Hoddle hails Wolves' ruthlessness

Hoddle said: "It was a magnificent performance. In the first half Crewe didn't know what had hit them. We came out like an express train and went 4-0 up very quickly.

"The way the team are playing it's a pleasure to watch them. We have been clinical recently, and other than the goals we scored we only had two real chances. When you are playing well, being as clinical as that is the icing on the cake.

"One thing we have been guilty of in the past is not turning chances into goals and killing teams off. We should have done that at Southampton on the opening day and didn't, so maybe we are learning. We've had a good week, with wins at Stoke and Crewe, and we need to cap it off by beating Burnley on Friday."

The Crewe manager, Dario Gradi, admitted that his young side were not capable of matching Wolves' firepower. He said: "We were shell shocked. It was an extraordinary game. We were up against a good team that is well coached and well organised.

"Glenn Hoddle second time round is better than Glenn Hoddle first time round and that's probably because of his experience. We will be disappointed about the goals. We could probably say for all the goals that we weren't very good."

Carl Cort began the rout when he guided Lee Naylor's corner into the roof of the net in the 13th minute with Crewe unhappy that a foul on Steve Foster had not been given.

Wolves' second followed in the 27th minute, with Cort lucky not to be pulled up for offside before Miller's strike. He was behind the last Crewe defender when the Scottish international latched on to a deflected header and fired in.

Miller then touched in from close range when Rob Edwards' cross from the right dissected the home defence.

And Cort benefited from some slipshod defending by pulling away from his marker to pick up Mark Kennedy's cross and taking a touch before slotting home. Crewe's best chances had come in the opening minutes with Steve Jones's shot saved by the knee of goalkeeper Michael Oakes.

Jones then fired wide of the target after finding space down the left. Those misses proved costly as Wolves took hold of the game and were in cruise control throughout a lower-key second half.