The victory came on the back of last week's 2-1 triumph over Manchester City and Ramos' decision to again leave match-winner Jermain Defoe on the bench was justified when Berbatov put away his third good chance to claim his sixth goal of the campaign.

It ended Portsmouth's 11-match unbeaten run and Ramos said: "We have to recognise it was a success for the whole team, not just one player. We had chances earlier to kill the game and did not take them. Berbatov had one or two."

Speaking through an interpreter the Spaniard added: "I'm very happy because it is important to win two matches in a row and it is a path we must continue to follow.

"We have been playing 4-3-3 sometimes but now 4-4-2 and I think the players are beginning to understand what we must do.

"We decided to stick with an attacking way despite the fact our defence was weak again. Michael Dawson had to go to hospital before the game with problems in his head. We think it is a migraine."

Spurs again played midfielder Didier Zokora in defence, gave Kevin-Prince Boateng, their £4.5 million signing from Hertha Berlin, only his second league start and handed Jamie O'Hara, 21, his debut as substitute in the last 17 minutes.

But they were rarely threatened by a Portsmouth side who have now not scored in their last four home matches - despite six away wins on the spin.

And manager Harry Redknapp admitted: "We just didn't get started today. It's got to be our worst performance of the season. And we got what we deserved - which was nothing.

"To be fair, I always thought it was a dangerous game. If you look at Tottenham's squad there is a lot of quality there. They are the one team who should be pushing to get into the top four if anyone can.

"They showed today they are capable of doing it. Why they haven't all this year I don't know, but today they did play well.

"We've got to be realistic, though. This is our first home defeat of the season and we've got 30 points - I don't care whether these points come home or away. We've been on a great run, a fantastic achievement but if you look at Spurs they've got quality.

"We've drawn tough games at home - and good ones away. There's no magic formula involved but we didn't help ourselves today. The best team won.

"We went 4-4-2 in the second half to have a go but we weren't any better than when we were 4-5-1."

Redknapp knows he faces a tough Christmas period with games away to Liverpool and home to Arsenal and unless he can get in some loan players could be down to 13 first-team squad players when he loses four to the African Nations Cup in January.

Another casualty, meanwhile, is defender Noe Pamarot who had to come off with a damaged hamstring and may face an extended absence.