Ipswich Town 2 Wigan Athletic 0

The signings of Josh Clarke and Danny Fox provided Wigan Athletic fans with a fillip approaching this game. With the departure of Nathan Byrne Latics were lacking at right back and it looked like Clarke would step in. Moreover, after starting the Fleetwood game with two 19-year-old central defenders, with no senior experience, we were hoping the return of Fox would stabilise a leaky defence.

However, in the event it was not to be, neither Clarke nor Fox deemed fit to play at Portman Road. When I looked at the team selection it was clear that Kal Naismith would play at the back. I was about to congratulate the Richardson/Sheridan selections, assuming they were giving Emeka Obe and Adam Long support by playing Naismith in between them in a back line of three. Sadly, that did not happen, and the end result was Obe being played at right back where he looked like a duck out of water. Ipswich repeatedly flooded the right side of Wigan’s defence which looked not only unbalanced but short of midfield cover.

Following the game John Sheridan commented:

“I thought we started the game very well. We possibly should have been two up, we created some great opportunities. The first goal changes the outcome of games so often, and who knows what might have happened. And their first goal is very disappointing…it’s a cheap foul, people switch off and it ends up in the back of the net.

But while we were disappointed to go into half-time 1-0 down, in the second half we just never got going. I know it’s the first day of the season, it’s a boiling hot day and the pitch was sticky, but we didn’t play with any penetration at all.”

Let’s take a look at how fans reacted to the match through the message boards and social media.

Our thanks go to the Vital Wigan – Latics Speyk Forum and Twitter for providing the media for the posts below to happen. Thanks go to all whose contributions are identified below.

Kendal Blue commented:

We saw last time at this level that there will be many more mistakes and you’ve got to be there to take advantage. Obi’s clearly nervous (2 foul throws, owch), but it’s to be expected. He has Naismith with him and Solomon-Otabor just in front now and they will settle him. Alternatively, Adam Long looks a natural and is ready for this chance. Definitely the right move to put Kal in the back 4 and Fox will also allow him to develop. Tired legs will factor today but we’ve put up enough to show we’re a decent bet at this level from a football side of things.

The_Pon said:

Obi, Long, Merrie. None of them have any significant experience in the league. It’s easy to forget that Tom Pearce has played less than 20 competitive games as well, since we know him already. I’ll take Solomon-Otabor on the chin. I didn’t realise he’d played as many games as he had before joining us; now I’ve looked him up then fair enough, he shouldn’t be overly nervy.

Obi is having a total mare, but to be fair to him, he wasn’t ready yet and we already knew that. Hopefully throwing him in the deep end as we’ve had to do will make him learn faster.

Obi was seen as a great prospect, and with more first team action, he may improve very quickly. Hope he does… Will need some of the older lads to put their arm round his shoulders and pick him up, because this performance can’t have done his confidence any good. I’ll reserve judgement until we’ve seen another ten games or so. Like I said, Dan Burn was embarrassingly bad in his first few games, then it suddenly clicked for him and we know the story after that. I hope Obi can do something similar.

Long looks ready. He’s played well today all things considered and he’ll only get better with more game time. Merrie is no cause for concern either.

I think we’ll be ok this year. No title run, but we’re good enough to stay afloat in this league from what I’ve seen. There are definitely enough worse teams in League One that we shouldn’t be in a relegation scrap. If new owners come on board in the next few weeks and put in a bit of cash, who knows? Honestly, I’d say we only need 3-4 players to be very comfortable at this level. It’s not a strong division.

Skem Tic commented:

I think without Naismith it could have been much worse, however we do look decent going forward, we just need much more time playing as a team. We have to remember that although a fair few players have had plenty of experience it’s only Naismith who would have been a first choice player last season. It’s going to be an up hill struggle for next few months but we have to stick behind them and sadly social media is the only way we can do this at the moment.
It’s certainly not all doom and gloom!

FrancosLoveChild added:

Obi just lacked Fox bo…cking him and keeping him focused, something young players with lack of experience has. Think if he is in the centre next to Fox, he will grow into a decent player, he has the physique for it. He had a howler, a terrible performance, that is reality, and everyone needs to accept that, he will only get strong from it when you learn from mistakes and bad games. Takes shocking performances to learn.

Arthur_Itis stated:

I’m mentally prepared to give all the young un’s a lot of leaway this season. Thought Long looked great today with Naismith at the side of him.
It’s very difficult to judge Obi IMO, out of position and stranded. As others have said, I’ll reserve judgment until he’s had an extended run in his natural position with seasoned pro’s around him.

My original score prediction was 5:0, I’m slightly less pessimistic for the season after today, but we need to pick some (probably scrappy) points up fairly soon just to give everyone a lift and that bit of belief that can work wonders.

Stats courtesy of WhoScored.com