Ramos earns his spurs in Carling Cup?

Juande Ramos takes charge of his first game as Tottenham coach this evening and the Spaniard will hope he can instill enough confidence into his side to see off Championship strugglers Blackpool in the Carling Cup fourth round. The Tottenham side that Ramos has inherited are woefully short on confidence and have been criticised for not finishing off sides this season - three times already they have lost points to injury time goals. The former Sevilla coach's first selection for this Carling Cup tie will be an interesting insight into what he thinks has gone wrong at the north London club. He has an embarrassment of riches to choose from up front but it is in defence where Tottenham's well documented problems lie. Only Reading and Derby have conceded more than Spurs in the Premier League this season and for a club that had serious aspirations to break into the big four this season that statistic is just not good enough. Ramos will need to strengthen his back line in the January transfer window and he will apply a quick fix over the next few months. Because of the need to stop conceding, Ramos will ask his midfield players to sit deeper to protect his defence and we will see a less gung-ho Spurs against Blackpool in this Carling Cup tie. Ramos knows that a win is a win at this stage of the season and with European qualification looking seriously doubtful via the league, a cup run will do his popularity good as well as appease the fans who are angry at the treatment of former coach Martin Jol. Their opponents at White Hart Lane are also suffering from a crisis in confidence. Manager Simon Grayson's side have not won a game since the previous round of the Carling Cup, when they beat Southend 2-1 after extra-time. They haven't won in the Championship for nine games and they currently lie fifth from bottom with 13 points from 13 games. Both sides are in need of a result so we take this to be a cagey affair with the midfield swamped and players searching for confidence. Blackpool are a dangerous side as Derby will testify after the Premier Legue side lost in an earlier round 7-6 on penalties after the match finsihed 2-2 and the draw/Tottenham on the half-time/full-time market at 15/4 with Stan James looks like the value punt. Verdict: 1pt Draw/Tottenham HT/FT @ 15/4 (Stan James)