Sport

Pressure mounts for Ramos

Portsmouth 2 Tottenham 0: IT WAS difficult to imagine a more chastening afternoon for Tottenham Hotspur

DAVID HYTNER At Fratton Park
Mon Sept 29 2008 - 01:00

Portsmouth 2 Tottenham 0:IT WAS difficult to imagine a more chastening afternoon for Tottenham Hotspur. Utterly abject from start to finish, they were condemned to their latest defeat by goals from a former White Hart Lane favourite and another striker with more distant links to the club. Rock bottom of the table, they have not made a worse start to a league campaign since 1955-56.

When Crouch, a former White Hart Lane trainee, doubled the advantage that Jermain Defoe, who was moved on by Tottenham in January, had given to Portsmouth from the penalty spot, the home support could not resist turning the screw on their counterparts. "Going down," they bellowed.

The presence of Sol Campbell in Portsmouth's defence had provided the travelling fans with an outlet for their frustrations. Never mind that his defection from Spurs to Arsenal took place seven years ago, the perceived betrayal still cuts to the core.

Juande Ramos had largely dodged the bullets which had flown previously, his complaints that his squad had been unbalanced and unsettled by the club's whirlwind dealings in the summer transfer window having found sympathy. But when he replaced Roman Pavlyuchenko with another striker, Darren Bent, rather than letting them loose in tandem, he was subjected to the dreaded terrace put-down of not knowing what he was doing.

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Ramos raged at the non-award of a clear penalty for his team early in the second half when Aaron Lennon's cross struck Lassana Diarra's hand. The referee Mike Dean, who would send off Diarra in the 88th minute for a second bookable offence, had pointed to the spot when Jermaine Jenas, the Tottenham captain, inexplicably handled from Glen Little's free-kick.

But Ramos would have struggled to make a case for Tottenham deserving anything from the game. Was he confident of surviving? "That is something that does not depend on me," he replied. "We have a board and a chairman who decide that sort of thing." But did he retain the full confidence of Daniel Levy and his cohorts? "Yes, absolutely."

Guardian Service