Rafa Benitez is often described as a master tactician but when it comes to man-management it can be hard to fathom what the Liverpool boss is up to.

Last July the Spaniard apparently considered Robbie Keane to be worth 20 million pounds. Six months later the prolific Ireland striker was not deemed good enough even for the bench in Sunday’s FA Cup game against Everton - just the sort of fixture that would suit the hard-running Irishman.

Still only 28, Keane has scored goals and given his all wherever he has played - including 35 in 85 internationals.

Last season he scored 23 goals for Spurs, and that while fighting for a starting role alongside Jermain Defoe and Dimitar Berbatov, and he was voted the club’s player of the year three times.

All three strikers left Spurs in the close-season and Berbatov initially struggled to justify his huge fee at Manchester United.

Alex Ferguson did not panic, knowing that he had a special player on his hands and that it was up to the manager and the rest of the squad to find a way to bring the best out of him. (more…)

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp’s frank admission that he will send a “mish-mash” side to face Manchester United in Saturday’s FA Cup tie adds to concerns that the competition has lost its elite status.

Speaking after sneaking through their League Cup semi-final second leg 6-4 on aggregate against Championship (second division) Burnley on Wednesday, Redknapp moaned:

“We’ve got some tough games, we’ve a game at Man United that really is so secondary to me now. We’re in a relegation battle and I can’t risk Jamie O’Hara, Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson at Old Trafford.

“If Alex (Ferguson) is listening, I’m really going to send a real mish-mash team up there. I hope it doesn’t upset the fans, but we played extra-time and we’re out on our feet a little bit.

“The lads who didn’t play tonight will play and I’m going to rest the key players who played tonight because I can’t afford to lose any more to injuries.”

However, a delve into the FA Cup rules shows that maybe Redknapp was a bit hasty in confessing his master plan as Rule 15a of the FA Cup states:

“Each team participating in a match shall represent the full available strength of each competing club.”

There is no explanation of what punishment breaking this rule a team can expect to receive and it is unlikely that Tottenham will suffer with so many other ‘big’ teams ignoring it previously.

But perhaps offering the winners of the FA Cup a much coveted Champions League place would prevent the wonderful old trophy losing any more prestige?

PHOTO: Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp gestures during their English League Cup match at Burnley, Jan. 21, 2009. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Score goals, kiss badge, declare love for fans, sign long-term contract, collect wages, change your mind and decide you want out a few months later; it’s becoming all too familiar.

Two glaring examples of this have hit the headlines in England recently with the opening of the January transfer window, starting with Jermain Defoe’s decision to follow Harry Redknapp back to Tottenham from Portsmouth.

Back in November, Defoe said the following:

“I’m a Portsmouth player and I’ll continue working hard for the club. I’m enjoying my time here. I’m scoring goals and I’m part of a good team. We’re pushing up the table so why would I think about leaving and anyway, Tony Adams is trying to build something here.

He’s a good manager and training has been fantastic all week. I am playing with good players and for me that is the most important thing.”

Less than two months later Defoe is back in a Spurs shirt.

Less then a year ago, England winger Stewart Downing was “delighted” to have signed a new five-year contract with his hometown club Middlesbrough:

“This is what I’ve wanted all along,” he said in February. “I know it’s gone on for some time but I’m delighted we’ve finally reached agreement.”

The club now have a letter from Downing saying he wants to quit the club.

Middlesbrough have vowed to dig their heels in and have rejected the player’s transfer request but who wants to keep an unhappy player?

More minds were being changed in the close season, with Tottenham describing Robbie Keane’s move to Liverpool, a year after signing a five-year contract,  as an ‘enforced sale’, after the player said he wanted to join the Premier League leaders.

Real Madrid don’t seem to have been deterred too much in their bid to sign Cristiano Ronaldo by the fact that he is under contract until 2012.

I don’t suppose there’s anything much that can be done about this; I just think players should think twice before kissing the badge.

PHOTO: Tottenham Hotspur’s new signing Jermain Defoe is presented to the crowd before their English League Cup match against Burnley Jan. 6. The deal sees him returning to the club he left under a year ago. REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh

Chatting with Real Madrid fans outside the Bernabeu ahead of their Champions League match against Zenit St Petersburg on Wednesday, the overwhelming attitude expressed was one of relief that the club was rid of Bernd Schuster.

Tuesday’s surprise appointment of Juande Ramos to replace the moody German has raised hopes that a change in management will give the team a boost and help them get their faltering season back on track.

Jose-Maria, an architectural engineer and lifelong Real supporter from Albacete, said Schuster’s claim at the weekend that it was impossible to win at Barcelona was unacceptable and he had to go.

“You just can’t say things like that and expect to get away with it, it was very damaging,” he said, beating his gloved hands together against the cold.

With an eye on Saturday’s Primera Liga match against leaders and arch rivals Barcelona, he said there was not much former Sevilla and Tottenham Hotspur coach Ramos could do in less than a week but his arrival would help change the mentality of the players for the better.

“Schuster was too serious. He was not relaxed with the players or the press and he had no empathy with the fans,” he said. “The players did not defend him and they accepted that it was time for a change.”

Pedro, 26, who works for an environmental agency near Granada, said it had been a good decision to bring in Ramos, although he conceded sacking Schuster mid-season may have been a bit hasty.

“Schuster had lost his confidence and had little interest and enthusiasm so in principle it was the right thing to do,” he said, adding that limiting Ramos to a six-month contract was sensible.

Esther Martin, an unemployed 28-year-old from Madrid, agreed that Schuster had lost his drive and predicted Ramos would make tactical changes that would help turn things around.

“I don’t know much about him (Ramos) but I think football in Spain is very different from England and he has more than proved himself here.”

PHOTO: Real Madrid’s new coach Juande Ramos (L) and sporting director Predrag Mijatovic shake hands during a news conference at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Dec. 9, 2008. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

The Bernabeu axe has fallen again with Bernd Schuster sacked as Real Madrid coach and Juande Ramos coming in to replace him.

The writing had been on the wall for the German after Real’s sticky start to the season. Sunday’s 4-3 home defeat by Sevilla was compounded by Schuster’s comments that winning would be impossible in next weekend’s match at Barcelona.

Ramos must think he is in dreamland having landed one of club soccer’s top jobs only a few weeks after being chased out of struggling Tottenham Hotspur.

What do you make of Real’s move? Did they have any choice or have they again acted rashly? And what about Ramos? Things fell apart at Spurs but he was previously very successful with Sevilla.

Tottenham’s struggles have dominated the Premier League headlines so far this season, taking some of the spotlight off a great start for Rafa Benitez and Liverpool.

The Reds look like they can mount a serious challenge for the title for the first time in over a decade.

Owen Wyatt, in a very fetching tie and jumper combination, talks with fellow vlogonthepitch regular Jon Bramley about the reasons behind Liverpool’s success.

Can Rafa’s boys continue their momentum? Watch the above and let us know your thoughts.

A seismic weekend at Tottenham resulted in the ruthless cull of Juande Ramos and his coaching team and the sacking of director of football Damien Comolli.

Harry Redknapp was then hired as the club’s new manager just hours before the north London club claimed a first league victory of the season against Bolton.

However, their league position is still precarious (they are bottom, a point worse off than Newcastle) and there are many Spurs fans who are uncomfortable with the appointment

Not just because Redknapp has strong connections with West Ham United, but because his main attribute appears to be guiding average sides away from relegation.

Apart from last year’s FA Cup victory with Portsmouth, the 61-year-old Redknapp’s CV highlights are none too impressive.

Sure, he saved Portsmouth from relegation a few years ago and will probably have enough tricks up his sleeve to get Tottenham into mid-table by the end of the season.

But, what then? Is Redknapp really the man that can make Tottenham a force again? Can anybody?

It is a stark admission of failure by chairman Daniel Levy that he has gone back to basics after several unsuccessful attempts to discover Tottenham’s own “Arsene Wenger”.

Since Wenger took charge of Arsenal in 1996, Spurs have entrusted Swiss Christian Gross, Frenchman Jacques Santini, Dutchman Martin Jol and Spaniard Juande Ramos with trying to close the gap on their north London rivals.

Quite frankly, apart from Jol who turned Tottenham into a serious league force and came within 90 minutes of taking the club into the Champions League, the flirtations with European coaches have been a disaster.

The appointment of Redknapp also spells the end of Levy’s preference for a European-style management structure. There will be no director of football and Redknapp has made it clear that only players he wants will be in the squad.

What many fans cannot understand is why Jol, who guided Spurs to consecutive fifth-placed finishes, was not allowed the same responsibility.

Instead, he was undermined by Comolli and eventually sacked — a decision that now appears to have put the club back years.

Tottenham play Arsenal at the Emirates on Wednesday and thousands of Spurs fans, whether they admit it or not, will be looking on with envy and asking the nagging question, “What if Wenger had chosen the other half of north London?”

Redknapp may provide some instant comfort but sadly, Tottenham fans seem destined for many more years of pain.

PHOTO:  New Spurs boss Redknapp comes out of the tunnel ahead of his side’s game against Bolton Wanderers. Oct.26 REUTERS/Kieran Doherty

It’s not easy being a Spurs fan at the moment and if the team suffer another bad result against Hull City on Sunday it’s going to be an uncomfortable international break for Juande Ramos.

Owen Wyatt is joined by Vlog on the Pitch regular Jon Bramley and Mike Davidson to discuss the underlying reasons for the team’s disappointing start to the season. They also take a glance over to Germany, where a Hamburg side coached by Martin Jol — remember him? – are currently top of the league.

So what is the main problem? Is it a lack of quality in the squad? And if so, is that the fault of Ramos or other, more powerful, figures at the club? Is it really time to make a change ?

Give us your thoughts in the comments or feel free to give us a link to a Vlog of your own on the subject. If we like the video, we’ll find a home for it here.

My own feeling is that this is still too early in the season to condemn a manager, even if they have been looking like “a half-hearted express train leading off into nowhere land”, to quote Tottenham Hotspur Blog News. Ramos’s Sevilla were such a thrill to watch that surely it’s worth persevering a little longer, even though, as Owen says, perhaps Spurs could do with signing the coach’s old boss Monchi as well.