Jol jolt as Defoe defies celebration warning
Defoe netted his side’s first as they took advanatge of Franck Queudrue’s sending off before half-time to win 2-0 at White Hart Lane.
However, after his 48th-minute goal, Defoe lifted his shirt over his head, revealing a T-shirt which appeared to wish his partner ‘happy birthday’ in what seemed a pre-planned move.
But that earned him an automatic booking and as it was his fifth caution of the season it therefore rules him out of Spurs’ trip to Manchester City on December 11.
Jol declared: “It’s amazing. We had talked to him about it and told him about it, and he’d promised not to do it again. Then he still thinks it’s the right manner to celebrate.
“We shall miss him next week and that’s a bit harsh. We have to talk with him again as he can’t do that. He plays for our team and he’s important.
“He took his goal very well. He’s decisive, he doesn’t wait to shoot like Kanoute maybe did two or three seconds too long. He can still improve though, not just because he stripped off his shirt.”
Jol was not impressed that it might have been a planned celebration and added: “If that’s true, then it’s even worse.”
While Freddie Kanoute sealed Spurs’ first victory since Jol took charge, Boro boss Steve McClaren was left to bemoan his side’s fate.
McClaren was angry at the way referee Phil Dowd did not even hesitate before showing Queudrue a straight red card for his two-footed lunge on Noe Pamarot.
The Boro boss declared: “I’ve seen it a few times now and I feel the red card wasn’t deserved. We will appeal against it.
“The decision was made too quickly. He didn’t have to make it that quickly and, as a spectacle, he spoilt the game.
“I told him that, although I understand being a referee is very difficult and you have to make split-second decisions, I didn’t think he had to make that decision instantly.
“He could have taken a step back and I think a yellow card would have cooled everything down.
“The decision has cost us the game. In the first half-hour, we were in control and there was only going to be one winner. Anybody would admit that, with that decision, Spurs got a bit lucky.”
McClaren added: “It was a rash challenge, a bad tackle. But it was the first bad tackle of the game. If there had been a bit of niggling or animosity before that, I could have understood it.
“But it must have been the easiest game to referee. There was hardly a challenge and good football out there.”
Jol nevertheless insisted that Queudrue deserved to be sent off, arguing that Pamarot, who resumed after treatment, could have been seriously injured.
“A tackle is a tackle but, to be honest, that was a bit cynical. Maybe in England, you could say he could have given a yellow card,” he said.
“But I think it was a deserved red card. If you see it again, Noe could have ended up in hospital.
“It was a shame for them as it proved the turning point in the game, but it was the bit of luck we had.
“It’s a terrific feeling to have won, although we could easily have scored a few more goals if we’d been a bit cleverer.”
: Robinson, Pamarot, King, Naybet, Atouba, Ricketts, Pedro Mendes, Carrick, Ziegler, Keane (Kanoute 68), Defoe.
: Schwarzer, McMahon (Reiziger 74), Southgate, Riggott, Queudrue, Parlour, Zenden, Boateng, Downing, Viduka (Nemeth 81), Hasselbaink.
: P Dowd (Staffordshire).
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