- Apr 21, 2005
- 9,429
- 12,383
I'm completely bemused over Tottenham's current run of form. It's certainly true to say that we've all seen our fair share of poor Spurs teams; teams with a derth of quality on the pitch, with a completely clueless fuck-wit in the dugout organising (and I use that term in the loosest possible sense) each particular shambles. We've also seen Spurs squads crippled by an epidemic of ailments, and Spurs teams crumbling under pressure with no real leaders on the pitch to halt the decline.
But our current predicament is different; by all logical estimation we shouldn't be at the bottom of the league. The situation is no longer shameful or embarrassing - quite frankly, it's bizarre.
If we take a look at the funding and fanbase we have, we see that it's very healthy indeed. Spurs is one of the biggest supported clubs in the country and our board seems to do a good job running the club in a business-like manner, ensuring that we always have £30 or £40million to spend every season. This is a hellava lot of cash; some squads in the Premiership aren't worth that!!
At this point I'd like to make a quick diversion - this article isn't anything to do with the summer transfer window and whether it was good or bad, and it's also nothing to do with whether Levy is a good chairman or not. What I want to focus on is the squad we have NOW; the squad we have before us. And that seemlessly leads us to....
...the squad we have is actually quite good. Okay, we lost Berbatov and Keane, and with them went 50-odd goals, if you count assists. This was a real blow for us, and our chances of finishing in the top 4 were severely hindered. However, our current strike force of Bent and Pav, and our overall squad, should be good enough to see Spurs finishing in the top 8 at least! Even the most pessimistic fans would not have predicted us being bottom of the league after 6 matches, with no wins and having played only 1 of the top 4 sides.
We also have, on paper at least, a good manager. Ramos has won cups in Europe and Spain, created a Seville team that was great to watch, and nearly won La Liga. He's also regarded within the game as one of the best managers around. He should be good, and we should be getting the results.
However, Ramos' actions have been completely inexplicable. Firstly there's the ropey team-selections (do you think we could keep 8 or 9 of the same players in the team?), the playing of individuals out of position, the dropping of form players, the lack of creative players being picked, the fact that we didn't have a left winger for more than 3 years and when we finally sign one, we don't play him.
Secondly, there's the shockingly poor tactics; persisting with a 4-5-1, but failing to select pacy, skillful attacking wingers to back-up the lone striker. Instead of playing Lennon and Dos Santos to help Pav against the Pompey defenders, Ramos chose the out of form, and medium-paced, Bentley and the defensively minded Gilberto. This hasn't been a one-off either; it's been like this since Ramos arrived, the only difference being we all thought he'd stop doing it 9 months ago!
The in-game tactics have been pretty suspect as well. Today, when we were 1-0 down we saw the baffling substition of Pav for Bent. A lone striker for a lone striker. The reason we hadn't scored a goal was because the striker was isolated; he needed support. So why did Ramos not put on Bent to help the Russian striker out?
Anyway, all of the above -the team selections, the formations, the in-game tactics- is pretty basic stuff! The most blinkered football fan can see this. I can't stress this enough, and I don't understand how a respected football manager who is being paid millions of pounds a year, and who HAS had success with other clubs, is not getting the basics right. It would be one thing if Ramos' crazy tactics were achieving the desired results. But they're not; we're bottom of the league, we're the only team who hasn't yet had a victory in the Premiership, and we don't seem to be able to create many goal-scoring opportunities so we can achieve that first win.
So why has a seemingly highly-respected and previosuly successful manager suddenly lost the plot, in such spectacular fashion?
Is he going mad? Is he over-awed by the media-driven Premier League? Does he not give a solitary shit anymore? Has he been bribed by a future owner to run Tottenham's share-price into the ground, so the club's cheaper to buy (my personal favourite conspiracy theory :grin?
I don't know what's wrong with Ramos, but with the current squad he has, after 6 games Spurs should be in the top 10.
Whatever the reason, something is very, very wrong with Mr Ramos!
But our current predicament is different; by all logical estimation we shouldn't be at the bottom of the league. The situation is no longer shameful or embarrassing - quite frankly, it's bizarre.
If we take a look at the funding and fanbase we have, we see that it's very healthy indeed. Spurs is one of the biggest supported clubs in the country and our board seems to do a good job running the club in a business-like manner, ensuring that we always have £30 or £40million to spend every season. This is a hellava lot of cash; some squads in the Premiership aren't worth that!!
At this point I'd like to make a quick diversion - this article isn't anything to do with the summer transfer window and whether it was good or bad, and it's also nothing to do with whether Levy is a good chairman or not. What I want to focus on is the squad we have NOW; the squad we have before us. And that seemlessly leads us to....
...the squad we have is actually quite good. Okay, we lost Berbatov and Keane, and with them went 50-odd goals, if you count assists. This was a real blow for us, and our chances of finishing in the top 4 were severely hindered. However, our current strike force of Bent and Pav, and our overall squad, should be good enough to see Spurs finishing in the top 8 at least! Even the most pessimistic fans would not have predicted us being bottom of the league after 6 matches, with no wins and having played only 1 of the top 4 sides.
We also have, on paper at least, a good manager. Ramos has won cups in Europe and Spain, created a Seville team that was great to watch, and nearly won La Liga. He's also regarded within the game as one of the best managers around. He should be good, and we should be getting the results.
However, Ramos' actions have been completely inexplicable. Firstly there's the ropey team-selections (do you think we could keep 8 or 9 of the same players in the team?), the playing of individuals out of position, the dropping of form players, the lack of creative players being picked, the fact that we didn't have a left winger for more than 3 years and when we finally sign one, we don't play him.
Secondly, there's the shockingly poor tactics; persisting with a 4-5-1, but failing to select pacy, skillful attacking wingers to back-up the lone striker. Instead of playing Lennon and Dos Santos to help Pav against the Pompey defenders, Ramos chose the out of form, and medium-paced, Bentley and the defensively minded Gilberto. This hasn't been a one-off either; it's been like this since Ramos arrived, the only difference being we all thought he'd stop doing it 9 months ago!
The in-game tactics have been pretty suspect as well. Today, when we were 1-0 down we saw the baffling substition of Pav for Bent. A lone striker for a lone striker. The reason we hadn't scored a goal was because the striker was isolated; he needed support. So why did Ramos not put on Bent to help the Russian striker out?
Anyway, all of the above -the team selections, the formations, the in-game tactics- is pretty basic stuff! The most blinkered football fan can see this. I can't stress this enough, and I don't understand how a respected football manager who is being paid millions of pounds a year, and who HAS had success with other clubs, is not getting the basics right. It would be one thing if Ramos' crazy tactics were achieving the desired results. But they're not; we're bottom of the league, we're the only team who hasn't yet had a victory in the Premiership, and we don't seem to be able to create many goal-scoring opportunities so we can achieve that first win.
So why has a seemingly highly-respected and previosuly successful manager suddenly lost the plot, in such spectacular fashion?
Is he going mad? Is he over-awed by the media-driven Premier League? Does he not give a solitary shit anymore? Has he been bribed by a future owner to run Tottenham's share-price into the ground, so the club's cheaper to buy (my personal favourite conspiracy theory :grin?
I don't know what's wrong with Ramos, but with the current squad he has, after 6 games Spurs should be in the top 10.
Whatever the reason, something is very, very wrong with Mr Ramos!