Ruthless Ramos has golden touch
This match was ambling to an apparently inevitable goalless draw when Ramos decided to intervene. An audacious double-substitution, including the removal of a centre-back for a centre-forward, broke the shackles on Spurs and in the space of 120 seconds, the manager’s replacements had turned one point into three.
Ramos did not seem surprised. He appears to come from the school of management that interprets shows of emotion as signs of weakness, and is content to leave the leaping and wailing to his more traditionally Latin assistant, Gustavo Poyet.
However it is now clear why the Spurs board were willing to sacrifice their own dignity to persuade Ramos to leave Sevilla. The Carling Cup has already been claimed but Ramos will not allow Spurs to drift under his stewardship. He has considerable funds to spend and scouts have already been dispatched to watch Diego Milito, the Real Zaragoza forward, and Getafe defender Cata Diaz. Ramos’ ruthless treatment of Jermain Defoe proves that sentiment will not enter his thinking as he draws up a battle-plan for next season and few of his current squad should feel secure.
Paul Robinson, Pascal Chimbonda, Aaron Lennon and Younes Kaboul could all be jettisoned, while Darren Bent’s lively cameo here — nodding in from close range for Spurs’ first goal and teeing up his fellow substitute, Jamie O’Hara, for the second — is unlikely to keep him in north London.
“The gaffer might bring in another striker in the summer and that would push me further down the pecking order,” Bent admitted. “I don’t want that. Jermain had to sit on the bench for a lot longer than I have had to and a lot longer than I would want, that’s for sure. We’ll have to see what happens.”
Bent can at least be encouraged by the fact that there is life outside London. Defoe, who was ineligible to play against his old club on Saturday, has been in sparkling form since moving to Fratton Park, while Glen Johnson has been similarly transformed.
The meek, clumsy tyro who so often provoked the ire of Jose Mourinho at Chelsea is no more, replaced by a confident, positionally astute and disciplined defender who thoroughly deserves his summons to the full England squad.
“I felt joining Chelsea was the right decision at the time but, as it worked out, I lost two years of football,” he said. “Every player needs games, it doesn’t matter how good you are, and this is the first time since I first joined Chelsea that I have been playing every week. Harry Redkapp has shown faith in me.”
Redknapp, like Ramos, is an arch-alchemist although there was only frustration here. Portsmouth did not deserve to lose an even contest, and might have snatched another away scalp but for near misses from Sean Davis and Kanu, but their thoughts are already moving towards the FA Cup semi-final. Their immediate future is bright; Spurs’ long-term one could be even brighter.
Robinson 6, Hutton 6, Dawson 6 (Bent 70, 7), Woodgate 7, Chimbonda 7, Lennon 5 (O’Hara 70, 6), Zokora 8, Huddlestone 6, Malbranque 7, Berbatov 6, Keane 5 (Tainio 83, 6).
Cerny, Kaboul.
James 6, Johnson 8, Hreidarsson 7, Distin 7, Aubey 7, Utaka 6, Davis 6, Hughes 6 (Mvuemba 89, 5), Mendes 5, Kranjcar 7, Kanu 6 (Baros 83, 5).
Ashdown, Wilson.
Phil Dowd (Staffordshire) 8: Impressive. Let the game flow, generally kept his cards in his pocket and got the big decisions right.
*** Good to see Spurs refusing to allow their season to grind to a halt. Pompey were unlucky.
The likely comings and goings at Spurs this summer
Dimitar Berbatov, Darren Bent, Lee Young-Pyo, Kevin Prince Boateng, Radek Cerny, Paul Stalteri.
Aaron Lennon, Paul Robinson, Younes Kaboul, Ledley King, Pascal Chimbonda.
Robbie Keane, Jermaine Jenas, Tom Huddlestone, Jonathan Woodgate, Jamie O’Hara, Alan Hutton, Michael Dawson, Steed Malbranque, Didier Zokora.
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