RAMOS – SO FAR SO GOOD!

After a month in charge at Tottenham the early signs of Juande Ramos's management are very encouraging. Now while I don't want to get carried away into thinking we have finally found the man to bring glory to the lane I do think that already Ramos has proved how superior a coach he is compared to his predecessor Martin Jol.

When he was finally sacked Martin Jol left a legacy of poor defending at Spurs and that was the first thing that the new regime had to sort out and it is quite telling that in the Spaniard's six games in charge we have only conceded four goals while in the last six games Jol was in charge we conceded no fewer than twelve goals. Even in such a short period of time he has been in charge you can visibly see the difference Ramos has made. The defence looks more compact and everyone seems to know their jobs.  Even Younes Kaboul, apart from the stupid mistakes he keeps making, isn't now bombing forward at every opportunity, although at the moment it would be better if he wasn't on the pitch at all. Michael Dawson has found some of his confidence back, as has Paul Robinson, and Pascal Chimbonda now actually looks like he gives a damn. It is still very far from perfect, as proved in the first half against Aalborg in the Uefa Cup, but there is certainly encouraging signs of improvement.

There has also been a noticeable improvement in our midfield's performances. I have been very critical of Jermain Jenas and Didier Zokora in the past but in the last few games they have actually been playing much better and this is down to one very simple thing that Martin Jol failed to grasp – they are playing to their strengths in specific roles. Zokora is now actually starting to almost resemble a footballer. He has clearly been told to sit in front of the back four giving them the protection they need which has freed up Jenas to get up and down the pitch like everyone knows he can.

Ramos has also made fitness a priority which is another area Martin Jol was completely clueless in. The players actually look like they have some energy right up until the final whistle now which has meant that we have stopped conceding silly late goals. Paul Robinson looks leaner and on Thursday night I thought we'd signed a new player when I was watching Tom Huddleston run around the pitch like a proper midfielder.

Perhaps the best part of the Ramos regime so far is his use of substitutions. I was always infuriated by Martin Jol's reluctance to make changes on the pitch when they were needed. He would always be very rigid with his substitutions and always, no matter what the score was, would make an absolutely pointless sub in the last 20 minutes. It is abundantly clear that Ramos is not afraid to take risks and make changes when changes need to be made. This was shown perfectly against the Danes on Thursday night when after a dismal first half where we trailed 0-2 the manager took off a defender (Lee) and brought on Darren Bent and at the same time hauling off Jenas who was having one of his very off nights and bringing on Tom Huddleston. This completely changed the game and we went on to win. Can anyone honestly say that Martin Jol would have done the same? Of course he wouldn't. The Dutchman would have stuck with the same team until probably the 75^th minute when he would have bought on a third striker to try and claw a two goal deficit back in fifteen minutes.

I think all Spurs fans should be quietly confident of the progress Ramos is making. He is slowly improving every aspect of the team's performance. All he has to do now is make sure he keeps hold of Berbatov and we might actually salvage something from this season.