Emmanuel Adebayor: England need Harry Redknapp more than we do but he must stay at Tottenham until the end of the season

Tottenham's Emmanuel Adebayor admits England need manager Harry Redknapp more than the north London outfit following their 5-0 thrashing of Newcastle United.

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The game represented Redknapp’s first match back at the helm after his court case for tax evasion concluded earlier this week.

Adebayor was directly involved in all five goals at White Hart Lane, assisting in the first four before volleying in from close range to add a fourth, while Louis Saha also scored twice on his full debut for the club.

Redknapp is the favourite for the England manager’s position left vacant by Fabio Capello, and Adebayor believes he would be an ideal candidate for the job, but insists he must stay with his club until the season is over.

The striker told ESPN: “We think he has to stay until the end of the season and from there we’ll see. He’s a fantastic manager, he gives us confidence and at the end of the day he has to stay until the end, but I think England need him more than Tottenham.”

Adebayor, who had failed to score in his previous seven games in the league, knew that he would need to work hard against a side such as Newcastle to make up for his goal drought.

He said: “I haven’t scored in seven games, I was not scoring, but I have been working hard in training, the players all know what I can do. Today I knew it was going to be a difficult one because we’re playing against a top team and we wanted to score early and after that the game was very easy for us.”

Asked if the result keeps Spurs in the title hunt, he added: “That’s why I joined this club. Before I came here I knew it was going to be very difficult, but we have got a lot of talented players and the manager has brought in Louis [Saha] and we all know how good he is.

“We just have to keep going and enjoying our football and I don’t know whether we can win the title or not, but what is important is to play our game and see where we end up.”

Saha himself was happy to get off the mark in the match, which sees Spurs move just five points behind leaders Manchester United, and he was delighted with Adebayor’s contributions to set him up on both occasions.

"It is an amazing day,” he said. "To play my first game in such an amazing team was great. I got a lot of help from Adebayor - four assists - not enough!

"It was a joy to play today. We made a great, fast start to the game. There was some great passing and when you score early confidence rises. This has been a brilliant game to be involved in."

On the subject of new manager Redknapp, the Frenchman is thankful that the Spurs boss brought him over from Everton after allowing the opportunity to play with what he believes to be a great team.

Saha added: “He brings confidence to the squad and the players, so we enjoy that. It’s only been a couple of weeks but I already find myself rising in confidence and feel like I’ve already improved, so it’s good to get those goals today. I owe him a lot because it’s a pleasure to be involved with this team.”