Pain of failure will give us an edge next season

ANY last hopes of a title miracle were crushed on Saturday with West Ham conceding three in the first 30 minutes at Old Trafford.

Although I must admit that when Nani stuck his head in Lucas Neill’s face, for a moment I envisioned the sort of mass brawl that might result in a three-point deduction! Moreover, any hope of pipping Chelsea to second place evaporated in Toon Town, thereby condemning us to an unwanted Champions League qualifier.

Meanwhile the beautiful game is such a professional business nowadays that with modern fitness regimes, in theory there should only be marginal differences between the comparative fitness levels of the elite squads. The modern breed of managers might look to science to try and give them an edge, as with the rumours about Wenger’s use of Creatine supplements some years back, or the investment in oxygen chambers to speed up the healing process of injured players. Yet in practice, we’ve witnessed this season the remarkable effect Ramos had on the Spurs squad. Martin Jol was a genial enough character, but on the evidence, for example, of the dramatic change in the physique of Tom Huddlestone, it seems glaringly apparent that Jol was missing a trick.