January | 2021 | LOS THREE AMIGOS

Wigan Athletic 0 Fleetwood Town 0

It is a testament to the work of Leam Richardson and Gregor Rioch that Wigan Athletic continue to show resilience on the field of play. This game was by no means memorable on a sticky pitch, but another point was gained in the battle against relegation.

In the past Latics might have had the upper hand against Fleetwood, having a stronger squad with better quality players. Those days have gone at least for the moment. With the restrictions placed on the squad size during administration and the financial constraints Latics are currently under it is to the great credit of the management that they can compete with clubs with bigger and more experienced squads.

We learned yesterday that three new players had been brought in, even if none of whom had been playing much first team football for some time. The two ex-Liverpool academy players, George Johnston and Corey Whelan, were paired together in the centre of defence. Zach Clough took Will Keane’s place in the number 10 position. Clough was sensational some four years ago for Bolton, but since then his career has gone downhill. In fact, his last senior appearance was as a late substitute for Rochdale in April 2019. His last goal was for the ‘Dale in September 2018.

The centre of defence has been the most problematic position over the course of this season. However, Johnston slotted in perfectly and was the game’s outstanding player. Whelan has played centre back before, although normally a full back. He was solid in defence today. Clough had a chance in the first half that a few years ago he might have put away easily, but he showed flashes of skill and passing vision that might suggest that he can resurrect his career. Tendayi Darikwa was making his second Latics appearance and looked a class act at right back.

A draw was a fair result for both teams. Latics had defensive solidity but were wasteful in their finishing. The visitors had a lot of the ball in the second half, but the home defence held firm.

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:

Moonay commented:

2 points lost maybe, but a clean sheet with 2 new centre halves (and a back 4 that looked fairly solid) isn’t the end of the world.

That definitely showed promise, and hopefully, we’ll build on it. I’m not sure if it’s preferable to winning by the odd goal in seven, but it’s certainly easier on the nerves. Very well done Leam Richardson and Gregor Rioch.

Kenny Morris summarised:

I know it’s the same for both teams but that pitch really hampered our style going forward today. Ball kept sticking and getting under players feet, no chance of many slide rule passes or running with the ball. Must have been energy sapping too.

Team not played well today but we got a point, and we are one point from safety now, so improvement on the day. I did feel the pitch was largely to blame and considering we had a new defence (yet again) we didn’t do badly.

Oscarbon said:

Two mom’s today for me were Johnston and Darikwa. Says a lot when our most stylish attacker is our right fullback.

A point gained but I cant help but feel if we can put a performance in against a team like Fleetwood we can get 4 or 5 goals.

As others have said I think away games are going to yield more points as that pitch is a distinct disadvantage to us. Daft question but where are they training these days as the pitch looks like it has had a dozen games played on it in a week.

True Believer stated:

Frustrating afternoon, we were by far the better side in the first half but lost a little momentum in the second.

The miss by Clough is indicative of a player that has struggled for games in the last two seasons, however his overall play wasn’t bad. On on or two occasions he put some very inciteful balls into the box for both Lang and Joseph. I think with a little bit of time he could be a decent addition.

Talking of additions both Whelan and Johnston had impressive debuts and with Darikwa and Pearce at full back we look quite solid. Hopefully we won’t be leaking late goals in the future to lose the points. Pearce looked a little off his game in the second half and wasn’t getting forward as much as usual, whether this was due to the opposition sussing us out, who knows. One thing I would criticise Pearce for is the time he takes on throw ins. He seems to just amble over for the ball allowing the opposition to get their markers in place and close us down.

Jamie Jones was secure and looked more confident behind the back four, however I do wish he would look to play the short ball more often to stop the ball coming straight back at us. Didn’t have much to do but what he did he did well.

Kyle Joseph and Lang both worked their socks off but struggled against Mulgrew and Connolly. Personally, I think we missed the control and guile of Will Keane to open the door. Lang had a decent chance after the far post cross from Gardiner, but the keeper made a decent block, he also made a good save from Callum in the first half from a good near post strike.

Merrie continues to impress me and Alex Perry is looking more composed alongside him.

All in all some positives to take into the Blackpool game, least of all the clean sheet.

Hopefully Will Keane is available soon (and I wish him a speedy recovery) to push for the forward positions and with a little luck we can get back on the goalscoring trail again whilst keeping the back door firmly shut.

Stats courtesy of WhoScored.com

Rochdale 3 Wigan Athletic 3

After a scintillating first half performance, with Latics leading 2-1 and the home side down to ten men, the three points were definitely there for the taking as the second half began. However, a mix of profligate finishing and poor defending allowed Rochdale to claim a point.

The football played by Wigan in the first half was probably the best they have played this season. Tendawi Darikwa and Callum Lang fitted in seamlessly and Latics looked like a well-oiled machine.

Adam Long suffered an injury after 59 minutes in trying to keep the ball out of the net for Rochdale’s equaliser. It was a surprise that Leam Richardson chose to bring on a left back, Luke Robinson, to take Long’s place in central defence, despite Emeka Obi being available. The back four literally consisted of four full backs.

Despite their profligacy in front of goal and defensive vulnerability in the second half it was a fine performance by a Latics team that is defying the odds, despite the restrictions placed upon them and the injuries they have had.

After the game Leam Richardson commented:

“There is different pressures for different positions within a team and one thing that was great today was how we responded and the character. The goals that we scored emulated that because we kept going.

My overriding emotion is that I really enjoyed standing there and watching them today because individually – and in some parts collectively – I thought they were excellent.”

We are all aware that every day at Wigan Athletic is a learning day at the minute. It is up to a few of us to make the best of the situation.”

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:

SwindonLatic commented:

Enjoyed the game. Really good to see our movement up front with Lang and Joseph running beyond Keane. Lang was everywhere. Lots to be positive about. We are improving and if we keep up this rate of improvement we will stay up easily IMO.

Arthur_Itis remarked:

Unless there is a reason that I’m unaware of, I think Leam got the last sub wrong, Only threat from Rochdale was in the air and we left Obi on the bench. No surprise their big lad out jumped our 2 full backs in the middle in the dying minutes to break our hearts.
2 points dropped, hope these don’t prove critical come May.

Kenny Morris said:

Disappointing that we lost 2 points in the final minute of extra, extra time but I would have taken this before the game considering the enforced changes to the team and the lack of numbers in subs. They beat us 5-0 a few weeks ago so this performance today was far, far better.
Can’t be too hard on the players even against 10 men for second half, Rochdale had a vastly more experienced team who are used to playing together, unlike our team which has been cobbled together this week. With only having 15 fit players we did well.

Degsy1 opined:

Long going off was a pivotal moment for us and it went downhill from then.

We definitely missed Tilt today and for me I was so fired up I was sure we would go away with 3 points and at the end even though we drew it felt like a loss !

But this performance today gives me great encouragement and I believe we can get through this mess providing we get a sale to the right owner done soon !

Long crashing into the back wall behind the net looked bad to me – I just hope the lad didn’t do any serious damage !

True Believer summed up:

Poor second half resulting in two points dropped. Why oh why did we stop playing the way we did in the first half. We started to try and push the passes instead of keeping it simple and lost the ball too often.

Great goals from Lang, Joseph and a cracker from Keane, his close control is a joy to watch.

Pearce continues to deliver great crosses from the left, whilst Darikwa slotted in well on the right.

Our biggest problem was at CB and although James and Long did well in the first half the long high balls in the second half found them out. With no tall CB going for the first ball after Long went off their forwards started to win the ball and more crosses coming into the box caused problems. I wondered why LR didn’t put Obi on to take the first ball instead of playing Luke Robinson, a left back, as a makeshift CB.

Owen Evans showed his inexperience for their second as he stepped back from the bouncing ball allowing the forward to gain the advantage in height. He should have been moving forward to gain the momentum and height. There was no need for him to actually catch the ball as if he had just knocked it down our backs were favourite to win the knock down. After that however he did pull off a decent save to keep the lead.

Overall it was a very good display going forward but our lack of a dominant CB cost us the 2 points. Time now to reflect on this performance and hopefully improve on it next time out. I hope any of the prospective owners were watching as this game has convinced me that with a couple of decent acquisitions we can survive the drop so taking the 15 points should be something they think seriously about. There are bound to be some very experienced players without a contract after the takeover and they could be just what we need to survive.

Onwards and upwards boys.