A CARLING CUP victory at troubled Newcastle has eased the strain, but JUANDE Ramos is still a manager under pressure. And Tottenham s next two games could well decide the Spaniard s future at the Lane. Spurs visit Portsmouth on Sunday lunchtime still bott

A CARLING CUP victory at troubled Newcastle has eased the strain, but JUANDE Ramos is still a manager under pressure. And Tottenham's next two games could well decide the Spaniard's future at the Lane.

Spurs visit Portsmouth on Sunday lunchtime still bottom of the Premier League following Sunday's 0-0 home draw with Wigan - they are the only club to have failed to record a league victory in their first five games, and lost 4-0 at home to Chelsea on Wednesday night while Spurs were edging past Newcastle in the competition they won last year.

Next Thursday, the Lilywhites take a slender 2-1 lead to Poland for the second leg of their Uefa Cup tie against Wisla Krakow. A 1-0 win would see the Poles go through on the away goals rule.

Already this week, Ramos has had to dismiss reports that he was homesick. The former Sevilla coach, who replaced Martin Jol less than a year ago, has moved quickly to quell talk that he is seeking to quit after Tottenham's disastrous start to the season.

"It is not true at all [that I want to go home]," Ramos said after Sunday's stalemate at the Lane.

"I am delighted to be in London and I'm delighted to be at Tottenham. I'm having a marvellous experience."

Ramos blames late signings for Tottenham's dreadful start - Roman Pavlyuchenko, who netted against Newcastle, Vedran Corluka and Fraizer Campell all arrived on the last day of the transfer deadline day - and also lamented the timing of Dimitar Berbatov's move to Manchester United on the final evening.

"The problem is that some players arrived at the last moment," said Ramos. "They have not trained much with the team, so they need a little more time.

"We have had big changes here so we need time. It is true that big clubs like Tottenham do not get a lot of time, but all we can do is work hard each day to improve."

But time may not be on Ramos's side, especially if Tottenham lose again at Pompey and fail to make it through to the group stages of the Uefa Cup.

There are signs the fans are losing patience too. Spurs were booed off at half time and at the final whistle on Sunday - a result that leaves them with their worst start to a league season since the 1955-56 campaign, when they drew one and lost four of their opening five fixtures.

pat.mooney@hamhigh.co.uk