Back to Earth with a Bump.

After the Euphoria of our midweek thumping of Young Boys and the glamourous reward of a trip to the San Siro. Us Spurs fans could have been forgiven for thinking that this was it, we had made it, we were one of the big boys now. After dining on the caviar of the Champions League, we returned to the bread and butter of the league and vomited all over ourselves. This was Spurs at their worst. Static, devoid of ideas and lazy. At the time of writing, Manchester United are moving through the gears and leaving West Ham as a greasy stain on the road. We have a long way to go.

First of all, I believe 'arry got his team selection wrong. A home game against Wigan does not require two defensive minded players in the middle of the park. Huddlestone was as bad as I've seen him in a long time, giving away his first three passes set the tone for a torrid afternoon. Palacios was much improved on his midweek showing but still lacked the creativity we needed to break Wigan down. Many plaudits will go to the Wigan goalkeeper but in fact he only made one save of note before the final 15 minutes when Spurs realised a win was not going materialise by its self. Spurs played the first half at something of a stroll, thinking that the goals would flow without too much effort. By the time they realised that this wasn't going to be the case it was too late and their panicky, rushed attempts to grab a goal only resulted in more frustration, both from the crowd and from each other, and a breakaway Wigan goal.

So who can really hold their heads up after todays game? Bale and Lennon lacked their usual effervescence, Crouch and later Pavlyuchenko were anonymous. Defoe buzzed around in his usual busy way but was bullied out of the game by the physical Wigan defence. After a wonderful midweek performance, Assou-Ekotto spent most of the first half playing silly buggers at the back before being replaced at half time. Cudicini was a spectator for most of the game but when his moment in the spotlight came, he fluffed his lines horribly. Ledley gave Rodallega, who likes a shot (as the member of rows F thru P behind the goal were finding out throughout), too much space to shoot and the resulting tame, scuffed effort someone squirmed through Cudicini's hand and in. Wigan's 14 supporters went mad, the rest inside White Hart Lane went madder.

Until we learn how to break down teams that defend deep in numbers, we will not be able to make the step up to consistently challenging for the top 4 and beyond. As we improve and teams give us more respect, more and more teams will adopt this tactic at White Hart Lane. Last season Wolves, Stoke and Hull got joy from this tactic. Wigan are the first this season and I have a nasty feeling they won't be the last.