Statement from the official site:

"The Club tonight announced that its Head Coach, Jacques Santini, will leave White Hart Lane. Santini, who joined the Club at the start of the season, requested the move after deciding to return to France for personal reasons. Martin Jol, First Assistant Coach, will take charge of the team for tomorrow’s game against Charlton Athletic and a further announcement will be made on Monday 8 November, 2004."

This has come as a complete bolt from the blue. Jaques had been getting criticisms from some corners recently regarding his lack of comment following Bill Nick's death, recent results and the general lack of attacking play from his team

But surely none of these things would have driven him to quit? I'm not going to speculate on the cause(s) of his resignation as I'm sure the tabloids will be doing just that over the next few days.

Hopefully the players won't let it affect them too much and will go out and win tomorrow to get our season back on track.

Au revoir Jaques.

In the first game since the surprise departure of Jaques Santini, Spurs managed to do what the failed to achieve in the 11 League games under his control - score twice.

Unfortunately poor defending had already gifted Charlton a 3 goal start so the comeback merely served to preserve a bit of pride rather than gain any points.

Martin Jol opted to bring Redknapp and Kanoute into the starting line up at the expense of Brown and the injured Davis.

Keane was forced into playing on the left side of midfield, a position he is not suited to and his natural tendency to drift inside allowed Charlton plenty of room on their right and also meant we were lacking any natural width as Simon Davies is not a natural right winger either. Keane was more effective when he came inside but no player seemed inclined to fill in for him and Bunje was not willing to provide any kind of offensive threat.

Charlton were 2-0 up at the break thanks to a brace from Shaun Bartlett. For his first he got in front of his man and swept home Thomas' cross. The second, 5 minutes before the break saw him head home a deep cross from ex-Spur Luke Young.

Those were Charlton's only 2 chances in the entire 1st half but they made them count. In contrast, Spurs created a few good openings but each time either the final ball was poor or the shot was wayward.

Jol's response was to whip off Davies at halftime and send on Reto Ziegler to play on the left. The other midfielders were all shuffled across to accommodate this and we started to look like we had a better shape.

At this point, too many Spurs players stood off Jerome Thomas and allowed him to get in a shot which deflected off King and past the unlucky Robinson who had no chance with any of the goals. Spurs suddenly came to life with Kiely saving from Keane and Kanoute's 25 yard drive beating Kiely but slamming back off the post.

The introduction of Carrick for Redknapp was pivotal. Almost instantly we had a midfielder able to get forward and link up play with the forwards. His 1st run saw him go past 2 Charlton players and feed Defoe who shot just over when a return ball to Carrick could have presented a better chance.

Halfway through the 2nd half and Spurs' renewed effort paid dividends. Kiely failed to claim a cross and Ziegler fired in a goalbound shot which Bartlett palmed away. Bartlett saw red and Keane's penalty was too good for Kiely.

No clear cut chances came our way for the next 10 minutes or so but the pressure was starting to tell on Charlton. Eventually their skipper Holland underhit a pass which Keane snapped up and then played a lovely weighted ball to Defoe who swivelled and fired past Kiely.

Charlton sub Euell had a chance to settle it for the visitors when he sprung the offside trap. Robbo raced out to meet him but he lifted the ball over him only to see it drift wide. From then until the final whistle it was constant attacking from Spurs but they were unable to snatch that vital 3rd goal.

All in all a disappointing result but we can take heart from the last half hour and particularly the impact Carrick had once on as a sub. Surely he must start against the Gooners next week. We did look better going forward although shakier at the back - Edman can't recover from his concussion soon enough. If we can play for a full 90 minutes and further improve the standard of supply to the front men then we will get back to winning ways soon.

MOTM:- Carrick. Provided the catalyst for the comeback with good passing and movement. Showed that he is the quality player we hoped we were getting.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
12	Tottenham	12	3	4	5	8	11	13

Martin Jol has been confirmed as the new head coach of Spurs.

Jol has been waiting in the wings since Jaques Santini's resignation was announced on Friday.

The decision is not really a surprise as it is rumoured Frank Arnesen wanted Jol to get the job in the summer but Daniel Levy wanted to get a big name in having kept the Spurs fans waiting so long.

Jol seems to be more offensive minded than Santini whose initial success at the Lane was based on solid but unspectacular defensive performances. Jol seems to appreciate the traditions of the club and hopefully he'll prove over the next 2 and a half years of his contract that he is the right man to bring us success.

Another good thing about Jol was his willingness to change it around on Saturday when things weren't going well. The introduction of Ziegler and Carrick helped the shape of the team and 2 players who were not performing to the expected standards were hauled off.

Good luck Martin. A win against the Scum would help you settle in no end!

Spurs managed to put 4 past the Gooners at White Hart Lane but a series of defensive errors meant that they didn't even take a point from the game.

With Erik Edman returning to the side after concussion, the side that Martin Jol put out was just about as strong as it could be as both sides sought to return to winning ways in the Premiership.

Spurs started brightly and were the only team to create any chances in the opening half hour. 10 minutes before half time Carrick delivered an in-swinging free kick which the Arsenal players all missed and it fell to Naybet, who controlled it on his chest before volleying home left footed. What a time to score your first goal for the club, although he picked up a harsh booking for his goal celebration.

A minute later Vieira almost deflected Ziegler's free kick over Lehmann but the Arsenal keeper just managed to tip it over for a corner. Just as it looked like Spurs would deservedly go in ahead at the break, Henry controlled and long ball and managed to steer it past Robinson.

The Spurs players looked shell shocked when they come out after the break and were unable to re-establish their dominance on the game. Arsenal could have taken the lead just minutes into the 2nd half as Ljungberg's cross found it's way to Reyes but he shot tamely straight at Robinson.

They did manage to take the lead when King got in the way of Robinson as he went to clear the ball. Spurs then failed to clear their lines and the ball eventually got put through to Ljungberg who looked offside but he went round Pamarot and went down as they tangled in the box. Referee Bennett predictably pointed to the spot and Lauren scored, sending Robbo the wrong way.

5 minutes later and another defensive error led to another Arsenal goal. Naybet played King into trouble. Vieira won the ball and had a clear route to goal before dinking the ball over Robbo.

Almost immediately Spurs replied. Defoe picked up the ball and surged past 5 Gooners before curling a shot into the top corner. A fantastic goal witnessed by Sven and possibly the best player ever to wear the number 18 shirt at White Hart Lane, Jürgen Klinsmann - there to see if Lehmann is any better than Ollie Kahn. On this display, er, certainly not. 

Halfway through the 2nd half, Arsenal restored their 2 goal cushion after Spurs gave away possession. Ljungberg received the ball and slotted home. Spurs "never say die" attitude under Jol was evident again as 5 minutes later Carrick's free kick was headed home by King.

The scoring wasn't finished yet as again the margin widened to 2 goals in Arsenal's favour as Henry squeezed the ball through to Pires who used some nifty footwork before rolling the ball home from a tight angle.

The final goal came after Henry played a sloppy pass in his own half. The impressive Ziegler raced onto it and played a delightful ball over the top for substitute Kanoute to direct past Lehmann. Spurs pressed for an equaliser but it wasn't to be as Davies fired wide as the clock ran down.

All in all I think we can take a lot of positives from the game. 4 well worked goals against a team as good as that lot. Unfortunately they will pounce on every defensive lapse and there were far too many of them. Under Santini I doubt we would have stood a chance as the defensive lapses would probably have still been there but with no attacking threat.

From Jol's comments after all 3 games so far, he seems to be very astute and has picked up on the problem areas and I'm sure that in future we will see Naybet and co. bang the ball away more often instead of faffing around near their own box.

However an improvement in results is vital. Under Jol we've probably played the best football all season but with very little end result. Villa away won't be easy but if we can recreate our first half performance - for a full 90 minutes for a change - then there's no reason we can't get something out of it.

MOTM:- Ziegler. The Swiss youngster's movement caused plenty of problems for the Arsenal's right side. His link up play with Edman was good and will hopefully continue to develop. The ball he played for Kanoute's goal was about as perfect as you could ask for and he made a fool out of Lauren early in the 1st half, playing the ball through his legs and sprinting around him with ease.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
14	Tottenham	13	3	4	6	12	16	13

Apologies for the bad pun but just couldn't resist it.

Am now off work for 10 days for revision and exam leave.

Had a half day today and then did some studying and went shopping. Possibly the last time I'll leave the house for over a week. As Roy Castle once said, dedication's what you need. And what I'm lacking, along with motivation, concentration and probably several other -tions.

This side of my blog seems to be getting neglected since I moved house. Probably due to me losing half an hour of my evening due to the joyous commute between Aldershot and Ash. Having had a quick glimpse at the new timetables they're introducing next month it looks like I'll be losing another 10 minutes due to waiting longer for a train and I'll have to set off 20 minutes earlier to get to work on time.

Does allow me time for a little light reading each day. Nabbed a few books off my Dad when the olds came to visit a few weeks ago as I'd finally finished the 2 Michael Moore books and Empire by Niall Ferguson that I'd bought to read on my hols.

Off to watch Monkey Dust now. Will no doubt blog again as soon as the revision starts to take its toll or maybe it'll be another month

Heard this on Radio 1 earlier.

Wasn't too sure early on but by the end I'd decided that it rocks.

Will be buying a copy next time I leave the house and suggest you do the same.

Watched the England game last night. Dreadful performance on the pitch but was most angered by what happened off it.

I've been to well over a hundred Premiership matches and several matches whilst living in Germany and although I have heard racist comments, I've never witnessed anything on the scale of the numbers of Spanish fans that must have been involved last night to produce chants at that volume.

Hopefully UEFA and FIFA will step in and do something rather than just pay lip service to all the complaints that will be heading their way.

It doesn't help when the Spanish coach is allowed to get away with racist comments, the like of which saw Big Ron promptly handed a P45 from ITV.

I just hope that plenty of IOC officials were watching last night or read the reports as Madrid were trying to use the game as part of their campaign to host the 2012 Olympics. Surely they won't vote to send their athletes to a place where they'll be subjected to abuse purely because of the colour of their skin?