Correct me if I’m wrong – and I have been known to be a couple of times in the past – but isn’t this the season Spurs are expected to scatter the Premier League’s Big Four?

I seem to remember great bundles of verbiage (not to be confused with an equal number of bundles of garbage) throughout June, July and early August, to the effect that Tottenham were finally geared up for the great assault on Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. A Champions League spot was pretty much being taken for granted.

Now I know that many Spurs fans are fighting for appointments with their psychiatrists right now, and some have even contemplated switching their allegiance to that A team down the road (horror!). But I’m afraid the only top four that Spurs are likely to disturb this season will be Wolves, Birmingham, Reading and Burnley at the head of the Championship!

And they won’t feel any better today after reading that the Men in Black are on the move again, this time allegedly trying to persuade Mark Hughes to pack his bags at Manchester City and move to north London. Some chance!

Manager Juande Ramos has already denied his position is under threat after fans chanted "You don't know what you're doing" as his bottom-of-the-table side crashed 2-0 at Portsmouth. Two Pompey goals from two former Tottenham players. Two points from their first six games is Spurs’ worst start to a season in 53 years. Times are bad.

But Ramos would be unwise to expect any kind of sympathy from Daniel Levy and his boardroom cohorts. They didn’t think twice about dumping Martin Jol after 11 months in the job (and they weren’t even bottom of the league at the time) after one of the most farcial clandestine approaches for Ramos himself.

There were encouraging signs towards the end of last season after Spurs conjured up a Carling Cup triumph at Chelsea’s expense, that things were about to change. And expectations shot through the roof with a string of bold signings (and a few surprise departures) in the summer.

David Bentley, Luca Modric, Giovani Dos Santos, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Vedran Corluka and goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes were all brought to the Lane for an outlay in excess of £60m. Balanced against that was the telling departure of Robbie Keane to Liverpool and Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United, two players considered to be the cornerstone of any assault on the Premier League summit.

Not surprisingly, Spurs are finding it not only difficult to score goals but also to create any midfield cohesion. Are we to question the coaching and motivational skills of Ramos and his sidekick, Gus Poyet? Can they cope with the pressure?

Now they are at the crossroads. Surviving the qualifying round of the UEFA Cup turned out to be a rather scratchy affair and there’s little doubt that tougher opposition will lie in wait once the group-stage draw is made.

But absolutely crucial to the future of Ramos at White Hart Lane are the next two Premier League games. On Sunday Spurs entertain Hull City - and fans won’t need reminding of the result when the Tigers visited the Emirates Stadium recently.

And two Sundays on they go to Stoke City, another newly-promoted club who have proved already that they are determined to rule at the Britannia Stadium.

To assume that Spurs are going to pick up six points from these two games would be foolish in the extreme.

The real scenario could easily be two defeats and the departure of Ramos – admittedly after a stay one month longer than Jol last season. At which point we might start to take seriously the rumoured tap-up of Mark Hughes.