WHEN TERRY VENABLES BECAME manager of Tottenham Hotspur 15 years ago, he was known as “El Tel” of White Hart Lane. When he became manager of Leeds United four months ago, he quickly acquired the nickname “Ell Tel” of Elland Road. Different spellings, convenient tabloid monikers, but terms of endearment, too. Not any more.

Venables is still revered in North London, his departure in 1991 having more to do with his fallout with Alan Sugar, then the chairman, than the fans. However, his standing in West Yorkshire is falling by the game. Leeds have won only once in nine league matches and lie five points from the foot of the Barclaycard Premiership. It is not what was expected when Venables was brought in to replace David O’Leary during the summer. Money was tight and still is, the club having debts of £77.8 million, but was not Ell Tel a Cockney magician and tactical genius? Would not he and Peter Ridsdale, the streetwise Leeds chairman, consummate the marriage made in heaven?

Yesterday provided further evidence that a divorce may be pending. Venables did his best by the dugout, gesticulating to his players, but it was futile. Leeds were poor, a side depleted by injuries and desperately lacking in purpose, and Tottenham were too good. All the while, Ridsdale sat grim-faced in the directors’ box.

It was Venables who had to face the music. Boardroom bickering may bore him, but the criticism from above, he considered, was justified. “The results are not acceptable and no one is accepting them,” he said. “It has to be rectified. The criticism is not pleasant, no one likes it, but everyone has got to be strong to help us work our way through this.”

Venables had suffered the cruellest of twists during the pre-match warm-up when Nicky Barmby, the former Tottenham forward, tore an Achilles tendon. Jacob Burns proved a lightweight, inadequate replacement, but it took Venables until the 37th minute to switch tactics, with Mark Viduka joining Alan Smith up front and Harry Kewell reverting to the left flank. By then the damage mostly had been done, with Tottenham 1-0 ahead and bewildering Leeds with their fluent interplay. Teddy Sheringham released Robbie Keane, the former Leeds striker, in the eleventh minute and when the ball returned to him inadvertently via the outstretched leg of Teddy Lucic, Sheringham curled a delicate shot past Paul Robinson with the inside of his left foot. It was exquisite.

Leeds were a mess, ragged at the back, weak in midfield and impotent up front. When a tame effort from Kewell was comfortably caught by Kasey Keller, it drew ironic cheers from the travelling fans. It was the 34th minute and it was Leeds’s first attempt on goal.

Keane gambolled in the space afforded him and, like Sheringham, dropped deep when needed. He can be selfish at times, rarely forgetting his prime objective of goalscoring, yet he produced a peach five minutes from half-time. Gustavo Poyet jabbed the ball through and Keane, without a moment’s hesitation, caressed his half-volley into Robinson’s net with the outside of his right foot. It was seriously exquisite.

Glenn Hoddle may have enjoyed cult status at White Hart Lane during his playing days but he is having to work on it as manager. Before the start, Tottenham had also been on the slide, with only one point from a possible 12. At last, though, they delivered, even if the second half proved little more than an exercise in containment.

“We’ve had an indifferent run but that was a good performance,” Hoddle said. “Robbie was up for it against his old team and there was a spring in his step. He was a little bit special today. This league is so close at the moment. Two wins and you’re up there, two defeats and you go the other way.”

For Steve Bennett, the referee, the second half was another fussy episode of crime and punishment. He issued five cautions to go with five from the first half and the fact that Leeds collected seven of them in total will mean a £25,000 fine from the FA. Poor old Leeds. Debts, injuries, defeats, fines. What next? Poor old Tel, too. Still, he has not entirely lost his “cheeky chappy” image. When it emerged, at last, he said: “The game is wonderful when you’re winning but awful when you’re not. That says it all.” And did he feel awful at the moment? He thought, chuckled and replied quietly: “I do feel a little low.”

Tottenham Hotspur (3-4-1-2): K Keller 5 — L King 6, D Richards 6, G Bunjevcevic 6 — S Carr 6, D Anderton 5 (sub: J Redknapp, 77min), S Freund 5, C Ziege 4 (sub: S Davies, 68 4) — G Poyet 4 (sub: S Iversen, 90) — R Keane 8, E Sheringham 7. Substitutes not used: L Hirschfeld, C Perry. Booked: Poyet, Ziege, Bunjevcevic. NEXT: Birmingham City (a). FORM: WLLDLW

Leeds United (3-5-2): P Robinson 4 — J Woodgate 4, E Bakke 3, T Lucic 3 — G Kelly 3, L Bowyer 5, S McPhail 4, J Burns 2 (sub: M Viduka, 37 4; sub: J Milner, 81), J Wilcox 3 — H Kewell 4, A Smith 4. Substitutes not used: N Martyn, M Duberry, F Richardson. Booked: Bakke, Wilcox, Burns, Kewell, McPhail, Smith, Bowyer. NEXT: Charlton Athletic (h). FORM: LLWLDL

Shots on target: (h) 5 (a) 2. Fouls (h) 18 (a) 17. Offsides (h) 6 (a) 1