Juande Ramos is living up to his reputation as an exceptionally high achiever, writes David Hytner

Juande Ramos tilted back his head and exhaled deeply. The question was plainly a test of his memory. Having just seen off Reading in an FA Cup third-round replay to set up tomorrow's visit to Manchester United, the Tottenham Hotspur manager had been asked to recall his last defeat in knock-out football.

"It was at Cadiz in the Copa del Rey," he replied, finally. That reverse came in January 2006, midway through his first season at Sevilla. His team lost the away leg 3-2 and could muster no more than a 0-0 draw in the return.

Ramos did overlook the defeat in the European Super Cup last August, when Sevilla, in the tumultuous aftermath of the death of Antonio Puerta, their full-back, lost 3-1 to Milan but, that apart, it has been glory all the way.

Ramos won the Uefa Cup in 2005-06, beating Middlesbrough 4-0 in the final, and early the next season they triumphed 3-0 in the European Super Cup against Barcelona. Their irresistible momentum continued. By the end of the season they had added another Uefa Cup, edged on penalties from Espanyol, and the Copa del Rey, where Getafe were their victims in the final, by the only goal.

At the beginning of this season, before Ramos's move to White Hart Lane in October, he collected his fifth piece of silverware with Sevilla, when they won the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid, the reigning league champions. They won 5-3 at the Bernabeu in the second leg for a 6-3 aggregate success.

The do-or-die nature of cup football stirs the competitor in Ramos; he relishes the psychological confrontation. The Spaniard has been likened to a "professor" by Dimitar Berbatov, the Tottenham striker, such is his capacity for analysis and clinical calm, and he excels in the preparation of his players for each specific challenge. The mental aspect is paramount.

"The emotional and psychological side of the job is very important," said Ramos. "You have to convince the players of their own possibilities. All teams work on tactics, on physical well-being, so the psychological side is something we work on very carefully.

"At Spurs I found a team that was totally sunk, depressed. The players did not believe. What we have done is transformed the mentality with work and effort. The players now believe in themselves. We have recovered the fight and spirit that they didn't have."

Ramos has engineered a series of notable results, including the Carling Cup quarter-final win at Manchester City, but his defining moment was the 5-1 victory over Arsenal in the semi-final, second leg on Tuesday.

For the third time in his brief tenure, he had proved more than a match for Arsène Wenger, the nemesis of a string of Tottenham managers. His team were unlucky to lose at Emirates Stadium in the Premier League last month while they ought to have emerged better placed than 1-1 after the first leg of the semi-final.

Ramos likes youth and hunger in a player. He inherited a squad of humble, undecorated professionals at Sevilla, fostered a collective will to win and channelled it towards silverware. He senses similar potential at Tottenham. Seven of his starting line-up in the victory over Arsenal did not have winners' medals to their names but he views this as a positive.

There was a remorselessness about Tottenham against their bitter rivals, which is another hallmark of Ramos teams. It was first brought to the attention of a wider public in the Uefa Cup final against Middlesbrough.

"Finals are not like that normally," said Ramos. "The team that scores first always sits back and starts defending, starts trying to waste time. But you can't sit back. Against Barcelona in the European Super Cup we kept on attacking, too. No one would have been surprised if it had been five or six."

Ramos's Sevilla never knew when they were beaten. They stared Uefa Cup elimination in the face last season at Shakhtar Donetsk, in the last 16, as they trailed 2-1 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate. But the goalkeeper, Andres Palop, on an all-or-nothing raid upfield for a corner, equalised in the 90th minute. Sevilla progressed in extra-time. Ramos is tactically cute - he has profited from bold attacking substitutions on several occasions at Tottenham - while he instils confidence with his unflappable manner.

"He does not scare easily," said Berbatov. "He is more like a professor. He explains things, he tells you what to do in as simple a way as possible so that you can understand it and do it on the pitch. He's the same in training. Sometimes he yells a bit but that's normal because sometimes we make stupid mistakes."

Ramos is supported by a pair of formidable assistants. Marcos Alvarez, whom he took with him from Sevilla, has overseen an overhaul of the squad's fitness programmes - double training sessions are now de rigueur - while the sharpness of Gus Poyet's tactical input should not be underestimated.

"Ramos is the best coach I have worked with," said Salva Ballesta, the striker who played under him at Malaga. "He makes the players work with huge physical and psychological intensity but I would highlight his professionalism. He is distant with the players but manages to have their affection. He is not a guy who goes round beaming smiles . . . Maybe, if he had been more media friendly, he could have got a job at Madrid or Barcelona but make no mistake, Spurs have signed a star."

His early success at Tottenham has not filtered back entirely to Sevilla. "I didn't know he had got to a cup final," admitted Enzo Maresca, the midfielder. "But while he is a good coach, frankly I think it's very unlikely that he will achieve with Spurs what he achieved at Sevilla."

For the Tottenham support, however, one piece of silverware would make Ramos a hero.