No penalty and no luck as United win at last

Actions most certainly speak louder than words in this case and, for all Robinson's efforts to defend his manager against what he considers the shoddy treatment of the Tottenham board, a more accomplished defensive display would have better served Jol.

Nani celebrates his winner with Paul Scholes

In fairness to Robinson, he was a little unfortunate because Nani's screaming 30-yard shot did take the slightest of deflections off Carlos Tevez.

Not enough, as Sir Alex Ferguson dared suggest, to make it Tevez's goal. But enough to make a subtle difference that Robinson is sure to seize upon as an excuse.

That said, goalkeepers never like being beaten from such distance and Robinson might regret being quite so far off his line. Especially when he, too, came here at the end of a shocking week after his calamitous display for England against Germany.

Especially when he had actually played pretty well until then, in front of a watching Steve McClaren.

For Jol, however, the situation remains more serious, a third defeat in four Premier League games leaving the Dutchman closer still to losing his job.

Fulham and Arsenal are up next and unless the gap between the coveted fourth place, and the side that currently sits fourth from bottom, closes dramatically even the dressing-room might take the view that it is time for a change.

There will be no need for Spurs' directors to hold not-so-secret meetings with potential replacements; no need to issue embarrassing denials and even more embarrassing apologies.

At one stage yesterday, chairman Daniel Levy and his boardroom colleagues were caught on television sitting immediately behind Everton's David Moyes.

Block: Wes Brown gets in the way of Berbatov's goalbound effort

Should Jol now be worried about him?

Right now, the dressing-room still appears to be with Jol.

They battled hard for him here with a gritty defensive display and a gameplan that tried to catch Manchester United on the counter-attack.

It very nearly worked, even if Jol was mistaken in thinking his side deserved two penalties. Howard Webb made the right call on both occasions, restoring some muchneeded faith in the Premier League's leading referees.

If Ferguson was relieved to see Webb in charge, the sight of Nani scoring in the 68th minute must have been particularly welcome. It was always going to take something out of the ordinary to break through Tottenham's defence, so ineffective were United as an attacking force.

Surprise inclusion: Berbatov leads the Spurs attack at Old Trafford

Just as they were against Reading, Portsmouth and Manchester City, United played some nice neat football but with no end product. There was no penetration, no pace, not a hint of a genuine goal threat.

Tevez is being forced to occupy a role that clearly does not suit him in the absence of Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha - he is never a centre forward - and the absence of suspended Cristiano Ronaldo has also taken its toll. They need all three to come back. Either that or a new striker.

One of the many players they identified lined up for Spurs yesterday and he was quick to make an impact. Dimitar Berbatov took just 20 seconds to backheel a ball into the path of Robbie Keane that the Tottenham skipper then chipped against the United crossbar.

Berbatov combined impressively with Gareth Bale, who showed occasional flashes of class on what was his first Premier League appearance for his new club. Bale, deployed as he was for Wales last week on the left side of midfield, possesses speed as well as skill.

It was shortly after an hour, though, that this encounter really came to life.

Ricardo Rocha had just threatened with a close-range header when Nemanja Vidic passed directly to Bale and invited the teenager to run at United's defence.

He did not hesitate in accepting before playing the ball into the path of Berbatov who, after colliding with Vidic, guided a weakly struck shot that Rio Ferdinand just managed to scramble off the line. There were appeals for a penalty for what Tottenham believed was a foul by Vidic, but if anything Berbatov actually fouled the United man.

If Berbatov accepted that decision, he was reluctant to agree with Webb when he then had an effort blocked by Wes Brown. Berbatov was convinced the ball struck Brown's left arm. Television replays proved it hit his chest. Berbatov was wrong. Webb was right.

It made what then followed all the more painful for Tottenham. Tevez almost scored first with a strike that Jermaine Jenas cleared off the line, but Nani unleashed his thunderbolt and celebrated with a triple somersault. However desperate Ferguson might be to justify the signing of Tevez, Nani will not be giving up his goal in a hurry.

Jol made changes in response, sending on Jermain Defoe as well as Adel Taarabt in the hope of scoring what would have been a well-deserved equaliser.

As it was, though, the goal never came and Jol was left to face a group of employers who clearly wanted him out before this game had even taken place.

Employers who, had it not been for Juande Ramos choosing to remain with Sevilla, might have been wincing after seeing their new manager suffer a first defeat. As it is, they can simply blame Jol.