THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Juande Ramos is proving well worth the trouble Tottenham took to hire him.
The Premier League club was criticized by fans for convincing Ramos to leave Sevilla and become manager while Martin Jol was still in charge, and then had to win over supporters smarting from the poor treatment given to a popular Dutch coach who had twice led the team to fifth place in the Premier League.
But three months later, Ramos engineered a 5-1 Carling Cup semifinal win over fierce north London rival Arsenal to earn Spurs the chance of a first trophy in nine years.
Having won two UEFA Cups, the Copa Del Rey, Spanish Super Cup and European Super Cup with Sevilla, Ramos brought Tottenham its first win over Arsenal since 1999. It reflected Ramos’ impressive record in knockout competition and earned him booming cheers from the White Hart Lane crowd.
After consulting bilingual assistant Gus Poyet, the Spaniard responded to the Tottenham fans’ chants for a wave, but insisted the players’ deserved the credit for reaching the club’s first cup final for six years.
"It makes me tremendously that the fans are happy with my work, but the architects are the footballers themselves," Ramos said. "They are the ones who run and who make things happen.
"Without the collaboration of the footballers themselves, it would be impossible."
But that modesty disguises the difference Ramos has made to a squad that was performing poorly under Jol.
Ramos turned down an initial offer to take over in August after Tottenham lost its first two matches of the season, and Jol was undermined after the meeting was widely reported by the British papers.
Jol was eventually fired in October when he was unable to lift the squad to the level of the previous two seasons, and Ramos, who spoke little English, inherited a team near the bottom of the Premier League.
Unable to sign new players until the January transfer window opened, Ramos set out to improve the players’ fitness and organize a porous defence.
It worked almost immediately.
The club has lost just four of Ramos’ 21 matches in charge and had a 1-1 draw at Arsenal in the first leg of the League Cup semifinal.
Spurs dominated that match but conceded an equalizer 11 minutes from the end. Having lost to the Gunners at the same stage last season despite taking a 2-0 lead in the first leg, that late goal sparked fears that the team had missed another opportunity to break its long jinx against Arsenal.
But Ramos made a key change to his lineup, drafting Teemu Tainio into a defensive midfield role, giving Jermaine Jenas, Aaron Lennon, Steed Malbranque and Robbie Keane time and possession to launch attacks.
"Without any doubt, to beat a team like Arsenal you have to play well," Ramos said. "The team did not make any mistakes and was perfect in every area."
The Feb. 24 final at Wembley now gives Ramos the chance to make himself a success in his first season in charge.
And if he can engineer a win at Premier League leader Manchester United on Sunday in the fourth round of the FA Cup, few fans will doubt their chances of success in both tournaments.
Ramos has never won a league title with any of the four clubs he has led, but won five cups in a year with Sevilla, making him the ideal candidate to take charge of a team famed for its exploits in knockout tournaments but with just two league titles to its name.
"I want to win everything, whether it’s the Premier League, the FA Cup, the Carling Cup … but sometimes you don’t get the luck," Ramos said. "I’m just good at knockout competitions. I don’t know why."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger bemoaned his own luck after watching his team routed, with even the presence of nine first-team regulars among the 14 players he used of no use against a fired up Tottenham team.
"Everything went against us," Wenger said. "The score is high and very brutal but does not reflect what we saw on the pitch. They defend like mad and they catch us on the break."
But Spurs fans will be happy to see such form continue whatever the tactics. There have been 82 goals in 19 matches at White Hart Lane this season.
And Ramos is already endearing himself to supporters with his appreciation of what victory over Arsenal means to them.
"To get to the final in such a short period of time, to reach Wembley is a fantastic achievement, but more so for the fans," Ramos said. "Arsenal is one of the biggest teams in England, so it is tremendously satisfying, more so because it is a direct rival from the same city.
"Added to that that it was the first win in a long time and added to that that it was such a big win, makes it so much better."