Amongst the online community of Tottenham fans there were murmurings of discontent on Wednesday when Ramos named a starting eleven that was suspiciously resembled a team sheet you'd have expected to see when Martin Jol was in charge. Fielding the same players that had, for the most part, been so dramatically below par this season, the Spaniard also raised eyebrows by sticking to the rigid 4-4-2 formation that had proved so brittle just three days earlier against Blackburn. The fans, however, should not have been surprised. It will take a considerable amount of time for Ramos to mould the team to his own liking, as he learns more about the players and English football. Wholesale changes were hardly to be expected and it is ironic that, in order to reverse the clubs fortunes, Ramos will have to put his trust in the players whose poor performances have got us into this mire. Ramos' job, in these first few weeks, is rather, as his new first team coach Marcos Alvarez said earlier this week, to instil a 'winning mentality' amongst the players, to restore their self belief.
As well as unconfident players, Ramos had inherited the defensive injury crisis that had frustrated Martin Jol, with Gareth Bale, Benoit Assou Ekotto and Anthony Gardner all missing, as well as long term absentee Ledley King. Against Middlesbrough Ramos will probably stick with the back four that faced Blackpool, despite Younes Kaboul's poor performance and one of the positives to take from Wednesday was Ramos' willingness to shake things up when players obviously aren't performing. Eyebrows were raised when Teemu Tainio replaced Kaboul, as Ramos pushed the midfielder on to the right side of defence whilst moving Chimbonda to partner Dawson in the centre. The move paid off as the side stabilised after a dodgy ten minutes. Hopefully Ramos will continue to show a willingness to make innovative and progressive substitutions as they were sadly lacking at key moments during Jol's tenure.
If Ramos is to come way from the Riverside with a crucial first league win then he will have to change the away form that has seen us take just two points on our travels all season. Both clubs have endured their worst ever starts to a Premier League season and will be facing a long hard season of struggle if results don't pick up soon. Middlesbrough started brightly against Man Utd last weekend but quickly faded as Rooney and Tevez exposed a weak backline with wild abandon, and since losing Yakubu and Mark Viduka in the summer Gareth Southgate's team have not looked like winning games. With former Tottenham striker Mido still out injured and Turkish striker Sanli Tuncay finding it difficult to adapt to the pace of the Premiership, on paper our defence should be able to hold firm against the majority of what Middlesbrough throw at us. That said, it will take Ramos longer than a week to find a cure for the defensive malaise that has been such a thorn in our side this season and Spurs fans travelling to the Riverside should expect some hairy moments during a match that is guaranteed to be extremely tense.
Match Prediction - Middlesbrough 1 Tottenham 2 I'm not sure whether it's with my head, with my heart or because of the blind optimism that only a football fan possesses, that I predict us to win today but I usually go with my gut feeling. It won't be an easy match, and I expect us to come under a lot of pressure but I believe our strength going forward may well prove the difference in a match we cannot afford to lose.