Tottenham Hotspur star Dimitar Berbatov was given a standing ovation from the Besiktas fans following his performance in the UEFA Cup.
Manager Martin Jol said: “To be applauded off the pitch by them is a mark of respect for my team — the Besiktas fans are terrific.“Dimitar showed real flashes of his quality and I thought we could have had more goals.“They just kept on singing their songs. It was wonderful to hear.
“Was that our best performance of the season? We played well in Prague against Slavia but yes that was better than that.
“Robbie Keane had three or four chances to score but the ball just wouldn’t run for him again.
“What was on our minds is no English team has lost here against Besiktas and we didn’t want to be the first.
“Overall we were just too strong for them even though I had to make a last-minute change and play Tom Huddlestone when Didier Zokora went down ill.
“When I was selecting my team I had one eye on the Sunday game against West Ham but I just had to play my best team tonight and it paid off.”
Besiktas boss Jean Tigana added: “We came up against a very good Tottenham team. They were strong and focused. Spurs were better than us — it was as simple as that.
“They showed a terrific attitude out here. Berbatov was terrific. He was very difficult for us to handle and he gave my centre-halves a tough time.
“When you have a player of his quality in your team it makes all the difference.”
“When we went ahead through Hossam Ghaly, I thought we would silence the crowd but I know now that it is impossible.
Spurs defender Calum Davenport is free to take part against West Ham this weekend after the Football Association decided to rescind the red card he got against Aston Villa.
The disciplinary group overturned the decision after reviewing footage of the incident and deciding that Davenport was not at fault.
Martin Jol has expressed his frustration with the lack of goals his team are producing this season.
He said: “In the first half we controlled play and we should have scored. We didn’t and we were left with that awkward feeling again,”
“We did well against Liverpool and Manchester United in a similar way but we have to start putting the ball in the net.
“The second half was totally different. We had to reorganise twice at the back with Michael Dawson going off injured and Calum Davenport being sent off.
“They put us under pressure and we could have lost in the end but overall I can live with a point and that opening 45 minutes we looked a decent team again.”
Tottenham manager Martin Jol thinks goalkeeper Paul Robinson will bounce back from his bad week with the England team.
“He is a professional and he will be sick as a parrot, but he knows that can happen,” said Jol.
“The feeling will be worse if you make a mistake, but it wasn’t a mistake.
“If you judge him harshly you could say it was a silly situation, but it was a freak moment and you can’t let it stay on your mind all the time.
“We have a game against Aston Villa; he knows he is arguably the best keeper in England. You could see that before the incident because he made some great saves.
“It can happen to anyone; all the best players will tell you it has happened to them.
“He is a tough lad, he trains hard and he knows you need a tough mind to be the number one in England.
“You need great character, otherwise you can’t play at this level.”
On the goal that own goal that Robinson conceded during the match against Croatia Jol added: “They were already 1-0 down at the time, so I don’t think it cost them the game,”
“There were other reasons and everyone knows that, the coach said it after the game, so all you can do is feel for him and he will do better.”
Tottenham fans will be glad to hear that stars Aaron Lennon and Ledley King are both progressing well from their respective injuries.
Exciting flanker Lennon has returned to training and is well ahead of schedule following his injury earlier this season while England defender Ledley King should be fit to face Aston Villa this weekend.
Manager Martin Jol said: “He (Ledley King) had some fluid in his knee, they (England) decided to pull him out and I thank Steve McClaren for that because I felt if he had played we would have had a problem and everybody knows Ledley is important for us,”
“He can’t train today, but hopefully he’ll train tomorrow and travel with us.”
Tottenham defender Michael Dawson says the club must aim for a Champions League this season.
He said: “I think we have got to be realistic and make sure we are in the Uefa Cup spot again,”
“It would be nice to go one better and make it into the Champions League, but there are a lot of good teams out there and we know it is going to be a tough test.”
“We have maybe not scored as many goals as we would have liked, but with the strikers we have got we will always score goals,” added Dawson.
“It was nice to get two last week and hopefully they will start flooding in now.”