Alam Khan
Chief UK Sports Correspondent
Juande Ramos might have had the dreaded vote of confidence this week, but he remains confident that Tottenham's fortunes will finally improve.
It is a battle of the Premier League's basement clubs today as Stoke host the Londoners and Spurs will come off the bottom if they can win their first league game of season in eight attempts.
But Ramos remains positive after a meeting with his chairman, Daniel Levy, about the club's worst run since 1912.
The Spaniard has compared football to the financial markets and, despite being tipped for the sack, he says they will be in a healthier position by the start of the next transfer window when he can strengthen.
"He [Levy] is very happy," said Ramos. "We know the problem and we are speaking about looking for the solution, but the meeting was nice. The problem has to stop on Sunday, not January. We have to show that we are worthy to stay up, but if we are not winning games it doesn't count for anything. We need to win matches.
"Football is like the markets. It's possible that the markets change and go up, and so do we. When you win you are the best [coach] and when you lose you are the worst. This is football. It never always is good and never always is bad."
Having netted just four league goals, it's clear where Tottenham's problems remain and with Roman Pavlyuchenko expected to miss out with ankle ligament trouble, Darren Bent looks set to shoulder the goal scoring responsibility in what is likely to be tough test against a physical Stoke side.
But Ramos said: "To win or to lose, all the team have the responsibility. We are very good in defence, in midfield very good, but we need to improve and score goals."
Like Ramos, his Stoke counterpart Tony Pulis also wants more from his strikers, particularly Dave Kitson. Having not won in five league games, the newly promoted side are finding life in the top flight tough and Kitson in particular is suffering.
He has not found the net since his £5.5million (Dh35m) arrival from Reading and Pulis said: "Every striker gets down in the dumps if they don't score and Dave is no different. Strikers live off goals and as soon as he gets one I'm sure it will take a weight off his shoulders."
@Email:akhan@thenational.ae
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich 1
Kimmich (27')
Real Madrid 2
Marcelo (43'), Asensio (56')
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Results
Women finals: 48kg - Urantsetseg Munkhbat (MGL) bt Distria Krasniqi (KOS); 52kg - Odette Guiffrida (ITA) bt Majlinda Kelmendi (KOS); 57kg - Nora Gjakova (KOS) bt Anastasiia Konkina (Rus)
Men’s finals: 60kg - Amiran Papinashvili (GEO) bt Francisco Garrigos (ESP); 66kg - Vazha Margvelashvili (Geo) bt Yerlan Serikzhanov (KAZ)
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The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier 2025, Thailand
UAE fixtures
May 9, v Malaysia
May 10, v Qatar
May 13, v Malaysia
May 15, v Qatar
May 18 and 19, semi-finals
May 20, final
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.
The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?
My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.
The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.
So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.
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'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV
Power: 360bhp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh282,870
On sale: now
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India squad for fourth and fifth Tests
Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rahul, Shaw, Pujara, Rahane (vc), Karun, Karthik (wk), Pant (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Pandya, Ishant, Shami, Umesh, Bumrah, Thakur, Vihari
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
