are we.
That was my first thought when I saw the team Juande Ramos picked for his first Premier League game in charge against ‘Boro on Saturday and what an ugly game it was.
I figured he was using a game against another league struggler to see what some of the players have when I saw Kean and Berbatov weren’t included but Bent and Defoe would start up front as well as pairing Kevin Prince Boateng and Jenas in midfield, try them out against the so called weaker sides.
Using the period to the transfer window to asses what he has at his disposal, and after Saturday he he can’t have liked what he saw – weak defence with no confidence, no guile or ability in midfield beyond Malbranque who never gets to play in the position that would see him being able to run a a game – seeing what he has to change and then using the rest of the season to bed them in if he’s going back to his old club or home country for players – so season over now, well in the league there’s always cups oh and trying to avoid relegation.
How will Levy like it if this is a rebuilding season and Europe isn’t reached by the end of it?
The rumour mill has started about who Ramos is looking to bring in, with the main suspect being Sevilla’s Russian striker Alexander Kerzhakov, yeah that’s just what we need another striker. Not a defender or left sided player but a fifth striker, I know he’s a reputation for attacking football but there’s a limit. Kerzhakov would have nothing to the squad we haven’t already got with Keane, Berbatov and Defoe, after all he’s currently only third choice at Ramos’ old club.
So with typical timing, a week after a Spurs old boy scores a screamer against us, probably a good job Mido wasn’t playing or we might not have even got a point the next league fixture is against Wigan who have just sacked their manager and so the players will lift themselves next week, especially if they’ve got a new man in charge by then. A case of deja vu all over again for Hutchings who lost his job 12 league games after replacing Paul Jewell at Wigan, the same number he managed Bradford before being sacked after he took over from Jewell.