Harry Redknapp questioned last night whether the Tottenham Hotspur squad he has inherited possesses sufficient character to fight a successful relegation battle. Unable to take their cup form into the Barclays Premier League, Spurs are entrenched in the bottom three, behind Stoke City and only two points above Blackburn Rovers and West Bromwich Albion, after an insipid performance allowed Wigan Athletic to claim their sixth win in seven league matches and cement seventh place.

Tottenham have collected only two points from their past five games, while making it through to the fourth round of the FA Cup, the brink of the Carling Cup final and the last 32 of the Uefa Cup.

Jermain Defoe endured an anonymous debut, after his £15 million return from Portsmouth, and Tottenham conceded a late clinching goal for the third time in as many away games, Maynor Figueroa heading in Wigan’s winner in stoppage time.

Redknapp turned on his players. “They put the club in it, so it’s up to them to get the club out of it,” the Tottenham manager said. “Of course I’m concerned. If you look at results over the past year at Tottenham, you have to be concerned. They had two points from eight games when I came here — pretty scary. You look at the back end of last season after the Carling Cup [victory] and see how many points they got.”

In an indirect swipe at the previous regime’s transfer policy, Redknapp decried the balance of his squad. When it was suggested that he seemed to have a quality substitutes’ bench, he replied: “It looks like a certain type of player right through, the same type of player. We’ve got plenty of flair but we’re in a relegation scrap. We need some men and some characters who want to get us out of this.

“That’s what you’re looking for when you’re in our position. We’ve got some but not enough at the moment — that’s the problem. You can put your life on Ledley [King], put your life on [Jonathan] Woodgate, on [Michael] Dawson, [Didier] Zokora, [Jamie] O’Hara. You’d put your life on them.”

The rest, by implication, may wish to roll up their sleeves. Dawson was withdrawn with concussion after being caught by Emile Heskey’s elbow, and Heurelho Gomes, the goalkeeper who pulled up with what appeared to be a groin strain after kicking clear from Heskey, was not granted the opportunity to be substituted. Gareth Bale took goalkicks for the final quarter of the game. “I wasn’t going to take him off,” Redknapp said. “Got no reason to. We’ll have to see how he is.

“As for Michael, we missed him at the end. He wants to head the ball away with his life, but he wasn’t there, unfortunately.”

Instead Jermaine Jenas allowed himself to get lost as Figueroa got into position cleverly to come back out and head in Ryan Taylor’s corner. It was his first goal for the club, after his loan spell from Deportivo Olimpia, the Honduran club, was converted into a permanent deal at the cost of £1.5 million this month, and no more than Wigan deserved.

Steve Bruce talks about a 14-team relegation battle but Wigan are only three points behind Everton and sixth place, with a game in hand to boot. That comes on Wednesday at Old Trafford, so it is understandable that the Wigan manager should be keeping his feet on the ground. “I wouldn’t want to say we’re safe because this league is so unforgiving, you can go two or three months without a win,” Bruce said. “There are fine margins and today was one of them. The big thing is to keep hold of what we’ve got. The last thing we want to do is dismantle a team that has got us to seventh.”

Wigan, having lost 3-1 to Tottenham in the FA Cup ten days ago, hope to receive a work permit for Hugo Rodallega today, the Colombia forward having signed from Necaxa, the Mexican club, for £4.5 million. He will come into a squad flush with confidence, with Wilson Palacios and Antonio Valencia offering the poise and dynamism so lacking in Tottenham’s imports. Redknapp brought King in to play in a midfield diamond but, while he played well enough to have impressed the watching Fabio Capello, Tottenham never sparkled.

Wigan (4-4-2): C Kirkland 6 - M Melchiot 6, P Scharner 7, T Bramble 8, M Figueroa 7 - A Valencia 6, L Cattermole 6, W Palacios 7, R Taylor 7 - A Zaki 7, E Heskey 7. Substitutes not used: M Pollitt, E Boyce, E Edman, M Brown, K Kilbane, D De Ridder, H Camara. Next: Man United (a).

Tottenham (4-3-1-2): H Gomes 6 - V Corluka 5, M Dawson 7, J Woodgate 7, G Bale 4 - D Zokora 5, L King 6, J O’Hara 7 - L Modric 5 - J Defoe 4, R Pavlyuchenko 5. Substitutes: D Bent 6 (for Pavlyuchenko, 53min), A Lennon 6 (for Modric, 58), J Jenas (for Dawson, 79). Not used: C Sánchez, T Huddlestone, D Bentley, F Campbell. Next: Portsmouth (h).

Referee: A Marriner Attendance: 17,500