Darren Bent has again thrown his support behind underfire Tottenham boss Juande Ramos. "It's hurting me, it's hurting all the players. No one wants to pick up the paper every day and see something about the manager going. It's not nice. But we know we haven't performed up to now," Bent told The Sun.

"We've got the players to move up the league. You can't put your finger on any one thing that's gone wrong. It's a number of things.

"It's been disappointing but we know that if we play as well as we can, then we can beat anyone.

"It's important that Ramos stays and sees the job through. He's a fantastic manager and won us the Carling Cup in his first season.

"You have to give a man like that time. You can't just act hastily on it and we know it's not his fault. It's our fault we haven't performed on the pitch so we need to pull it around."

Bent also urged fans to be patient with £17m Luka Modric and £16m David Bentley. He added: "We should give them time. Bentley is a fantastic player and so is Luka, who was one of the stars of Euro 2008."