Jonathan Woodgate says Tottenham's players are right behind coach Juande Ramos. Spurs have just two points from eight games and are bottom of the Premier League table. Woodgate believes the players should take the responsibility for the club's worst-ever start to a league campaign.
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Ramos: Unsure of future.
"We will stick by the manager no matter what. We've played well at times, but this season we haven't cut it. The buck stops with the players.
"We're bottom of the Premiership and it's not nice at all. We're hurting inside but we have to stand up and get ourselves out of this mess that we've got ourselves into."
A newly-formed fans group have planned a mass protest for Tottenham's next home game against Bolton on Sunday, calling on chairman Daniel Levy to resign.
Ramos himself admitted Tottenham's situation was "terrible" after Stoke's 2-1 win yesterday condemned his side to their sixth defeat in eight games.
To make matters worse, Gareth Bale and Michael Dawson will be suspended after picking up red cards.
Ramos said: "I am worried about the situation. At the moment it is terrible.
"Last season we won the Carling Cup and everyone was very happy.
"At this moment everyone is very sad and I am worried about it as I don't like this situation.
"We need to work very hard to change this situation and only hard work can change it.
"This is my job and I am working very hard each day to finish this situation.
"The responsibility is all the people working in the club starting with me and finishing with the last person - we all have responsibility, when we win and when we lose."
Asked if he planned to meet the Levy and whether he was confident he had the chairman's backing, he added: "I don't know - this is a question for the chairman. I speak to the chairman when he permits us to speak. He's a very busy person and I don't know when it will be possible to speak."
| Tuesday, October 21, 2008 | |||||
| Time | Home | Away | STAGE | ||
| 17:30 UK | Zenit St Petersburg | v | BATE Borisov | Group H | |
| 19:45 UK | Juventus | v | Real Madrid | Group H | |
| 19:45 UK | Villarreal | v | AaB | Group E | |
| 19:45 UK | Man Utd | v | Celtic | Group E | |
| 19:45 UK | Bayern Munich | v | Fiorentina | Group F | |
| 19:45 UK | Steaua Bucuresti | v | Lyon | Group F | |
| 19:45 UK | Fenerbahce | v | Arsenal | Group G | |
| 19:45 UK | FC Porto | v | Dynamo Kiev | Group G | |
| Wednesday, October 22, 2008 | |||||
| Time | Home | Away | STAGE | ||
| 19:45 UK | Bordeaux | v | CFR Cluj-Napoca | Group A | |
| 19:45 UK | Chelsea | v | Roma | Group A | |
| 19:45 UK | Inter Milan | v | Anorthosis Famagusta | Group B | |
| 19:45 UK | Panathinaikos | v | Werder Bremen | Group B | |
| 19:45 UK | Shakhtar Donetsk | v | Sporting Lisbon | Group C | |
| 19:45 UK | FC Basel | v | Barcelona | Group C | |
| 19:45 UK | Atlético Madrid | v | Liverpool | Group D | |
| 19:45 UK | PSV Eindhoven | v | Marseille | Group D | |
Celtic are facing the prospect of going into Tuesday's Champions League Battle of Britain tie against Manchester United with a drastically depleted squad.
The major concerns for Gordon Strachan are in the striking department with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Georgios Samaras and Chris Killen all set to miss the match through injury.
Strachan will also be sweating on the fitness of Gary Caldwell and Marc Crosas after they both picked up injuries during the team's 2-1 win over Inverness today.
Strachan said: "It is hugely disappointing to be without Jan and Georgios.
"We have also lost Chris Killen, who is a very good player, so we are without three physical strikers who give you lots of options.
"I think when you go to Old Trafford you want to have a full selection fit.
"When you look at the team, the speed and the ability is good but the physical side is a problem. I think it was part of the problem today (at Inverness).''
Georgios Samaras will be a massive loss to the Scottish champions.
The Greek international has been in terrific form this season but he will undergo a cartilage operation in Dublin tomorrow after returning from playing in his country's 2-1 defeat to Switzerland on Wednesday with the injury.
Strachan explained: "He didn't think there was a problem but there is. He will have a cartilage operation in Dublin tomorrow.
"How long he is out for will depend on how the operation goes and the size of the tear but hopefully it won't be too long.''
The Celtic boss is also concerned about the chances of Gary Caldwell making the match against Sir Alex Ferguson's side.
Strachan added: "If you ask Gary, he would say his chances of making it on Tuesday are 100%.
"He said that at half-time today but then he had to come off. It is a deep cut he has in an awkward place.
"He had to have two or three stitches on his foot so he is another one we will have to keep an eye on.''
Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri admits his struggling side are feeling the pressure ahead of their Champions League encounter with Real Madrid on Tuesday.
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Ranieri's men have failed to fire in Serie A thus far and were beaten 2-1 by high-flying Napoli on Saturday, a result which leaves the Old Lady in mid-table with just two wins from seven league games.
Juventus are undefeated in Champions League Group H, however, and are just two points behind the Spanish champions ahead of the midweek encounter in Turin.
Ranieri is sweating on the fitness of Christian Poulsen and Claudio Marchisio, who both picked up injuries in the defeat to Napoli, and the coach is desperate for his side to find some consistency as speculation mounts over his future.
"We're doing the best we can at the moment, but the fact we're not able to win weighs down on everybody," Ranieri told the club's website. "Unfortunately this year we haven't been consistent - we have good spells, but we're not smooth enough.
"And now Real Madrid. I have two days to prepare the game and most of all to see which injured players I can have back."
Juventus were missing 10 players for the trip to Naples and Ranieri believes the further problems suffered by his injured midfield duo contributed to the loss.
"I liked how we played in the first hour, we put pressure on Napoli and scored the goal," the former Chelsea boss continued. "Unfortunately both Poulsen and Marchisio had physical problems and I had to strengthen the midfield, taking off [Alessandro] Del Piero and putting [Paolo] De Ceglie on."
Amauri put the Bianconeri ahead in the 62nd minute of the game in Naples but Marek Hamsik brought the home team level two minutes later. Ezequiel Lavezzi grabbed the winner for Napoli 10 minutes from time.
Marchisio, meanwhile, said Juve must now switch their focus to the match with Madrid, and not dwell on the defeat.
"We're bitterly disappointed and you can see it on our faces too," he said. "After going one up, we made the mistake that great teams cannot make: we let go and they punished us.
"Now we must turn the page immediately and focus on Tuesday's game. Against Real Madrid we will have to fight for the whole 90 minutes and redeem ourselves, for the sake of ourselves, the club and our fans."
Jose Mourinho has fuelled the fires of speculation by saying he has unfinished business in England and revealed he expects to return to England when his time comes to an end at Internazionale.
Empics
Mourinho: Three-year deal at the San Siro. After that...
Mourinho may well be interested in a job at Manchester United when Sir Alex Ferguson finally quits Old Trafford. The 45-year-old Portugese coach returned to management when he signed a three-year contract with Inter in June.
"I have a contract with Inter but when it ends I will probably return to the Premier League, a league I really like," he revealed.
Mourinho has made a solid start to life in Italy, and guided the Nerazzurri to the Serie A summit with Sunday's thumping 4-0 win at Roma.
Spurs legend Gary Mabbutt expects Juande Ramos' services to be retained at the rock-bottom club despite their miserable Premier League form which has seen them amass just two points from eight games.
Sunday's 2-1 defeat by Stoke was a new low for Tottenham and leaves them rooted to the foot of the league.
Yet Mabbutt believes the White Hart Lane hierarchy will stay faithful to Spanish boss Ramos, who they lured to London from Sevilla under 12 months ago.
"The board are going to be behind the manager," Mabbutt told BBC Radio Five Live. "We are in dire straits at the moment.
"Two points from a possible 24 is the worst start to a season we have ever had.
"From the game you see there were a few positives but not enough to get all the Spurs fans waking up this morning with a smile on their faces."
Manager Luiz Felipe Scolari refused to accept the label of Premier League title favourites after watching his Chelsea side dismantle Middlesbrough 5-0 at the Riverside.
Despite missing Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien, Joe Cole and Didier Drogba, they cruised to victory to stay top on goal difference from Liverpool.
Salomon Kalou (two), Juliano Belletti, Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda were all on target.
Asked if they are favourites now, Scolari said: "No. We have many, many games to go.
"If this game had been game 35 or game 36 and we were three points or six points in front, okay.
"We need to play every game as if it was our last game for the season to arrive at the final one with maybe one or two teams in the same condition. That's what I want."
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez believes Sergio Aguero may not have become one of the world's most sought-after players had he taken the Argentina striker to Anfield.
The 20-year-old was linked with a move to the Merseysiders before opting to join Atletico Madrid, the Reds' Champions League opponents on Wednesday, from Independiente in 2006.
Aguero has since gone on to justify his price tag, thought to have been around £15million, and would now be likely to fetch at least double that fee were he to leave the Vicente Calderon.
But Benitez told The Times: "Two years ago the agents were talking with us about players and he was one of those but he was too young and [Atletico] paid big money for him, around 18 million euros [about £14 million] for a player who was a risk.
"In the Premier League it's different and sometimes players will need more time here to improve."
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