The pressure on Juande Ramos, the beleaguered Tottenham Hotspur manager, continues to grow after the struggling London club, bottom of the Premier League, were beaten 2-0 by Udinese in their opening Uefa Cup group D match and had Jamie O'Hara sent off for two bookable offences.

Off the field, things are little better. Ledley King, Spurs's best player on the night, injured his knee and is likely to miss Sunday's Premier League match with Bolton Wanderers.

And then there is David Bentley.

Ramos made a point before the game in omitting the England midfielder, after the £17 million signing made critical remarks about the team and his manager's tactics this week.

Bentley was dropped from the England squad last month and said he believed the reason behind Fabio Capello's decision was that he had been played out of position for Tottenham.

Things, however, did not get better for Ramos on the pitch, with Spurs in many ways the architects of their own downfall.

With 24 minutes gone, Heurelho Gomes, the goalkeeper, conceded a needless penalty. Given the chance to make a straightforward clearance, he Brazilian miscontrolled and then panicked, bringing down Fabio Quagliarella. Antonio Di Natale calmly stepped up and slotted the penalty into the corner beyond Gomes's despairing dive.

Ramos made his move at half-time - and it was an attacking one - taking off Benoit Assou-Ekotto and bringing on Luka Modric.

Gareth Bale sent a free-kick over the crossbar but the home side almost grabbed a second goal when Jamie O’Hara dwelt on the ball and Quagliarella fizzed a drive towards the bottom corner that Gomes saved.

It got worse for Spurs when O’Hara received two bookings in a minute, both for fouls on Alexis Sanchez, and was therefore shown the red card. Di Natale almost added a delightful second, latching on to Marco Motta’s long pass and lobbing Gomes - but the goalkeeper made it back to claw the ball away in spectacular fashion.

Darren Bent had a header tipped over the bar after Giovani dos Santos, on as a substitute, crossed from the right. But Simone Pepe wrapped up the points four minutes from time, finishing off the post after Di Natale cut in from the left and Quagliarella helped the ball on.