Are Spurs and Chelsea moving in opposite directions?

Tottenham's Carling Cup win over Chelsea yesterday didn't seem to surprise anybody. In the days leading up to the final, they were well fancied. People argued that they'd turned a corner, that they could just sense that a form-bending win over local rivals Arsenal and subsequent improvements against Manchester United left Spurs ready to turn Chelsea over.

There was also a theory which shows White Hart Lane supremo Juande Ramos in an impressive light: under him, Spurs never get done twice. The suggestion is that he takes a game to suss out the opposition, and then engineers a noteworthy improvement next time out. A draw with United and wins over Arsenal and now Chelsea would appear to bear this out.

Spurs and Chelsea have both changed managers this season, to starkly differing effect.

This season began with Jose Mourinho managing Chelsea and Martin Jol gunning for fourth spot with Tottenham. Things worked out rather badly in both cases, and the managers were quickly walking the plank. Jose worked wonders at Chelsea, and was a victim of circumstance, Shevchenko and backstabbing. Jol suffered a similar fate for similar reasons, though his performance was undoubtedly questionable at the beginning of the current season.

Jose Mourinho's departure from Stamford Bridge led to the all too predictable appointment of Avram Grant, former manager of Israel and friend of Roman Abramovich. Grant has promised expansive football, and has been credited with improvements in Chelsea from the last days of Mourinho's tenure.

It seems to me though that the new manager has received an inordinate amount of good press. There has been nothing more than a flash of that exciting football, and even Mourinho used to provide it once in a while. The other argument is that Chelsea, just about, have stayed near(ish) the title race. Let's face it, though, Mourinho put together a team of supposedly world class players. So, in effect, Grant has done nothing.

And when you consider the hash he made of yesterday's match - religiously sticking to 4-3-3 despite possessing two of the best strikers on the planet - maybe it's best he doesn't try to put too much of his stamp on things. With his ineptitude and the attitude of the likes of John Terry and Frank Lampard, combined with the imminent loss of Didier Drogba, it could well be that Chelsea will be in a battle for fourth next season unless Ranieri-type money is spent once again.

The future for Spurs, though, looks bright. Ramos' ability to observe and alter was alluded to earlier in this post, and shows a coaching aptitude absent at Chelsea. And without wishing to put too fine a point on it, it doesn't look like he'll take any shit. Much has been made of the combined weight loss of the Spurs squad since Ramos came in and ordered them to shed some pounds.

Their fitness is beginning to tell, and the manager seems to have an unerring ability to get the best out of good players. Dimitar Berbatov spoke after the final of his desire to stay at the Lane. Jermaine Jenas has dragged himself from obscurity to vitality. Signing the right players - i.e. tackling a defensive shambles by bringing in Alan Hutton and Jonathan Woodgate - indicates that Ramos will be no mug in the transfer market. In short, he's made a mighty impressive start.

It's entirely possible that Spurs and Chelsea will pass each other on the white way up and the blue way down, and it will be wholly due to differing managerial appointments made by two clubs with good squads.