Cock on Ball

Who would have thought it?

by Scott

There I was being teased by an Arsenal fan on Saturday lunchtime, asking me when my team of ‘Invincibles’ (his word, the bastard) were playing next. I gave an unconvincing smile, muttered something about a tough home game with Bolton and looked at the floor. There’s nothing you can say when you have two points from eight games and haven’t scored a decent goal all season.

Fast forward 24 hours and the decks had been cleared entirely: Ramos, Comolli, Poyet, Alvarez. All gone. A little under a year in charge and then turfed out in favour of ‘Arry.

Who would have thought it, eh?

Suddenly Bolton at home looked winnable, the fans at the Lane expectant and the players, for once, turned up. Even Modric. Especially Modric. The one who played for Croatia, not the meek mini-man who masqueraded as a central midfielder for several games.

Three points later and the whole world looks rosy.

It’s still early to take it all in fully, but the question must be asked: what did for Ramos? How did his position become so untenable so quickly, so effortlessly, that no-one – aside from the insane guy in the North Stand who sang “Juande Ramos’ Blue and White Army” for ages on Sunday – seems to be mourning his loss?

In January, Spurs beat – no, sorry, thrashed – Arsenal in the best atmosphere I’ve ever experienced. A month later we were at Wembley beating Chelsea. Silverware at last! All things Ramos were being lauded, from his ability to change the game through astute substitutions to his revolutionary dieting methods.

It is amazing that Ramos’ stock has fallen so dramatically, even at a club as intrinsically unstable as Spurs. A closer examination of his reign might point to three key areas which meant that his sojourn in English football was brief:

1) Getting to grips with the English game

While his reputation may have taken a knock, I don’t think that there is any doubt that Ramos is an excellent coach. It is peculiarly near-sighted to slate his training and dietary methods when we lose yet exalt them when we win. The fact is, however, that Ramos never seemed to acclimatise to the nature of the Premier League, not to mention the linguistic difficulties. In one-off cup games, he demonstrated an excellent footballing brain, making the necessary alterations to win in sometimes difficult circumstances (think Man City away). Yet by prioritising cup games – as shown in his treatment of Ledley King – and matches against the Big Four, I believe that Ramos unnecessarily disregarded the bread and butter of English football. To do well in the Premier League requires knowledge of how to win away and how to deal with the more physical teams, the real battlers. Ramos (or Comolli or whoever) never reconciled this fully.

2) Too much, too soon

The instant success of the Ramos reign – culminating in the Carling Cup win – papered over the cracks dramatically and gave a misleading impression of where we were. It also meant that the season coasted to a close, an odd hotch-potch of heavy defeats and mind-numbing draws against poor sides. This was wasted time. Conversely, the summer became an increasingly confused period of frenzied activity. Every day a new player left or was signed, culminating in the Berbatov and Keane debacle. We single-handedly dominated the transfer market. Signing an entire new team was always going to have repercussions, but was it even necessary? How useful would someone like Steed Malbranque have been this season?

3) Losing the players

Once this happened, there was no way back. We had become a bunch of (recently-assembled) expensive players without a leader on or off the pitch. The malaise set in so early and – coupled with the lack of competitive wins and the declining standard of the football – we were having to fight against ourselves as well as the other team. Individual errors became ever more costly and indiscipline took root leading to a flurry of red cards and penalties. In the end, Ramos lost the dressing room.

And so to Harry Redknapp, our umpteenth boss in umpteen years. What price that he will be manager at this time next year?

Cock on Ball

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Who would have thought it?

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