Ramos Prepares To Face Defoe
Juande Ramos admits Jermain Defoe would almost certainly be playing for him rather than Portsmouth this weekend had Tottenham shown patience with the striker.
Defoe left Spurs in January, with the club "reluctantly" sanctioning the transfer, insisting in a statement shortly after the move the reason for the deal was that the England striker had 18 months left on his contract.
The 25-year-old was happy to accept Harry Redknapp's offer of regular football - but he would have enjoyed the same at White Hart Lane this season following the departures of Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane in the summer.
Tottenham are bottom of the Premier League as their new strikeforce beds in - and on Sunday they face a striker in Defoe who has scored five in his last four games.
"There are 22 players on the pitch. They always want to play and win," said head coach Ramos.
"It must be understood that when Defoe was here, Berbatov and Keane were here and it was difficult for him to get minutes on the pitch.
"At this moment the most important striker of the team (last season) is out. When he is gone it is another situation.
"He (Defoe) wanted to play but it was difficult because other strikers were here. His contract was finishing in one year and the club decided (to sell him). This is football. We accept the decision."
Premier League registration rules meant Defoe was ineligible for last March's clash between Spurs and Portsmouth, but Redknapp is set to unleash him at Fratton Park against Ramos' men.
Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko has been brought in to lead the Tottenham attack following the loss of three strikers in eight months, and he got off the mark this week against Newcastle in the Carling Cup.
"I'm very pleased," said the £13.8million signing from Spartak Moscow.
"I've been waiting to score a goal and I was very pleased for the team that I was able to score this goal.
"I didn't score in either of my first two games and thoughts started to enter my mind that I needed a goal to boost my confidence.
"I think the Newcastle result should give us confidence as a team for the upcoming games and we should only be thinking about going forwards from here."
Ramos, who has the option of playing Darren Bent or Fraizer Campbell with his new signing, said of Pavlyuchenko: "He needs adaptation, he needs to know the language and the team-mates."
Ramos has made Pavlyuchenko and his other players fully aware of the dangerous predicament they find themselves in.
While they are some way from playing as he wants them to, the Spaniard is focusing less on the opposition and more on getting his squad up to his standards.
Ramos said: "We are playing every three or four days against new teams. It is impossible to think about other teams. I have a lot of work and I only think about Spurs. The situation for us is very difficult.
"Reality is that we are bottom. Maybe in one month we will have moved up a little, in three months maybe more. It is little by little and I am looking in the short term.
"It's very clear. We have had big changes, new players, new positions - all the players need adaptation. We need passion and we need to work very hard, this is what we need." |
發表於 2008-9-27 01:42 AM
| 