More pain for Venables as Spurs ease home

What with open autopsies and another Celebrity Big Brother, the appetite for public exposure has never seemed higher. Terry Venables and Peter Ridsdale will hope, however, that this pay-per-view confirmation of Leeds United's failings was watched by a strictly limited audience. Any shareholders tuning in ahead of Friday's AGM will have seen a performance on the pitch as poor as that in the boardroom.

Like the Big Brother house Leeds currently have far too many stars trading on past reputations. But with an extensive injury list ensuring they retain their places, Spurs duly took advantage of another listless display.

Venables' agony was compounded by the identity of the scorers, Robbie Keane and Teddy Sheringham. Keane was one of the players Venables had to sell to placate the bankers, the other being Rio Ferdinand. Sheringham is a long-time Venables disciple and his movement and passing underlined how well he absorbed his former coach's tuition.

Steffen Freund and Goran Bunjevcevic also impressed for a Tottenham side grateful to be back at White Hart Lane after defeats at Burnley, Sunderland and Arsenal. They moved up to seventh, back in range of the European place they crave. Leeds, whose Uefa Cup run is the only mitigating feature of their season, languish four points off the relegation zone and have little prospect of qualifying again.

That would result in more player sales, further undermining the positions of Venables and his equally beleaguered chairman. Venables would not be drawn on whether he had been fully apprised of the financial crisis at Elland Road before taking the job but did admit dealing with it had been "tough".

Ridsdale, who is the architect of this malaise, yesterday appeared to be passing the buck ahead of Friday's meeting when he said results had been "unacceptable".

Venables responded: "No one has accepted them but they are there and they have to be dealt with. We should be doing better. I don't worry about it but I am concerned. I feel a little low. The game is wonderful when you're winning, awful when you're not."

Leeds have now won once in nine Premiership games during which they have earned five points from 27. Venables added: "I had to sell players but felt, if everyone was fit, we were still in good condition. But we have 11 players injured. A few injuries are not a problem as you can bring players into a settled side but it is hard when you have five or six coming in. Then the crowd gets on their back and it becomes a confidence thing."

Venables attempted to compensate for his players' dwindling belief with a defensive formation featuring Eirik Bakke as sweeper. This proved an error though it did not help when Nick Barmby suffered ankle damage in the warm-up. Barmby has under-performed at Leeds but he may, like Keane, have raised his game against a former club. He could certainly not have been worse than his bemused replacement, Jacob Burns.

Bakke was similarly uncomfortable and Keane set the tone by skinning him in the fifth minute. Already struggling, the last thing Leeds needed was for their manager to give Spurs a helping hand but, inadvertently, that is what Venables did six minutes later when he returned the ball to Stephen Carr to take a quick throw-in. "I wasn't concentrating," Venables admitted. Neither were his defence as Sheringham's flick released Keane. Though Teddy Lucic dispossessed him, Sheringham drove the loose ball past Paul Robinson with a deflection off Bakke's boot.

Keane's pace and footwork continually stretched Leeds but with Robinson denying him and Poyet, and Keane and Carr missing, Leeds were still in the game when Venables belatedly withdrew Burns and went to 4-3-3. They immediately looked better balanced but it was soon irrelevant. Lucic misdirected a Kasey Keller clearance to Gus Poyet and Keane lashed in his perfectly weighted pass with the outside of his boot.

Leeds improved in the second period but with Spurs protecting their lead chances were few. When Lee Bowyer, set up by the 16-year-old substitute James Milner, wasted the best with eight minutes remaining the game was over.

All that remained was for Ridsdale to ponder another debt. Referee Steve Bennett's disregard for the sodden conditions resulted in 10 bookings, seven from Leeds. This will bring the Yorkshire club a £25,000 fine. Small beer by football standards but, when you are in hock to £77.8m, every quid counts. At least Ridsdale, who has political ambitions in football, can console himself that relegating and nearly bankrupting Sheffield Wednesday did not prevent David Richards becoming the Premiership's chairman.

Goals: Sheringham (11) 1-0; Keane (40) 2-0.

Tottenham Hotspur (3-5-2): Keller 6; King 6, Richards 6, Bunjevcevic 6; Carr 5, Anderton 6 (Redknapp, 77), Freund 6, Poyet 6 (Iversen, 90), Ziege 4 (Davies 5, 68); Sheringham 7, Keane 8. Substitutes not used: Hirschfeld (gk), Perry.

Leeds United (3-5-2): Robinson 5; Woodgate 4, Bakke 4, Lucic 4; Kelly 4, Bowyer 5, McPhail 3, Burns 2 (Viduka 3, 37; Milner, 89), Wilcox 3; Smith 6, Kewell 4. Substitutes not used: Martyn (gk), Duberry, Richardson.

Referee: S Bennett (Orpington) 4.

Bookings: Tottenham: Poyet, Ziege, Bunjevcevic. Leeds: Bakke, Wilcox, Burns, Kewell, McPhail, Smith, Bowyer.

Man of the match: Keane.

Attendance: 35,718.