Latics given wake up call in 6-0 drubbing

Last updated : 24 September 2004 By The Chairman

The Latics were given a wake up call in the televised cup game against high flying Tottenham Hotspurs. The game highlighted the vast difference between the Premiership and League One. For the first hour the home team held their own but class eventually shone through and Spurs punished the Latics by scoring the last three goals in the last three minutes. It was a final period where the Latics fell apart. The Carling Cup has gone for this year and the team must pick themselves up and concentrate on picking up valuable league points.

Brian Talbot thought that the 6-0 score was a bit unfair on his team and he said, “Yes I think it was a little bit harsh for us, but in the finish they taught us a lesson. I think their superior ability and their running off the ball made us tired, and obviously in the finish they punished us dearly for it, their finishing was first class. But I've got to be honest, for an hour we were in the match. We were also unfortunate to be behind at half-time, although it was poor defending which gave Freddie Kanoute a free header for their goal, they punished us. We came out second half and we were having a go. I did feel that with a bit of luck, and we needed a bit of luck mind, that we could have had an equaliser.”

“Against the run of play they scored the second goal and once the second goal went in, it was game, set and match. The heads dropped a bit. I think they got tired from the work they did previous to that. I told them to keep their discipline and work hard or it could end up as a slaughter, which is what happened at the end. The fifth and sixth goals in particular were different class. In the last 10 minutes it was men against boys but I was happy with the way we competed in the first hour.”

“You’ve got to say it was the right result in that they scored six and we scored none, but it wasn’t a 6-0 sort of game. Craig Mawson will take it personally to be beaten six times in his first home game, but some of them flew past him and it’s difficult to make a judgement on any player in a game like this. Hopefully my lads can learn from an experience like this because they have seen close-up how some of these top players operate."

“Tottenham worked extremely hard and showed lots of passion, but they were also positive, decisive and gave passes when they saw them instead of taking an extra touch. Obviously you can’t manufacture players like that, but it’s something my lads can look at if they want to improve themselves, which should always be the case. We could have done with the whistle going 10 minutes earlier.”