Defeat could spell end for Jol

NEWCASTLE, England: Martin Jol's Tottenham tenure looks almost certain to be coming to an end following his team's 3-1 loss at Newcastle on Monday night.

Sam Allardyce's side may have hammered the final nail in the Dutch manager's coffin with a dominant display and deserved victory.

Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins opened the scoring on the stroke of halftime and soon after the break Brazilian center-back Claudio Cacapa doubled the host's advantage.

Robbie Keane pulled a goal back for the Spurs, but Newcastle was not to be denied and James Milner completed an impressive victory.

Allardyce praised his side's attacking flair.

"It's the third game on the trot we've scored three," he said on Setanta Sports 1. "Not only are we winning but scoring three to boot, you can't ask for any more than that.

"It's great. Sometimes we have frailties, we lose possession, but we have to sacrifice that at home to break the opposition down.

"We are doing that terrifically well with the goalscoring."

The Magpies stayed eighth despite the three points but they have a game in hand on most of the teams above them and remain in contention not only for a European place but also Champions League next season.

Tottenham, though, is stuck in the relegation zone having won only one of its opening 10 games and chairman Daniel Levy's patience with Jol must surely be wearing thin.

But Jol remained defiant despite the increasing pressure.

"I feel we have had a pretty good spell (three successive draws), the only thing we needed was more wins. A win today and we would have been fine," he said.

"We lack a bit of leadership (in defense). Someone has to stand and pull the strings at the back. Hopefully Ledley King will be fit in a couple of weeks. He was not there and wasn't there for the last seven months so we have to get results without him."

"I'm already used to it (pressure), even before the season started. The only thing that counts is results. We're still in a good position in the cups and hopefully, on Thursday (in the UEFA Cup) we can get a result."

Martins broke the deadlock just before the break as he rifled home a pass from left-back Sanchez Jose Enrique.

Six minutes after the break and Cacapa scored his first goal for the club, since his summer move from French champion Lyon, heading home a corner from Turkish midfielder Emre.

The Spurs did not have to wait long to get back into the match as captain Keane mopped up the loose ball after England striker Darren Bent's header crashed back off the bar on 57 minutes.

By now the Spurs had reversed the trend of the first period and were dominating the ball. Jol also brought on Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov for French midfielder Steed Malbranque in a bid to snatch a share of the spoils.

But instead his team was punished when Newcastle substitute Milner drilled home a left-footed shot from the edge of the area.

"It was another good performance at home," said Milner. "Tottenham are a tough team with a lot of good players and we hope to get into the winning habit now. It's about riding out the poor performances and getting results.

"It's nice for me to get off the mark. It was a bit of a shank, the first one, but it was nice to get it."

AFP

(China Daily 10/24/2007 page24)