One of Martin Jol's closest allies has slammed talk of him losing his job at Tottenham.

Zeljko Petrovic, who played under Jol at RKC Waalwijk and is now in charge of the Dutch club, snapped: "I see that he is already under pressure and I think that is only bad for the club. The club have to show that they are behind him - it is important for every coach to feel this. They need to show support for him.

"I am very surprised that they don't appear to believe in him. I think it is disgusting. It is impossible for them to be upset already. They have lost only two matches - what do they want?

"I can't understand it. There is Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United to get past and it's not easy. Manchester United have only two points and they're not panicking.

"It's not easy, when you bring in new players, to play your best football at the start and he has also had a number of injuries. He needs time to get the team to play their best football."

Petrovic believes his former manager would be the perfect replacement, but that Tottenham would be foolish to let him go.

He said: "Martin is one of the best managers to have come out of Holland for the last 20 years. If Van Basten leaves, Martin will be first or second on the list to takeover.

"If Tottenham lets him go it could be very good for Dutch football, but I think they would be making a big mistake if they did get rid of him."