Ramos treats King with care
Friday, 28 December 2007
LONDON, Dec 27(AFP): Tottenham manager Juande Ramos admitted he will have to treat Ledley King with care after the England defender finally returned from injury.
King made his long-awaited comeback in Wednesday's 5-1 win over Fulham at White Hart Lane.
The Spurs captain played for 73 minutes after overcoming knee surgery and then a thigh injury. It was only his seventh appearance for Tottenham in a year.
Ramos will now see how King reacts before deciding on whether he can play against Reading on Saturday.
"Ledley is still getting better. We needed him to play because we did not have enough defensive players and you can see the influence he brings to the team," Ramos said.
"To have a player like him in defence is great because he has a lot of international experience and knows the players well, but physically he has to get used to the tempo of the game.
"We will see how his knee is getting on and that depends on whether he can play again at the weekend."
Ramos also praised Tom Huddlestone for losing weight and proving he is capable of holding down a place in the first team.
The midfield player, who rarely featured under previous Spurs manager Martin Jol, showed off his new streamline figure by scoring two excellent goals in Wednesday's rout.
Huddlestone, who joined Tottenham from Derby for two million pounds in 2005, was placed on a strict diet by Ramos and it is now beginning to reap the benefits.
He scored his first when he thundered the ball past Fulham goalkeeper Antti Niemi in first half stoppage time after neat work by Steed Marbranque. His second was even better.
Aaron Lennon beat Paul Konchesky for pace before passing to Huddlestone, who drove the ball into the bottom of the corner from 20 yards out.
His man of the match performance was warmly received by Ramos, who said after the match: "Tom has been magnificent. He has excellent ball control and had a really good performance today and participated a lot in the match.
"His weight was something which worried us a lot at the beginning but you can see now he is making a real effort to be fitter. You can see the results in his performances.
"We are happy that there are players on the team who have slimmed down quite a bit and the rest of the squad appreciate that because we needed that to happen."
The match was also memorable for Tottenham striker Robbie Keane, who scored twice to take his career Premier League goals tally to the 100 mark.
Second half substitute Jermain Defoe wrapped up the scoring late on with a low finish from Huddlestone's pass. Clint Dempsey had earlier scored a consolation goal for Fulham, but their misery was compounded when Mortiz Volz was sent off after receiving two bookings.
Caretaker Fulham manager Ray Lewington was left downcast by the defeat and warned his players that they need to improve against Birmingham on Saturday.
He said: "If they play like that they will get relegated but I hope they won't.
"Everything that could go wrong, went wrong against Spurs.
We are realistic to know that the performance was no good either.
We've got to put it right.
"I don't know if I will stay in charge this weekend but if Fulham make a change before then, fine."
King made his long-awaited comeback in Wednesday's 5-1 win over Fulham at White Hart Lane.
The Spurs captain played for 73 minutes after overcoming knee surgery and then a thigh injury. It was only his seventh appearance for Tottenham in a year.
Ramos will now see how King reacts before deciding on whether he can play against Reading on Saturday.
"Ledley is still getting better. We needed him to play because we did not have enough defensive players and you can see the influence he brings to the team," Ramos said.
"To have a player like him in defence is great because he has a lot of international experience and knows the players well, but physically he has to get used to the tempo of the game.
"We will see how his knee is getting on and that depends on whether he can play again at the weekend."
Ramos also praised Tom Huddlestone for losing weight and proving he is capable of holding down a place in the first team.
The midfield player, who rarely featured under previous Spurs manager Martin Jol, showed off his new streamline figure by scoring two excellent goals in Wednesday's rout.
Huddlestone, who joined Tottenham from Derby for two million pounds in 2005, was placed on a strict diet by Ramos and it is now beginning to reap the benefits.
He scored his first when he thundered the ball past Fulham goalkeeper Antti Niemi in first half stoppage time after neat work by Steed Marbranque. His second was even better.
Aaron Lennon beat Paul Konchesky for pace before passing to Huddlestone, who drove the ball into the bottom of the corner from 20 yards out.
His man of the match performance was warmly received by Ramos, who said after the match: "Tom has been magnificent. He has excellent ball control and had a really good performance today and participated a lot in the match.
"His weight was something which worried us a lot at the beginning but you can see now he is making a real effort to be fitter. You can see the results in his performances.
"We are happy that there are players on the team who have slimmed down quite a bit and the rest of the squad appreciate that because we needed that to happen."
The match was also memorable for Tottenham striker Robbie Keane, who scored twice to take his career Premier League goals tally to the 100 mark.
Second half substitute Jermain Defoe wrapped up the scoring late on with a low finish from Huddlestone's pass. Clint Dempsey had earlier scored a consolation goal for Fulham, but their misery was compounded when Mortiz Volz was sent off after receiving two bookings.
Caretaker Fulham manager Ray Lewington was left downcast by the defeat and warned his players that they need to improve against Birmingham on Saturday.
He said: "If they play like that they will get relegated but I hope they won't.
"Everything that could go wrong, went wrong against Spurs.
We are realistic to know that the performance was no good either.
We've got to put it right.
"I don't know if I will stay in charge this weekend but if Fulham make a change before then, fine."