Ramos making his mark

Juande Ramos has only been in charge of Tottenham for a month but the Spaniard is already beginning to vindicate the board's controversial decision to bring him in to replace Martin Jol.

One of their main concerns about Jol, apart from the fact the team were near the bottom of the Premier League at the time of his dismissal, was his ability to make tactical decisions to change games.

Ramos is beginning to show he is a cut above the Dutchman in that field, having helped his side stage second half comebacks in his past two games.

Last Sunday, Spurs were trailing 1-0 at West Ham and he took defender Younes Kaboul off for Darren Bent and switched from 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3 formation. It took a penalty save by West Ham keeper Robert Green to prevent the visitors from taking all three points.

He was faced with an even bigger problem last night as the woeful defence he inherited allowed Aalborg to race into a 2-0 lead by the break, but he brought on Tom Huddlestone and Bent for Young Pyo-Lee and the injured Jermaine Jenas and they were level within six minutes of the restart. He had switched to three at the back again and both his substitutes were instrumental. Huddlestone set up the first goal with a sublime pass to Dimitar Berbatov and Bent netted the winner in the 66th minute.

The 53-year-old is pleased to have started with a a six- game unbeaten run, but knows there is still a lot of work to do.

He said: "When I arrived here, if you told me that we'd have four wins and two draws from the first six games I would have snatched it out of your hand. But it is true we are still making mistakes and it's important to stop this as quickly as possible."

Ramos's arrival also seems to have improved the demeanour of Berbatov. However, the Bulgarian international feels it is too late for the team to qualify for Europe again next season via the Premier League.

He said: "It will be very difficult for us to do it now. I'm realistic, but we'll try and see what happens. We have a difficult game against Birmingham on Sunday and then we have many games ahead of us. We have to correct them if we don't want to lose games."

Birmingham's new manager Alex McLeish will certainly take confidence in the way Aalborg completely dominated Tottenham in the first half. Pascal Chimbonda and Michael Dawson didn't make a very convincing partnership in central defence and Ramos is unsure if Kaboul will return from a thigh injury.

Spurs are also set to be without Jenas, who left White Hart Lane on crutches after sustaining an ankle injury. Striker Jermain Defoe should be back in the squad after recovering from flu.