the fact that he's only 24, and for most of last and this season he has been or our only regular CB. What I think has contributed to his awful form of late is the pressure of being there time and again. I've talked about Robinson's confidence being in pieces until recently. Now, I'm beginning to think that perhaps the same is true of Dawson as well.

When Anderlecht scored that goal, the look on his face was of a man who's just been kicked in the bollocks. I think he (and probably everyone in the squad in one way or another) is feeling horrendously pressurised at the moment, and that's something that only winning can cure. Unfortunately, winning is hard to do when your morale is in the toilet.

I just feel perhaps you've been a little harsh on them. Of course, none of is happy seeing Spurs lose time and again, but it's not down to players being shit, but rather, I think, players feeling shit.

As to the main point, I was saying to my sister yesterday that this season has got to be about hanging on, grinding out enough results to keep us afloat, and then letting Ramos work his plans during preseason, so we can start next season living up to the potential we no doubt have.
 

Kurtzen

New Member
Jan 13, 2006
822
0
Comelli says:

8.09.05 "The challenge for me is to assist the club to play football at the highest level and to continuously seek to improve everything we do.
The club has an ambitious board and a first-class coaching team. I feel there is much that can be achieved and I am excited to be here." self satisfied optimist?

9.10.07 'There is no reason to worry. The quality is there' deluded?

26.4.07 "I'm in a great project here at Tottenham, building something for the future with fantastic support from the chairman, the board and a great relationship with Martin Jol.
...I think we are very, very close to the top level of the Premiership, so I don't know why I would want to go somewhere else, especially as I'm enjoying it so much." deluded and sadistic?

13.7.06 "It is like a musician, it doesn't matter whether he is English or French, the one who works more becomes better." Cabaret Voltaire or Stockhausen?


30.6.07 "The signings we've completed so far offer us massive improvement in terms of the squad, players with great potential whose best days are in front of them." Binoculars?

31.10.07 "I'm 100% convinced that the technical director role works, 99% of the clubs around the world use that system, win trophies, win football matches. So it works."
Reassured?

31.10.07 "I'm not interested(Competent?) about this (Ramos') job. Juande is very competent at what he does, has a proven record of winning in style."

31.10.07 "As a scouting department, we have to come up with solutions which we take to him. If he's got a name, that's fantastic. Saves me a lot of trips. But if not, we have to come up with options." Run? Hide?....abdicate responsibilty? sack the manager?

31.10.07 "I'm not embarrassed. Sometimes you have to make decisions like this in football. It was a decision we had to take, we had to make, and it was made. We are looking for stability."....without conscience?

31.10.07 "If the chairman and the board are not happy with what I'm doing, they'll probably ask me to leave. But 50 or 60% is about the club in the future, and 40% is about the club now. If they're not happy with what I'm doing, they'll ask me to leave." Really?

31.10.07 "Results matter"...Hooray.
 

jimtheyid

T'riffic
Apr 16, 2005
13,497
7,235
Michael Dawson has been a collosus for us ever since he joined. His Premiership debut against Liverpool at Anfield was awesome. He is suffering at the moment but he will get his form back. I always thought that Daws would be our next captain as he has a lot of John Terry's attributes in my opinion.
 

PT

North Stand behind Pat's goal.
Admin
May 21, 2004
25,468
2,408
Dawson is our premier CB at the moment - he is the senior guy in there, basec on his performances and his appearance record.

He needs to be demoted to the second guy - the junior. If King or someone with the esteem of King gets in then we'll see Dawson blossom again.

In two year's time Daswon will step up to assume the captaincy of our club, based on his own well earned esteem.

So says clairvoyant PT.
 

N10toN17

New Member
Jan 22, 2007
1,288
1
If Ramos has Dawson as a first eleven regular,(when all are fit), next season I'll be amazed and equally, very disappointed.
 

striebs

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2004
4,504
667
....31.10.07 "If the chairman and the board are not happy with what I'm doing, they'll probably ask me to leave. ....

They would have done already if they had of been competent themselves .

How disappointing , claw our way back only to have it all undone by a mickey mouse pre season and profit oriented transfer policy .
 

xtrac

Well-Known Member
May 16, 2004
1,939
1,002
Im thinking shades of Borough when they went on to face Seville in the Final, they slipped into a relegation Dogfight at the same time!! Personally the cicumstances of a new manager coupled with the fact we have been playing 2 games a week recently,hasnt helped, especially with Ramos trying to get his ideas across to the players. Yes we are down to the bare bones defensive wise, but at this juncture i believe we can only hope for a bloody good run in the cups, and try and finish mid table. Regroup for next season let Ramos work his magic, buy the players to turn us around, and look forward to next season as possibly UEFA cup winners!!!!!
 
Top