Ramos backs irate Keane
17 Mar 2008 - 07:57:30
Tottenham's head coach Juande Ramos played down Robbie Keane's reaction to being substituted in the second half of Sunday's 2-1 defeat at Manchester City.
Keane had given Spurs a first-half lead at Eastlands but reacted furiously after being brought off after the break, hurling his tracksuit top to the floor as he sat down on the substitute's bench.
The former Sevilla coach said: "I think it is normal. Players want to play and they are disappointed when they are replaced.
"It is football. We have got a squad and we have people on the bench and we have to share out the minutes between the people available."
On his side's defeat, Ramos added: "We were so much in control of the game it maybe made our lads think that the game was won before it was over.
"We were finding everything quite easy up to that point. I think the equaliser had two benefits. It picked them up and maybe then we struggled to keep control of the ball from that moment.
"The second goal was definitive because it decided the game and it was difficult to pick things up after that."