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and the loss of Robbie Keane to Liverpool could well harbour their ambitious prospects.

With the absence of Keane, comes the opportunity for Darren Bent. Like many a player who have struggled to carry the burden of a hefty transfer fee, Bent's sizeable 18m was a weight that kept him largely drawn to the substitutes bench. Judging from his pre-season form which has seen him grab thirteen goals , he looks determined to show his talent warrants the value that was placed upon him and shall surely be given the chance to prove his worth as the first choice strike partner for Berbatov.

One crucial piece of transfer activity or rather inactivity is courtesy of the talismanic Bulgarian. The club still cling on to Berbatov seemingly by a thread with the player ready to jump ship as soon as Manchester United meet Tottenham's valuation of the player. With Berbatov's position still so untenable, should the club lose its silky forward, the club will hope that they can quickly bring in a replacement with Darren Bent then left as the sole centre forward. Berbatov would be a tough act to follow and despite the likes of Espanyol's Luis Garcia, and Euro 2008 star Andrei Arshavin touted as replacements, a strike force worth over forty goals would be almost irreplaceable.

The forward thinking tendencies is slowly etching itself on the side much in the way this Ramos trademark was stamped all over his Sevilla side. But with the open, sweeping, flowing football arises the weaknesses that harnessed Sevilla's chances of league success. The side leaked a lot of goals, and despite his preference for attacking being the best form of defence, Tottenham could be confronted with a similar scenario.

There are worrying issues concerning the defensive solidity that Ramos is building his attacking unit around. The club is perhaps in possession of a pair of central defenders who are equally brilliant as they are frequent in the treatment room. Jonathan Woodgate looks to have been used sparingly in pre-season to aid his freshness and chances of an injury-free season while Ledley King's situation highly documented, has been given the summer break to ensure he is given every opportunity for his composure and leadership to be ready for the first league game.

In that defensive department, they are now a light of a centre back with the sale of the disappointing Younes Kaboul while Michael Dawson has looked anything other than one dimensional without the likes of King or Woodgate beside him. Signs of Ramos's further seal on the side will be the fleeting full backs Gareth Bale and Alan Hutton, who look certain to function much in the way that Daniel Alves and Antonio Puerta did for Sevilla. Defensive questions lie further ahead in the midfield. For all the abundance in creativity courtesy of new signings Giovanni Dos Santos, Luka Modric and David Bentley, it is questionable to suggest whether the likes of Didier Zokora, Tom Huddlestone and Jermaine Jenas provide enough defensive steel in the centre of the park to balance the weighty offensive presence in the side.

For all the new attacking talent to whet the appetite of Spurs supporters, the realists amongst them will realise while they will have possibly the Premier League ticket to see goals galore, they will be hesitant of the confident position they found themselves last time they approached a new season. Juande Ramos appears to have surrounded himself with some of the most exciting forward thinking players in the league, and should he strike the balance by continuing to strengthen the defensive backbone, Tottenham could well be given their piece of Premier League pie with the Champions League trimmings to go with it.

Learn more about this author, Michael Sawh.
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