Source: Telegraph
Dominant Liverpool call talk of Juande Ramos renaissance question
It is difficult to credit the optimism surrounding Spurs' prospects last February. They had thrashed Arsenal 5-1 in the semi-finals and the trophy that followed seemed, to many fans, the first of an era: a bit like Arsenal's own League Cup triumph of 1987 under George Graham. Instead Ramos's team stayed in mid-table for the rest of the season and then, having lost Dimitar Berbatov and (temporarily, it turned out) Robbie Keane, hit rock-bottom at the start of the current campaign, persuading the board to sack Ramos and turn to the suddenly fashionable FA Cup winner Harry Redknapp. [LNB]The irony of the situation was that Redknapp's Portsmouth had lost momentum just as sharply as Ramos's Spurs, and for not-dissimilar reasons: two of their best players, the midfielders Sulley Muntari and Lassana Diarra, had been sold. Since then, Jermain Defoe has been returned, like Keane, to White Hart Lane. So what, a moment's glory apart, is the point of prevailing at Wembley today if all the silverware does for you is precipitate a slump? There was no purpose in asking Ramos. You might as well ask the wall as Real's prosaic caretaker, who talks no more enlighteningly in Spanish than the English with which he never got to grips. [LNB] Related ArticlesRedknapp seeks fourth cup win[LNB]Apprentices follow Giggs[LNB]United youth given Cup chance[LNB]Gamezone: Carling Cup final[LNB]Juande Ramos blames Tottenham failure on Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane sales[LNB]Fraizer Campbell's Carling Cup dream shattered by Manchester United[LNB]Yet until last Wednesday he looked well on the way to restoring a reputation made in Seville, where he won the Uefa Cup in consecutive years. Real, since Ramos took over from Bernd Schuster, had won nine Liga matches in a row. And then they hit a wall erected by Benitez. Sir Alex Ferguson, who can hardly bear the very mention of Real's name, would have loved it. A hotch-potch of a side – featuring only three Spaniards to Liverpool's five, the outstanding Xabi Alonso included – struggled even to piece a move together. On that form, transported to England's Premier League, they would challenge only for relegation and Cristiano Ronaldo, given the choice, would be better off going to Wigan. There must be more to them. Otherwise – and this is a chilling thought – Spanish football has dipped like its Italian equivalent and the English club game is dominating a diminished Europe. [LNB]A Europe so diminished in prestige, moreover, that last Thursday two of our clubs all but surrendered their chances of progress in the Uefa Cup. One, of course, was Tottenham, whose team Redknapp was right to dilute with today's event looming. You could make an argument for O'Neill resting Aston Villa regulars as well because getting into the Champions League has become all-important, at least financially. But in a sporting sense? If all it means is that your crucial matches are against the teams with whom you compete in the Premier League – and bear in mind that no English club has been knocked out by one from another league since the season before last, when Barcelona eliminated Manchester United and ultimately Liverpool – the logic of the whole thing becomes obscure. [LNB]
