Spurs relentless after League Cup victory

LONDON: Juande Ramos admitted he would let his Tottenham stars celebrate their League Cup triumph over Chelsea with a few glasses of champagne.

But the strict dietary regime he has installed at White Hart Lane will soon be back in force as the Spaniard seeks to ensure a rapid encore to the club's first trophy in nine years.

Ramos, who has been in charge for only four months, has made no secret of the fact that he believes Spurs can succeed his former club Sevilla as UEFA Cup winners and Sunday's impressive 2-1 victory over Chelsea will only bolster confidence among his new charges.

Jonathan Woodgate's extra-time winner means Tottenham is assured of a return to Europe next season and Ramos believes that will help his side play with greater freedom for the remainder of this campaign.

"For the moment we will enjoy the victory and next week we return to the league and have to concentrate on that," he said.

"We will see what happens in the UEFA Cup but qualifying for Europe means we can be calmer now. It lifts a huge amount of pressure from the team."

By banning sugary snacks and adjusting the squad's training methods, Ramos has produced a leaner group of players who have begun to look stronger in the closing stages of matches and are cutting down the number of costly defensive mistakes.

But he was prepared to cut his players some slack for a night of celebration on Sunday. "It is not a particularly strict diet," he joked. "In fact, it is quite a nice diet - sometimes it allows them to eat and drink totally out of control."

Ramos admitted that his first taste of triumph with Tottenham was as sweet as any he had enjoyed in his career.

"Obviously, yes it is tremendously satisfiying to get a trophy," he said. "Especially for the fans and the club, it has been a long time and for a club as big as Tottenham it seems longer.

"This one maybe has a special flavor to it because it was against a team that is supposedly superior to us in Chelsea. It was similar to Sevilla beating Real Madrid and Barcelona - it makes the whole thing taste better."

Ramos won his tactical duel with Chelsea manager Avram Grant as Tottenham's commitment to attack ultimately paid off with Woodgate heading the winner in extratime after Dimitar Berbatov's penalty had canceled out a first-half opener for Didier Drogba.

But the Spaniard played down his role. "First and foremost it is for the players. Football is not a personal battle - it was simply that Tottenham were the better team on the day."

Ramos added: "The team has been improving little by little in terms of security and the confidence they feel. This will have reaffirmed that. They showed that they have improved in their games against Manchester United, and Arsenal and Chelsea are another of these teams.

"They have shown they are able to concentrate and fight with the best of them. The key was keeping that concentration and not making mistakes."

Tottenham's winner came three minutes into the first period of extra time, Woodgate getting on the end of Jermaine Jenas' whipped free kick to head in his first goal for the club.

Drogba's first-half free kick had put the holders on track to retain their trophy.

But a penalty equalizer from Dimitar Berbatov - after Wayne Bridge handled in the area - sent the match into extratime and Spurs finally got the break their efforts deserved.

Chelsea players could count themselves unfortunate to be denied a penalty in the second period of extra-time when Woodgate appeared to man-handle Drogba in the box and Paul Robinson saved with his legs to deny substitute Salomon Kalou a late equalizer.

But overall, Grant could have few complaints about his failure to emulate his predecessor Jose Mourinho's 2005 and 2007 triumphs in this tournament, and there is bound to be an inquest into why the on-form Michael Ballack and Joe Cole were left on the bench until late in the game.

Grant, however was defiant, insisting his side had been victimized by a bad penalty decision.

"We did not start well but as the game progressed we played better and after we scored our goal we dominated," the former Israel boss claimed.

"Then came the decision of the penalty. The ball was between the two players and it touched Wayne Bridge on the hand.

"In my view it was a harsh decision. It was not even the referee's decision - it was his assistant. But not every time the ball touches the hand of a player it is a penalty - if it is not deliberate it is not."

AFP

(China Daily 02/26/2008 page23)