Jose come back and Martin who – Juande are you a genius and Avram are you a Muppet…A tale of four managers was played out at Wembley Stadium as the seasons first piece of silverware, the Carling Cup, was up for grabs on Sunday.

 

At the end of 120 absorbing and at times pulsating minutes, Tottenham won their first trophy since the 1999 League Cup and I was left with four questions.

 

1. What would Jose Mourinho have done?
2. Would Martin Jol even have been there?
3. Is Juande Ramos a Cup specialist?
4. Has Avram Grant been found out?

 

1. Jose Mourinho has been to seven Cup finals as a manager of FC Porto and Chelsea. His record is played seven, won seven. The reason for this success was a single-mindedness to win the trophy regardless of players and his relationship to them. If he had been coaching Chelsea on Sunday with a one goal lead and twenty minutes left to play the Blues would’ve won their third League Cup in four years. He would’ve made his team feel like giants instead they looked like mere mortals.
2. ‘Mr. Dead Man Walking’ himself, Martin Jol must be experiencing conflicting emotions. The team that ran out onto Wembley was pretty much his bar for Jonathan Woodgate and Alan Hutton. The likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Ledley King and Robbie Keane could only get the Dutchman fifth in the Premiership though and for a traditional cup team like Spurs, finals were nothing but a distant dream. The answer has to be No.
3. In two-and-a-half seasons of Spanish and English football, Juande Ramos has won six, I repeat six trophies and every one of them has been a Cup competition. Two UEFA Cups, the UEFA Sup Cup, The Copa Del Rey, the Spanish Super Cup and now the Carling Cup. If that’s not a Cup specialist I don’t know what is. Perhaps it’s some Spanish trait that us English don’t know about - just look at Rafa Benitez at Liverpool. Whatever the answer is, Ramos has beaten in successive cup matches, Arsenal and Chelsea. Prior to this, Spurs combined record versus these two clubs in all competitions was a paltry six wins in their last 74 attempts. Genius or Cup specialist – you decide.
4. Avram Grant inherited a squad with experience, talent and know-how. Avram Grant inherited possibly the best squad in the world. Avram Grant has lost the three big games where coaching matters. He has lost to United and Arsenal in the Premier League derailing their hopes of regaining the title and now he’s lost in his first final. Why play Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka together when they’ve never worked together before. Does Anelka look like a wide man – no? Why leave Michael Ballack rotting on the bench for 88 minutes when Frank Lampard is having his usual Wembley stinker and replace Michael Essien. Why didn’t you start with Joe Cole, Chelsea’s most effective player all season? Avram Grant, you have been found out.

 

At the end of the day though the final question should be…’Did Tottenham deserve to win the Carling Cup’

 

The answer is a resounding YES.

 

From the opening whistle they played like they believed that this was going to be their day. So often in Cup Finals we see a cagey start but not this time as Spurs tore into Chelsea. I thought that Didier Zakora was excellent and completely over shadowed his like-for-like opponent John Obi Mikel. Woodgate and King were tremendous when Chelsea finally started exerting some pressure and I’m delighted for Paul Robinson. The Spurs keeper has been slaughtered recently for some terrible performances and rightly so however Ramos believed in him after a lengthy eleven matches out and was repaid with super saves from Cole and Salomon Kalou. Keane was commitment personified and have you ever seen a cooler penalty at Wembley as Berbatov sent the Petr Cech the wrong way for the equalizer. For Woodgate to then pop up in only his fourth Tottenham game to score the winner was pure fantasy.

 

Chelsea huffed, puffed and tried to squeeze the life out of the game but Spurs wouldn’t let them. If I’m honest the only time they looked like a Mourinho team was at the final whistle when they surrounded referee Mark Halsey. What a bunch of babies – you lost…deal with it and go home to West London.

 

Over in North London, Juande Ramos has the backing of the Spurs board and cash to play with. His Iberian counterpart, Jose Mourinho, used the Carling Cup as the springboard to further Chelsea success perhaps Tottenham can now have the belief to challenge the ‘big four’.

 

Until then, get the beers in.

Is it possible for seven inches to be the difference between a glorious campaign or one built around…if only…I wish…it was harder than it looked…and failure?

I guess we’ll find out the answer to this loaded innuendo question by May but in the mean time we’ll make do with Tottenham Hotspur star, Jermain Jenas and his probable thoughts as he drifted off to sleep on Saturday night. If he is smart though, in future years he’ll more than likely turn his improbable miss against Liverpool into a lengthy ‘fishermans tale’ for the grandkids.

At Anfield on Saturday, a venue that Spurs hadn’t won at in over 10 years, Jenas had an opportunity to put his club on the road to victory with a chance that must go down in the books as an ‘absolute sitter’. Even the phrase ‘my mother would’ve scored that one’ was being whispered in certain corners and the pain on Martin Jol’s face was there for all to see – and just to prove how cruel football really is, Craig Bellamy immediately missed a far simpler chance at the other end only for Mark Gonzales to save his blushes.

The blow to the Londoners was the equivalent of a Mike Tyson body shot in his heyday. Their remaining supply of air was violently expelled and with the Reds rampant, defeat number four was all but assured.

Now I’m certainly not advocating that we give up on Spurs just yet, especially since I predicted that they would finish 3rd in my pre-season preview, however there is reason for alarm and if I were Martin Jol, I’d be sorely tempted to scan the situations vacant page on a more regualr basis.

The reason for Jol’s apparent lack of job security can be easily identified and unforunately for the Dutchman it’s been the downfall of almost every manager who’s ever had the misfortune to coach this most ‘beautiful’ of games…goals!

Tottenham are firing more blanks than Tom Cruise in his latest ‘Mission Impossible’.

Two goals in six league matches is pitiful and the scary thing for Jol is that they’re not playing that badly when compared to some of the awful Spurs sides that have sat in mid table obscurity since the Premier League began in 1992 (ironically the EPL was the ‘brain’ child of former Tottenham Chairman, Alan Sugar).

Yet it was all meant to be different this season in the attacking department.

The addition of Bulgarian hitman Dimitar Barbatov for close to $20 million was clearly a sign of their and new sponsors, Mansion’s intent. The return of Eygptian hot head, Mido was another indicator of how desperate the North Londoners were on wresting supremacy away from their near neighbors Arsenal. The fact that they’d kept hold of Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe, scorers of 83 EPL goals for Spurs despite other suitors sniffing around seemed to say we’re serious…’about what’…I’m now forced to ask.

Tottenham and more specifically Jol are in trouble regardless of whether they beat Slavia Prague in the 2nd leg of their UEFA Cup clash this week (they hold a 1-0 advantage from the 1st leg) and their next five EPL mtches holds the key to their season.

Firstly they’ll host high flying Portsmouth at the Lane before travelling to a resurgent, Aston Villa. Then it’s three local encounters with West Ham, Watford and Chelsea. I believe that if they have only 7-10 points by the time they take on the Blues at home this will be the make or break game for Jol.

Consider this fact - Chelsea have 32 game unbeaten streak over Spurs in the top flight and if my estimated point tally is anywhere in this ballpark, Spurs will be desperately close to the relegation zone, making this the turning point of their season. Mark down November 11th if you’re a fan because this has ‘twitchy bum time’ written all over it.

And to think…but for seven inches I wouldn’t even be having this conversation and Jermain Jenas would be strolling around White Hart Lane with a smile on his face.

Until then, get the beers in.