Uefa Cup First round, first leg/Tottenham 6 Anorthosis 1:Jose Mourinho may have diverted the media glare away from Martin Jol temporarily, but the Tottenham head coach will wake up this morning still under scrutiny in his job, despite this comfortable victory in the Uefa Cup last night.
All the Special One's exit has done is undoubtedly put another name on the list of candidates forever being linked with Jol's job. This result changed nothing and told us nothing new about Jol and his Tottenham players, although it did cheer up their fans who were able to celebrate only their second victory of the season.
Jol made five changes to his line-up that started the 3-1 home defeat by their arch-rivals Arsenal on Saturday, with the understudy goalkeeper Radek Cerny replacing Paul Robinson, who was joined on the bench by Dimitar Berbatov as Darren Bent was handed a start alongside Robbie Keane in attack.
Aaron Lennon, the England midfield player, also made his first start of the season for Tottenham following his recovery from a knee operation in the summer.
Jermain Defoe - who was not even among the substitutes against Arsenal, fuelling rumours of an argument between him and Jol - warmed the bench once more.
This was the first competitive match between the two clubs, with the only meeting being an end-of-season tour encounter in 1968, which Tottenham won 5-0.
A similar scoreline looked predictable last night as Younes Kaboul, the French defender, gave Tottenham a fifth-minute lead with a powerful glancing header from Tom Huddlestone's right-footed outswinging corner.
The floodgates opened and opportunities were created by Tottenham, but the expected goal glut failed to materialise until five minutes before half-time when Jol's team went 2-0 up.
Once again it was a corner that did the damage and once again it was a defender who managed to get on the scoresheet as Michael Dawson diverted Pascal Chimbonda's header from Keane's centre beyond Arian Beqaj.
Keane then helped himself to his side's third goal moments later as he collected a pass from Benoit Assou-Ekotto and rifled a low shot into the bottom corner. Bent made it 4-0 with Tottenham's third goal in three minutes.
It was not long before the home fans were chanting Defoe's name and they got their wish when he was sent on for the captain Keane in the 63rd minute.
And the England man wasted no time making his point to Jol as he added two goals to seal an emphatic win for the home side.
TOTTENHAM: Cerny, Chimbonda, Kaboul, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto (Bale 80), Lennon, Zokora, Huddlestone, Malbranque (Taarabt 70), Bent, Keane (Defoe 63). Subs not used: Robinson, Jenas, Berbatov, Rocha. Goals: Kaboul 5, Dawson 40, Keane 42, Bent 43, Defoe 65, 90.
ANORTHOSIS FAMAGUSTA: Beqaj, Lambrou, Katsavakis, Nicolaou (Panagi 58), Loumpoutis, Fabinho (Pahars 64), Zlogar (Deyanov 82), Poursaitides, Skopelitis, Boaventura, Sosin. Subs not used: Nagy, Tripotseris, Frousos, Constantinou. Booked: Fabinho. Goals: Zlogar 81. Att: 35,780.
Referee: P Dondarini (Italy).
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