HERE I am playing football again, after a summer of... playing football.

The final day of last season was 11 May and on 19 May I was off to Japan with the Ivory Coast for the Kirin Cup. Then I played four World Cup and African Nations Cup qualifiers for my country in June.

So I only had two weeks holiday with my family in Abidjan over the summer. That was never going to be enough!

It was two weeks of complete rest - I stayed in the house, in the pool, hung out with my mates. I forgot all about football. The only idea in my head was to chill out.

On the plus side I was already geared up for the new season. I hadn't put on any weight.

Juande Ramos has a reputation for being severe, but his pre-season programme is not unusually tough: he's from Spain, so there's a lot of ball work involved. Of course we still have to apply ourselves physically. But with Ramos, it all goes together.

Important

This season is important for Tottenham because a lot of money has been invested. The club wants to break into the top four. Unfortunately we have got off to a bad start by losing our first two games.

It's hard to explain the results against Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

Away to Middlesbrough we started well and it was 0-0 until 20 minutes from the end. The first goal was from an unlucky rebound. We let in a second chasing an equaliser.

It's difficult to understand why we're not doing well: we have good players and a good coach, but we've lost two games on the trot. We want to make good in our third match, but we're away to Chelsea so it won't be easy.

The business of Dimitar Berbatov's transfer hasn't affected the team. He's a good player and the team will miss him. But there's nothing we can do about that.

Things don't always add up in football. We have a talented team, but we're not winning matches. You can't always put your finger on the problem.

When you start a season with two defeats you can doubt your abilities, but the club has made some great signings with Luka Modric, Heurelho Gomes, Giovanni Dos Santos and David Bentley arriving among others. We'll soon put things right.

Results should improve as our new players get used to playing together. This is the hardest league in the world and it's not easy for them to slot straight in. They're young and they have a lot of talent. I wish them the best of luck.

We've been playing with one man up-front. It is hard adjusting to that but it looks like the club is working to add another forward to the squad.

Results

It has been a bit different for me as I've been playing at right back, which isn't my position - I'm a defensive midfielder. But various players were injured so the manager asked me to fill in there. That's what I did because I want to help my team out.

We may not have had the results we'd like but that doesn't mean changes need to be made.

We need to get one, two, three wins under our belt. Then everything will resolve itself because we'll get some confidence back. Doubts spring up if you're not winning games.

If we win the next game against Chelsea it will do us the power of good. It would be an important win because after that we have two weeks off for the international break. It's important the team goes into that on a high.

Chelsea are the team of the moment. They have some great talents. It's through playing these teams that you gain maturity as a player.

But all matches are the same. You mustn't put pressure on yourself when you're playing a big team. Chelsea are a great side, but we're going there to pick up points.

We beat Chelsea in the Carling Cup final last season. That was our best chance of qualifying for Europe again - the only other route would have been winning the Uefa Cup. That was extra motivation on top of it being a cup final. We raised ourselves. We weren't afraid; we just played football.

Icons.

DIDIER ZOKORA