I would love to Spurs see go on from here and be pushing for a Champions League berth in the next season.

In my opinion it will depend on a)the fitness / future of Ledley King and b) whether the board can resist the big bucks which will surely be offered for Berba.

Ledley and Woodgate looked a class partnership while Berba showed how much he is attached to Tottenham with a great act of celebration at the end - he is a Spurs man through and through and we should all stop doubting it now.

Much as I loved Martin Jol and thought his treatment shabby it does seem as if in Juande Ramos we have a winner.

i feel ramos is one of the greatest managers in the world at the moment and spurs are incredibly lucky to have him…in two years this team will no doubt be pushing to win the premiership if the board stays behind him and allows him to buy who HE wants…

As a Man Utd fan and neutral i found tottenham to be the superior side right the way through the fixture ramos definatly has a very clever footballing brain. truely a managing great although its not in my interest to have another title challenger given a few years under the helm of ramos i believe tottenham will be.

The game on Sunday in my opinion was not won on the pitch but in the dugout. In one corner you have Grant a man of questionable managerial credentials to put in mildly. He is clearly Abramovich’s puppet, his team play with no flair, no verve half of them don’t even have smiles on their faces! There is no cohesion as he clearly is being told what to do by a man with limited football knowledge but due to his large bank balance is able to play a real-life version of Football Manager. In the other corner you have what I see as a Benitez-Mourinho-Wenger hybrid. Ramos’s side early days seem to play beautiful attacking football (Wenger), he is a winner (Mourinho) and he also has the ability to be tactically spot on and nullify the opposition, in particular the second leg against Arsenal (Benitez). However I do not agree with suggestions there will now be a ‘BIG FIVE’ in England as I feel Tottenham will take the place of Chelsea who undoubtedly have class at their disposal but until Abramovich leaves or at very least leaves a manager alone long enough to do a job, may still be able to grind out victories against the lower teams of the league with an impressive degree of efficiency, but sadly will be found wanting in the big games lacking ideas, hunger or desire.

Dane and Christophe - great stuff - really enjoyed reading your comments - although you do not see eye to eye on the “big five” debate you seem to both agree that Ramos is a great manager -
Christophe it seemed to me as if when Chelsea went one nil up they seemed to think that the game was won what do you think??

Dane - I love your hybrid manager thesis - genius blogging my man - I think as football fans we look to our team’s managers to step up and make big decisions when the pressure is really on - Ramos did this on Sunday with his Chimbonda substitution -

One more thing - Thanks to nick for getting the ball rolling on this debate!
Keep it up guys

Chelsea often get complacent when winning one nil as teams seem to think that they are an unstoppable and impenatrable to anyone that isnt the top 4 ramos brings out a belief in his players that shows through especially with players like huddlestone who have potential to be great he reminds his tactical and organisational skills are as good as if not better then those of martin o’neil who in my view is an organisational genious it just shows that a manager can come in and make an instant impact if they are good enough.

I have no doubt that with a track record like Ramos’s, having won the UEFA cup twice in a row for Sevilla, that he will do it again for Spurs. He has got it sussed.

if i was a tottenham fan i would not be worried even if you lost berba…at the end of the day, ramos has the nouse and knowledge to find a replacement…i.e. kanoute