Juande Ramos admitted his surprise at the rate of Tottenham's development following the Carling Cup win over Arsenal.
Boss surprised by Tottenham's rapid improvement
Juande Ramos admitted his surprise at the rate of Tottenham's development following their emphatic Carling Cup semi-final win that left Arsenal's players appearing to turn on each other.
Spurs ended their miserable run against their rivals in style with a 5-1 victory which saw Arsenal's players lose their cool with pictures suggesting Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner confronted each other.
Having such an effect on Arsenal seemed remote when Ramos took over from Martin Jol as manager at the end of October.
"Yes, it's been a big change," said Ramos. "But without the collaboration of the footballers themselves, this would have been impossible. The huge effort the players have made to come out of a bad situation means we have been improving.
"We're involved in everything at the moment. I want to publicly recognise that they are the architects of this change."
The result extended his remarkable record in knockout competitions; he has not lost a cup tie in two years.
Satisfying
"Really I'd want to win everything, whether it's a cup competition or the Premier League or the UEFA Cup," the Spaniard added. "Sometimes you don't get the luck. But, really, I don't know why I'm particularly good at knock-out competitions.
"To get to a final in such a short period of time since I came here is a fantastic achievement," Ramos said. "More so for the fans, who are tremendously happy.
"It's been a long time since they've had a flavour of a final. That makes it all the more satisfying."
