Defoe piles pressure on beleaguered Ramos

IT was painful enough for Juande Ramos to find himself adrift at the foot of the league following this toothless defeat. But the agony was compounded by seeing the striker he discarded last season causing most of the damage.

Jermain Defoe, sold for £7.5million (€9.5m) in January, netted from the penalty spot with Peter Crouch confirming Pompey’s third league victory. Spurs now have just two points from a potential 18, their worst start to a campaign for 54 years.

Towards the end, Ramos was barracked by a substantial away following, previously content to abuse former player Sol Campbell, with chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” and elimination from the UEFA Cup at Wisla Krakow on Thursday will push the man who succeeded Martin Jol in similar circumstances last season closer to the exit door.

Ramos insisted his job was still secure and that the chants had been less painful than the result. Asked whether he still retained his board’s confidence he replied: “Absolutely.

“We speak regularly. Everybody is aware of the complicated position we are in. It (the chanting) doesn’t hurt. What hurts is not winning games.”

The day had begun with both clubs at the centre of speculation concerning potential buy-outs, with rich Asian investors said to be keen on Spurs and Portsmouth portrayed as a club available on the cheap because of previous over-spending.

On-pitch supremacy was Portsmouth’s, however, as Tottenham, with striker Roman Pavlyuchenko woefully unsupported, put minimal pressure on David James, whose two previous appearances had seen him concede 10 goals. Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes was allowed no such luxury, having to bat away an early drive from Richard Hughes.

Referee Mike Dean awarded Portsmouth a penalty on 34 minutes, with Jermaine Jenas the guilty man by inexplicably extending an arm, and Defoe’s emphatic spot-kick was too powerful for Gomes.

Ramos sent on Aaron Lennon at the break to pep up the pitiful chance quota and when the newcomer crossed in the 55th minute it hit Lassana Diarra on an arm, also outstretched. This was not quite such a clear-cut call as the first but strong nonetheless. Referee Dean turned it down, a game-influencing call.

Pavlyuchenko poked over from a free-kick before Portsmouth sealed victory in the 68th minute when Crouch nodded home after Gomes had parried Armand Traore’s powerful drive.

Ramos’ decision to replace Pavlyuchenko with Darren Bent was met with derision from the Spurs fans and James made sure of a clean sheet in the 87th minute with his first real save, to deny Lennon. Diarra’s second booking left Pompey with 10 men for the final two minutes but the game was already over.

Portsmouth manager denied the club was in financial trouble following reports that owner Alexandre Gaydamak had put them up for sale for £20m (€25m). He said: “I turned down £15m (€19m)for Diarra on transfer deadline day. I’m not telling you who from — he might want to go there. But he’s worth more than that I promise you. We are not in any trouble.”

REFEREE: Mike Dean (Wirral) 6: Booked almost everybody but none especially controversially and Jenas made it easy for him with the first penalty call. Should have given Spurs a similar one, however.

MATCH RATING: *** Not too many thrills and spills but watching Spurs again fail to become anything near the sum of their expensive parts was fascinating.

Autumn leaves - How long Spurs have given their previous under-performing bosses...

Ossie Ardiles 12 games (sacked 1 Nov 1994)

Gerry Francis 14 games (sacked 19 Nov 1997)

Christian Gross 3 games (sacked 5 Nov 1998)

Glenn Hoddle 6 games (sacked 21 Nov 2003)

Jacques Santini 11 games (sacked 5 Nov 2004)

Martin Jol 10 games (sacked 26 Oct 2007).