Jol V Ramos

For me, there's not a great deal of mystery. Jol was a good manager, but not an elite coach. He did a lot of good things, he did some bad things, and more frustratingly seemed not to learn from his mistakes, or at least not be able to rectify them if he did.

Ramos' work at Sevilla suggested that he was on the cusp of moving into that elite. Was it the right decision to replace a good coach with a possibly great one? Hard to argue anything other than yes. Was it the right time to do it? No. The board should have had the balls to make the decision in the summer, giving Ramos a proper preseason to prepare the squad in line with his philosophy AND to make personnel changes where necessary.

As it stands, the failure to do that threatens to make European football for next season unlikely, bar a miraculous run/capitulation by other teams, or a cup win. As a consequence, players like Berbatov would almost certainly depart. We still won't really know the full implications until the end of the season.

There is an awful lot with Ramos that I am happy with so far, but much like players, the flaws in managers usually become apparent in the medium term, rather than the short term where their strengths tend to be revealed (Jol looked like a genius to start with, but then we all started to see where his weaknesses lay). We'll know more at the end of the season, and by the start of next, where I'd expect the squad to have been overhauled to the point where Ramos has the means to fully implement his ideas for the club.

Berbatov & Ramos - The Perfect Match?

Speculation continues that Berbatov will ditch Spurs to complete a long mooted transfer to Manchester United in January. Given the Bulgarian's body language at times this season, you'd be forgiven for thinking that such a move is inevitable, whatever he may say in public about how he loves Spurs. Personally, I'd say the best hope Spurs have for keeping Berbatov is Ramos. Not because he's a world class coach who guarantees the trophies that Berbatov may be seeking, but because their two philosophies on football clearly match.

It's been clear from one and a half years of watching him for Spurs that Berbatov expects a high pressing midfield behind him, and the whole unit to push out from deep defence and pressure the opposition at all times, yet under Jol, the defence was typically sat deeper (ridiculously so at times) and the midfield very far away from the attack, Lennon aside. Numerous times every game Berbatov would turn around, following a move breaking down in the final third, and see no one within 20-30 yards of him ready to put pressure on the ball, consequently the arms would flap and the scowl would appear.

This has clearly changed under Ramos, as you would expect from seeing the way Sevilla play, although it's not quite been perfected yet.

High pressure, high tempo game with the ball principally on the deck is going to be a much closer match to the way Berbatov would ideally like to play football than Jol's slower, possession game that squeezed space for the forwards as the ball moved back and forwards between defence and midfield. If Berbatov is enjoying the football he and the team are playing, there is obviously a far greater chance of him forgoing the opportunity to move and play at the level that, let's be honest, he should be playing at.

Priorities For January

It may sound obvious, though it seems to have escaped our board and sporting director, but we really need someone to provide balance on the left now that we have a coach like Ramos who wants width on either flank.

Riera from Espanyol has been mentioned, and I'd be happy with someone like that myself. Not spectacular, but much like Bale, is quite athletic, has a trick to go past a player and has a good left foot that can provide some decent crosses and shots coming inside. Had Assou-Ekotto not been ruled out, it may not have been necessary, since Ramos would have had the option to play him behind Bale on the left (Lee I don't think will have a future under Ramos, sadly). Since that's not going to happen until next season at the earliest, we will need to take action in January, and someone like Riera is probably the best we can hope for given the constraints of signing players mid-season.

Beyond that, obviously a specialist, experienced defensive midfielder would be nice. NOT someone like Diarra (or Veloso for that matter), we need know how, not more potential. None of our signings should be under the age of 25.

Having said all that, the priority should be a central defender, since we are massively short there given that we can't count on King or Gardner to be available any more (precisely why, in addition to his lack of talent, I've been saying for years that we should ship Gardner out and fill his squad place with someone more reliable). Again, it doesn't have to be a spectacular signing, just a steady experienced head to organise and lead the back four.