Spurs a bad bet for UEFA Cup glory and this is why...

Europa League / Dan Fitch / 27 November 2007 / Leave a Comment

Dan "The Betting Man" Fitch on why the Spurs squad isn't the finished article and why their UEFA Cup odds are wide of the mark

Surely a national side, made up of the best players our Isle has produced, should play with an assurance and swagger, not to be found at club level? Supporting England should provide a welcome respite from the drudgery and disappointment of following whichever wretched club side we've been unlucky enough to be saddled with. Instead, on Wednesday night, I found myself texting: "This is like watching Spurs".

Yes, things really have got that low and it says much of the state of the England team, that this weekend, I was actually relieved that my attention could return to the calmer waters of watching Tottenham. But despite the current mess at the FA, I'm still not sure whether they, or the Tottenham board, are the biggest bunch of bunglers. Either way, both parties should be concerned that I'd rank their organisational skills just below that of the Brothers Chuckle and just above those of the Brothers Marx.

Since Juande Ramos took over the reigns at Spurs, he has managed to stop the rot, though he could not have wished for a kinder set of opening fixtures. Sunday's trip to West Ham represented Ramos' first real challenge. The Hammers were in decent form and enough time has passed for the new coach's methods, to start bearing some fruit.

Though Tottenham enjoyed the majority of possession, they couldn't get through the game without some sort of ridiculous defensive error. Younes Kaboul is currently staggering around with the look of a World War II veteran still coming to terms with his shell shock, but that's what having to occasionally play games alongside Anthony Gardener will do for you. Having been the culprit for West Ham's goal, Kaboul looked a liability and was eventually replaced by Darren Bent.

This substitution was bold one, which Jol (who was always conservative in this area) would not have attempted. Ramos took off a central defender who was likely to cost his side the game and changed to a 3-5-2 formation, with Berbatov as an attacking midfielder. However, we should not be surprised, as Ramos once famously substituted a player who was not performing, when he had no replacements left, preferring to end the game with 10 men. Someone will have to tell him that employing such tactics at Tottenham, will more often than not see Spurs finishing the 90 minutes playing 6-a-side.

There's clearly plenty of work for Ramos to do to amend Spurs' defensive frailties and the priorities for the January transfer window should be a tough tackling midfielder and an experienced central defender. Despite the constant rumours of Berbatov's exit, I would be surprised if he left before the end of the season. The last couple of league games have seen the Bulgarian's attitude improve, to the point where he's now actually running for the ball and jumping for headers, rather than just looking annoyed at how rubbish everyone else is.

One man who could be off is Jermain Defoe. It seems that Ramos prefers Bent as his back up, so Defoe would probably benefit from a move. Whilst I greatly admire that someone who is the size of an infant, hasn't thrown his toys from the pram, I wouldn't shed any tears at his sale. Defoe may make some quality finishes, but he isn't clinical. There was an inevitability to Defoe's weekend penalty miss; which was made only the more frustrating by the fact that Bent was Charlton's spot kick taker.

This week Tottenham are a banker at [1.23] against Aalborg in the UEFA Cup, though they are poor value to win the competition at [13]. Ramos may have guided Seville to two consecutive UEFA Cup wins, but the price is poor value, considering this competition contains the likes of Bayern, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid and will soon feature the Champions League dropouts.

The impatient Spurs board will want success quickly and Ramos will need to deliver the trophies his predecessors could not. If he doesn't manage this within a couple of seasons, it just a case of which will come first; the year ending in 1, or the next 5 year plan.

To read more about Spurs go to:

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/index.html?WT.svl=HOMEPAGE