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After lifting the Carling Cup last season, I thought Tottenham had broken their curse of mediocrity. The team’s joyous celebration is still fresh in my mind and hopes were high then that Juande Ramos (who was recruited from Sevilla in October 2007) will lead the long-suffering club to greatness and more prestigious titles.

Alas, how swift the dreams had been dashed. To be sure, I didn’t expect Tottenham to be in such bad shape even though it has been one downhill ride ever since their moment of triumph - three wins out of their 20 Premier League matches since February and a pathetic five league goals this season.

To those who proclaim that Tottenham is too ”illustrious” to be floundering in Division One, past stastitics will be helpful in debunking this myth. History shows that there is only one team (Southamption in 1998/99) to avoid the drop with such a dismal record of two or fewer points from the opening eight matches.

Despite mounting criticisms of Juande Ramos as Tottenham remain entrenched at the bottom of the Premier League table, I still maintain a healthy respect for Ramos’s abilities and experience in steering the team out of their malaise. After all, Tottenham are only five points adrift of safety and they could be out of danger once they put together a run of positive results.

But the shocker finally came when I witnessed the capitulation of Tottenham last week. The fact that Tottenham could not muster the wherewithal to defeat Stoke City (just sitting one notch above Tottenham and also a firm favorite for relegation) reflected the urgency of the crisis in their worst start to a league season since 1912.

Juande Ramos’s decision to leave Ledley King out of his starting line-up at Britannia Stadium is highly suspect. Tottenham is currently lacking in confidence, and defeating Stoke City in style will have kickstarted their sputtering season and bring back smiles to the fans. However, when faced with his team’s best chance to turn around their fortune and earn the precious three points, Ramos chose not to go all out for a victory.

King’s importance to the Tottenham squad cannot be understated, his absence coincided with 13 of the 16 defeats Spurs had suffered thus far. As if to mock the wisdom of Ramos, in the 19th minute, Tottenham’s castle fell for the most elementary of errors. Gareth Bale was sent off for scything down Tom Soares and Danny Higginbotham slotted home the ensuing penalty.

Strangely, Bale’s departure sparked a revival in Tottenham and their spirited response finally earned them an equalizer. Darren Bent capitalized on Alan Hutton’s deflected cross and scored from close range. It was a fortunate goal as Bent was in an offside position but still, drawing level was well deserved for their efforts.

The scale was once again tipped in Stoke City’s favor as Spurs defense was caught napping in the 53rd minute. Rory Delap’s winner handed Stoke the upper hand and Tottenham did not get back into the game thereafter. In fact, towards the end of the match, Tottenham was left hanging on the ropes by a rampant Stoke City.

Soares was bundled to the ground by Jonathan Woodgate and from the resulting penalty taken by Ricardo Fuller, the ball cannoned off both posts, while Delap’s follow-up shuddered the bar. Scarcely had Tottenham heaved a sigh of relief when Dawson saw red for a reckless lunge on Sidibe. Spurs was spared further embarrassment as Fuller curled the effort against the bar.

Clearly, Stoke City dealt with the insipid Spurs handily in this 2-1 victory and fans are understandably frustrated. Top on the list of vilians are manager Juande Ramos and sporting director Damien Comolli. It is a toss-up who will be sacked first but even if there is no imminent change, I presume the axe will continue to hang over their heads in the coming weeks.

Points will be hard to come by with Bolton and then Arsenal (on 29 October) standing in the way. The Gunners had not tasted defeat against Tottenham in 18 games stretching back to 1993. Tottenham’s ordeal will continue against Liverpool (another tough nut to crack), which remained unbeaten in nine of their previous games. In between, Tottenham had to make a trip to Italy to square off with Udinese, second in Serie A, in a Uefa Cup group game.

To add to their woes, Spurs could be down to their bare bones as Gareth Bale and Michael Dawson now face bans after their red cards at Stoke and Vedran Corluka was knocked unconscious. The only piece of good news for Ramos came when Corluka was given the all-clear on Sunday.

Nevertheless, Ramos options for shoring up his defense remains limited. The talismanic captain Ledley King can only play “one game every two or three weeks” because of an ongoing problem with his left knee. Tottenham urgently need a leader of King’s calibre on the pitch who can pull the strings and inject a calming influence over the jittery defense. Without a steady backline, there is very little the goalkeeper can do either.

Ramos will not have expected that he left a cosy job at Sevilla to become a reviled personality at Tottenham and now his fate depends on the whims and fancies of Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and his board of directors. Ironically, it was Stoke manager Tony Pulis who rode to the rescue by offering a voice of reason.

Pulis urged the Tottenham board to stick with Ramos, saying: “Let’s see a bit of character by their board of directors and see them back him. We are all in the same boat and know the rules and have to accept it. I just hope the chairman who got rid of a very popular manager before - Martin Jol - now backs him and gives him a chance to turn it around.”

“They certainly have good enough players and a good depth of squad. They will get it sorted out sooner rather than later and when they do they will be a very tough team to play against.”

While Juande Ramos put the team’s failure down to two red cards and injuries, I think the problem is far more serious. There is a lack of direction from the manager causing the players to be confused about their proper roles in the team and none of his charges exhibit a strong desire to win or at least fight for points.

So far, certain decisions taken by Ramos are highly questionable. Take David Bentley. He is not a mainstay in Ramos’s plan and on the few occasions when he clocked some playing time, he was deprived of his beloved right midfield role. While I have little argument with Aaron Lennon occupying that position, I cannot understand Spurs’s rationale in splashing out more than £15m on a player, only to field him out of position.

Bentley, a promising England star if given the right coaching and opportunties to shine, is now so low on confidence, his basic touches and passes have gone awry. Instead of sitting on the bench and wasting his talents, Bentley needs more match time to rebuild his confidence and rapport with his team mates.

The loss of Jermain Defoe, Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane, without capable replacements secured in the close season, exposed the board’s role, or rather incompetence, in implementing Tottenham’s blueprint to become a major title contender.

It is too early to condemn Roman Pavlyuchenko; the lad gave a credible performance in the European Championships and it is unfair to expect him to set the stage alight in his debut season. He is still finding his feet, but currently, the partnership between the Russian and Darren Bent is creaking.

Other incoming players like Modaric and Gomes have the potential but are not proving their worth just yet. The disposal of Steed Malbranque and even Chimbonda is turning out to be a bad mistake too. Malbranque has the exquisite quality to thread killer passes and score vital goals and I am hard pressed to find another player to shoulder this role in the squad now.

If possible, Tottenham should purchase another playmaker who can function as a supporting striker in the January transfer window. To raise cash, they can consider offloading deadwood like Stalteri, Ghaly and Rocha. Hopefully, by then, the team has not fallen so far behind that it is solely concerned about staying afloat.

I certainly hope this is a temporary crisis for Tottenham. They have the ability and quality in the squad to put up a strong challenge and I am sure they will improve. This season, Champions League qualification is probably out of the question, something which they actually took pride in only a couple of years ago. For now, if they can remain as 15 or 16th in the league, it is already a consolation.

In January, Spurs can change their staff yet again but I don’t see chopping and changing as a strategy to help Spurs reach the giddy heights of mid-table like last year. On hindsight, Spurs should have stuck with Martin Jol. After all, he led the team to two consecutive fifth spots before hitting a rough patch in the 2007 season.

While last season was a poor start, this season is far worse - 2 points out of 21, which shows that hasty sacking of managers is not the panacea for struggling clubs. The board should throw their weight behind Ramos when he is trying hard to decide on his best starting 11 and the formation he should be playing them in. Neither could he rally the players to fight for each other when his own future is in dobut.

Right after winning the League Cup, Ramos should have further strengthened his hand and stamped his authority in the dressing room by demanding consistent results. Instead, the team now plays incoherently and many players think they are already superstars after winning a lousy cup.

This defeat will further intensify the unforgiving spotlight on Ramos’ tenure but the players are equally culpable for the poor performance as the manager. If Ramos is sacked, we might as well overhaul the entire team, board of directors, owners, and maybe even call Martin Jol to come back too. I believe it is wiser to exercise restrain and persist with Ramos… at least until the season is over.

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