Lucky Sven can smile as Spurs boss Ramos loses the plot

While the Manchester City manager's sit-down with Thaksin Shinawatra will be a relatively serene affair, there will be some people at Tottenham who may like to know just how Juande Ramos managed to throw this game away.

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Ramos may have secured the Carling Cup and his team may appear to be improving under his guidance, but his peculiar decision to replace Robbie Keane with the score at 1-1 with 23 minutes left undoubtedly helped to take the initiative away from Tottenham as City secured their first home win in the Barclays Premier League since December 15.

Despite City having hauled themselves level through Stephen Ireland eight minutes earlier, Tottenham were more than in the game until Ramos replaced his goalscorer and best player with Darren Bent.

Certainly, Keane was less than impressed as he made his way off.

"What the f*** is that about?" he appeared to ask of nobody in particular, before throwing a tracksuit top down in disgust upon reaching the dugout.

Ramos suggested afterwards that he needed to rest players but he must surely regret a decision that removed his team's most effective attacking weapon.

"I didn't see his reaction but it is natural players are disappointed when they are asked to come off," said Ramos.

"But we have a big squad and we need to get some minutes for the players who have not played as much."

This result merely represents another step in Tottenham's odd season of successes and setbacks, while for City it may act as a turning point.

With chairman Thaksin back from Thailand and looking to 'tighten the bolt', he was waving on the pitch before kick-off and will sit down with Eriksson to discuss spending plans for the summer.

It is unlikely that the Swede will get the £30million he believes he needs to turn City into a genuine top four contender but at least he can expect a certain degree of of conviviality after ending a run of three games without a goal.

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Eriksson said: "I am looking forward to the meeting. He has been away for a long time so there are some things we need to talk about in terms of where the club goes from here.

"It was very important we won, though, and it shows the morale is still there among the players.

"In the Premier League it is very hard to concede a goal and then come back and win. It only happens 10 per cent of the time so that is very pleasing. It was a good performance for 90 minutes, especially so in the second half."

Eriksson was understandably pleased to earn three points but he was stretching the point a bit when he suggested his team had played well throughout.

City were poor and short of confidence in the first half.

Eriksson's team still have a lack of genuine quality up front and were deservedly behind at the interval.

The normally reliable Vedran Corluka erred dramatically in allowing Steed Malbranque's pass to set Pascal Chimbonda free down the left and when the left-back's smart pass released Keane in the area he beat City keeper Joe Hart with a left foot shot across his body.

It was a well-worked goal from Spurs and a fine example of how to punish your opposition's mistakes.

For some time, it appeared as though City may struggle to get back in to the game but luck can play its part and it did yesterday as Ireland turned in Elano's downward header from what appeared to be an offside position in the 59th minute.

"I have seen the replay and it was hard to tell if it was offside," said Eriksson, who had clearly borrowed Arsene Wenger's spectacles.

"But if it was offside then perhaps we had the luck that we all need. When we lost at Tottenham this season I thought two of their goals were offside so it works both ways."

From the moment their equaliser went in, City were the better team. As they blossomed, Spurs withered and the winning goal came with 18 minutes to go.

Elano was the architect again as he delivered a corner towards the penalty spot and young defender Nedum Onuoha rose to powerfully head in his first goal for the club.

It was a fine goal and fit to win any match, but there was one more important moment in the game and once again it involved Onuoha.

A deep free-kick from the right caused a certain amount of panic in the City penalty area and Onuoha seemed to have undone his good work by prodding the ball into his own net from 10 yards.

An offside flag on the near side immediately ruled out the goal, but it was difficult to see who was the culprit.

Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov was standing in an offside position at the far post but did not appear to be interfering with play.

Ramos was certainly more keen to talk about that than he was his decision to substitute Keane.

The Tottenham coach said: "Those two decisions cost us the game. If it wasn't for those mistakes it would have been 2-1 to us."