9 goals was a flattering tally of goals. Not to take anything away from Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon, who was on fire. 3 assists and one goal is a very nice number indeed and Capello would be touched in the head not to include him in the starting XI. Niko Kranjcar also provided some moments of brilliance.
But the Wigan defense was not just shambolic, a high school team could have walked over them. Emmerson Boyce, Titus Bramble, Mario Melchiot, and Erik Edman were woeful. I just watched in disbelief as Edman just whiffed miserably on a clearance of a long ball by Vedran Corluka to gift Defoe his fifth goal.
In fact, one can argue that there was not one goal Defoe did not score that was in some way the result of an inept defense. It became de riguer to see Defoe moving at an angle to the right and pulling the ball past Kirkland as Boyce and Edman toiled to keep up with him. The overweighted right flank gave Spurs seven goals (Crouch's opener, all of Defoe's five, Lennon's only goal).
Apart from running up the score, this result will now be treated as prima facie evidence by pundits to predict Spurs will elbow out Arsenal to finish ahead of them.
Andrew, I think Aaron Lennon is their best creative force and Kranjcar showed some good touches too. Defoe is a great finisher. Its on defense they have questions. Gomes can be a liability in goal. Ledley King has been hurt a lot. Against a top rated attack, they look vulnerable.
Hard to believe this was the same team that beat Chelsea 3-1.
Wigan need to work on consistency. These kind of results often come after some disruption within the club, but I haven't read about anything sour going on behind the scenes. That was certainly the case the last time we saw a game this one sided, when Boro beat City 8-1 the season before last.
Impressive stuff from Spurs, no doubt, but I still don't see them as a proper contender for the top four. They've certainly done very well without the creative force of Modric, but injuries to other key players throughout the season could see them dropping too many points to stay ahead of City, Villa, or Liverpool. Also, the fact that they were so thoroughly outclassed by United and Arsenal in previous games shows some of their glaring weaknesses.
I'm sure some eccentric fans will think they can go for the title, but that seems grossly unrealistic, especially for a team that's never been in a title race before.