London - Tottenham centre-back Jonathan Woodgate insisted Monday that manager Juande Ramos still has the full backing of the team despite their dreadful start to the season.

Sunday's 2-1 defeat at Stoke, in which they picked up two red cards, conceded two penalties and lost defender Vedran Corluka to a head injury, left Tottenham bottom of the table with just two points from eight games, their worst ever start to a season.

There has been speculation suggesting Ramos is facing the sack, although it now looks more likely that it could be sporting director Damien Comolli who is ousted.

Woodgate, certainly, believes Ramos should stay. "He is still the manager and hopefully he will continue to be," he said.

"We will stick by the manager no matter what. We've played well at times, but this season we haven't cut it. The buck stops with the players.

"We're bottom of the Premiership and it's not nice at all. We're hurting inside but we have to stand up and get ourselves out of this mess that we've got ourselves into." dpa