End Of Term Report; Tottenham Hotspur
A bitterly disappointing Premier League campaign was sweetened by a first trophy success in nine years for Tottenham Hotspur. The League Cup success of George Graham’s 1999 side was replicated by this current line-up, a fact made all the sweeter after a semi-final thrashing of Arsenal and a final day humbling of Chelsea. Yet after finishing fifth in both 2005/06 and 2006/07 Spurs were expected to mount a serious challenge to the top four’s stranglehold. That challenge never materialised as a slow start to the season saw manager Martin Jol dispensed with following a 2-1 UEFA Cup defeat to Getafe in late October. The White Hart Lane club went on to reach the last 16 of the competition before unluckily falling to PSV Eindhoven, but by then Jol’s promising time in north London was but a distant memory. Coming in to replace the former West Bromwich Albion midfielder was Juande Ramos. Having led Sevilla to back-to-back UEFA Cup victories and guided the Spanish outfit into the group stages of the Champions League Ramos arrived with a great pedigree. Yet even he found it difficult to improve Tottenham’s league form sufficiently as the team finally stuttered to an 11th placed finish. Ramos clearly felt that the squad he inherited from Jol lacked defensive solidity. Despite the squad already possessing the likes of Ledley King and Michael Dawson the Spaniard spent a total of £19million in January to bring in Jonathan Woodgate from Middlesbrough, Alan Hutton from Glasgow Rangers and Chris Gunter from Cardiff City. The improvement has been far from immediate, with all of Chelsea, Newcastle United and the eventually relegated Birmingham City managing to rattle in four goals in games against Ramos’ new look defensive unit. King’s on-going injury problems have been more than a hindrance, and it may just be that a good deal more solidity will develop should Ramos be able to partner King with Woodgate in central defence on a regular basis next term. Whoever is paired in central defence will probably not be operating in front of Paul Robinson. The one-time England regular has become an increasingly peripheral figure at Spurs, with Ramos preferring to select Radek Cerny in goal this past season. The Czech stopper played in goal 20 times for Tottenham, conceding 23 goals in that time before moving on to QPR on a free transfer in mid-May. It seems that Robinson is not set for a re-call, so expect Ramos to move for a replacement in the summer. Aston Villa’s on-loan Liverpool custodian Scott Carson is one name routinely linked. Another of Ramos’ alterations to the squad saw Jermain Defoe finally leave The Lane. The vertically challenged marksman joined Portsmouth for £7.5million and promptly became the club’s top scorer with eight league goals after Benjani Mwaruwari left for Manchester City in the same deal. All of which meant that Ramos’ strike partnership of choice was Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov, who between them managed 46 goals in all competitions and 30 in the Premier League alone. Interestingly the split was dead even, with both men netting 15 league goals and 23 in all competitions. Yet that was one of the few aspects of Spurs’ season that provided anything approaching a pleasing symmetry. Encouraging wins were invariably followed by mystifying defeats in the Premier League, and it was only in the Carling Cup that Spurs attained any degree of consistency. The run began with a 2-0 home win over Middlesbrough in late September, and gathered pace with the disposal of Blackpool by the same score and Manchester City in what was Sven Goran Eriksson’s first home loss in charge of the Eastlands club. That set up a two-legged semi-final date with north London rivals Arsenal, who had knocked Spurs out of the competition at the same stage a year previously. Not this time, as a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium was backed up with a phenomenal 5-1 shellacking of Arsene Wenger’s side at White Hart Lane. At Wembley, Ramos outwitted Chelsea’s stop-gap gaffer Avram Grant to mastermind a 2-1 win. All of which proved enough to reduce Keane to tears of joy. There were tears of a different kind in the UEFA Cup, where that last 16 tie with PSV went all the way to penalties before Jermaine Jenas and Pascal Chimbonda fluffed their lines. It was rough on Spurs who had fought back from a first leg defeat to level the tie thanks to Berbatov’s expert volley. In the FA Cup Manchester United proved too strong as two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and another from Carlos Tevez cooked Tottenham’s goose in the fourth round. Looking to the future Ramos has already set about building on his squad with highly rated Croatian star Luka Modric joining from Dinamo Zagreb. The 22 year-old is a busy midfielder with no shortage of talent, and is tipped to be a huge success in England by his national team coach Slaven Bilic. The Croatian boss might know a thing or two about that too, after enjoying his own successful spell in England as an uncompromising centre half with West Ham United and Everton. Of those possibly leaving the club Berbatov’s future still looks uncertain. Reports of his intentions seem to change by the day. Chelsea and Manchester United are among those who have long courted the Bulgarian star, but Ramos really needs to keep hold of his man given the effective rapport he has formed with Keane. Less importantly, Hossam Ghaly is likely to be on the move after it was revealed that even the hapless Derby County don’t want him around. Robinson will probably also go, but the rest is just gossip for the moment with speculation surrounding the arrival of Cruzeiro striker Marcelo Moreno aswell as Valencia midfielder Edu. The League Cup victory is a success that Spurs fans are unlikely to forget in a hurry, but even they might feel that Ramos’ brief for 2008/09 should be to get the team challenging once more for Champions League qualification. By Stephen Orford 26 May 2008
