Tottenham 9 Wigan 1- Harryx268217s rant lifts Spurs to record spree as Defoe hits five
22 Nov 2009 - 22:31:52
Jermain Defoe responded to Harry Redknapp's half-time roasting by scoring five goals as Tottenham destroyed Wigan 9-1 to notch up their record Barclays Premier League win.
The Spurs boss was so unhappy that his players were only 1-0 up following Peter Crouch's ninth-minute opener that he sent them out five minutes early for the second half at White Hart Lane.
Having a ball: Defoe nabbed a quickfire hat-trick
His words clearly had the desired effect as Spurs went on to score another eight, while England striker Defoe bagged a seven-minute hat-trick on the way to his personal record haul. 'At half-time we told them they had to start pressing,' said Redknapp.
'We were great for 25 minutes, then we stopped pressing them. They came back into it and had more possession, so we wanted to get back to what we'd spoken about in the week. We got after them again right from the first whistle in the second half and punished them.'
In flight: Defoe notches his second goal
It was the biggest win in the Premier League since Manchester United beat Ipswich Town 9-0 in 1995.
Defoe joins Ted Harper, Alfie Stokes and Les Allen as only the fourth Spurs player to score five goals in a game.
Praising Defoe's marksmanship, Redknapp, whose team leapt back into the top four, said: 'He's an amazing finisher. You give him half a chance, he makes a yard and bangs it in the back of the net. Rooney's fantastic, a complete, all-round player. But as a finisher, he (Defoe) is the best.'.
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Defoe said: 'I'm not going to lie, I was thinking about the double hat-trick. I looked up and saw there were another 15 minutes left, so I was thinking 'I'm playing with fantastic players, I'm going to get chances'. It was a like a dream, brilliant. I looked over to the manager and he looked shocked as well.'
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Wigan boss Roberto Martinez insisted his players will bounce back, saying: 'The result is not normal. It's one of those freaks. You have huge anger because we've come a long way this season. But the way we started the second half was not us at all. I'm not bothered about the score, I'm more bothered about how naive we were.'
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