Author Archives: JJ (Tony)

Social Media Reaction to a home defeat by Bristol City

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views and tagged with

Wigan Athletic 0 Bristol City 2

Latics looked at least as good as the much more expensively assembled Bristol City until 77 minutes when the visitors scored. Given what we have seen before it was not a surprise when City scored their second two minutes later.

Paul Cook once again, to his credit, insisted his team try to play football, rather than hoofball. Latics had around 70% possession in the first half. Unfortunately, most of it was passing the ball around in their own half and they were lacking a cutting edge going forward. The central defensive partnership of Kipre and Naismith had been excellent. When Latics did attack they rarely threw enough players in the box to cause concern for the visitors.

The second half saw a solid Bristol City come more into it, with Latics looking less assured. But until that first goal they were certainly up for the fight. Despite Wigan’s approach play they looked unlikely to score. It was only when Joe Gelhardt came on that they had someone willing so shoot, rather than pass the buck.

Paul Cook is one of the luckiest managers in English football to still be in his job. Let’s hope Darren Royle and IEC are proven right to keep faith in him. He has set himself on a better direction by putting out line-ups that help avoid that awful hoofball.

But he continues to put round square pegs in round holes. Today he played a defensive midfielder, Joe Williams, at number 10 yet again, playing the natural first choice, Kieran Dowell on the left.

Despite his impressive riposte in the local press to people suggesting Gelhardt should be an automatic starter in a mediocre advanced midfield, the jury among fans remains divided. Is Cook shielding Gelhardt from pressure or merely currying favour with his senior pros?

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

Our thanks go to the Cockney Latic Forum, 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.

NorthernSoul on the Latics Speyk Forum said

Should have won that but shot ourselves in the foot once again. Our inability to score is a disgrace for professional footballers. The front 4 were once again a terrible selection from Cook. Apart from one hit and hope chance that Marshall tipped over, Bristol City did absolutely nothing and then get a lucky offside goal and then it’s game over as we can’t score.

How many times are we going to dominate and fail to win until Cook realise his line ups are so wrong. Lowe should not be playing, 3 tap ins all missed again. Williams is not an AM, Dowell is not a wide player.

JrfatFan on the Cockney Latic Forum said:

I lost count of the number of balls whipped into the box only to see a red shirt on the end of um to hoof it away. Bristol City clearly came for a point and plundered 3.

It all seems to go pear shaped when Cook makes his subs. Its no reflection on the subs, it just keeps on happening week in week out. We need to follow Gelhardt’s lead and start having a few punts at goal. We spend an eternity passing the ball sideways 30 yards from goal, nobody wants to have a pop, yet we have players who can strike the ball well.

As we keep saying it’s time for a change but it won’t happen.

Lowey on the Cockney Latic Forum said:

Too many midfielders and not enough attackers. That’s why we dominate possession but never look like scoring. Cook may notice this if he hadn’t spent the entire game arguing with the fourth official over feck all.

ManchesterLatic89 on the Latics Speyk Forum said

He has struggled this season since signing this summer, but I have remained patient in the hope that he would come good for us and replicate his form over last two seasons for Pompey eventually.

Today however, remaining patience and faith i once had have evaporated, Lowe has had some poor performances so far but that was utterly abysmal.

Spent the entire first half wandering around like a lost child and three moments in the second half summed up his career for us so far in a nutshell. The two guilt edged chances he missed and the pass around halfway that was intercepted by a Bristol City player.

Sadly Lowe is another Grigg/Jacobs, good in League One but just not up to it in the Championship. I’m willing to forgive Moore as the system Cook plays just doesn’t suit his strengths. Lowe however has no excuses.

If ever you need proof that our scouting system and where we do our scouting for fresh talent needs a major rethink, 5 million pounds spent on Lowe and Moore is the answer. It would have been cheaper to have a scout based in Belgium / Switzerland / Scandinavia for a few months and sign 4 players from those markets than the crazy sums frittered away on the two aforementioned players.

 

 

A Forest fan’s view of Kieran Dowell (Part 2)

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Fan Views and tagged with , ,

 

Following on from previous fan views of Kieran Dowell we later received a further one from Rich Ferraro at his Forest Ramble site (www.forestramble.com)


As for Dowell, we just didn’t see enough of him in a red shirt, and neither did Derby. This doesn’t seem to be down to lack of ability, he obviously has loads of talent, and when he got a chance he showed flashes of brilliance (including nine goals in league and cup), but without ever being the first name on the team sheet.

 However, it says a lot that he seemed to do ok at Sheffield United – maybe he needs a manager who is able to put an arm around his shoulder, rather than a kick up the bum.

 Dowell left Forest when Mark Warburton left and Aitor Karanka came in, so maybe he was a victim of the new gaffer having less faith in youth (other victims included Joe Worrall).

 Can he do a job for you? Yes, he provides a good through ball, skills and goals; but you will need to get your enforcers to do some of the donkey work around him.

 All the best for the rest of the season.

 




		
	
			

	
	



				
					


	

		
A Derby County fan’s view of Kieran Dowell


				

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Kieran Dowell made his debut for Wigan Athletic yesterday at Leicester, starting in a wide left midfield role. Dowell can be a very important player for Latics in the second half of the season, a natural number 10, with the ability to make incisive passes and score goals.


In order to get more information on Dowell’s performances at his previous club, Derby County, we contacted Ollie Wright of the @derbycountyblog


This is what Ollie had to say:


I feel sorry for Dowell, because he was the victim of circumstances.  Phillip Cocu only arrived at Derby very late on in the summer, after the whole ‘will-he-won’t-he-of-course-he-bloody-will-get-it-over-with’ nonsense over Frank Lampard and Chelsea.  Cocu didn’t really have any time to assess his squad and what he needed to bring in before the start of the season.  


 Several loan signings were made quickly, the first of which was Dowell, just after Cocu had landed in Florida to take over pre-season training.  I’m guessing that Cocu spoke to Marcel Brands – the Everton director of football, who had worked with him at PSV – and Brands recommended that Cocu take Dowell, who was reportedly weighing up offers from yourselves and Huddersfield at the time.  


Dowell played the first few games of the season in an advanced midfield role, but after we were humiliated 3-0 at Brentford, Dowell paid a heavy price and lost his place in the team.  After that, he only started two more games, defeats at Blackburn and Hull, and whispers started to circulate that his loan would be cancelled last month. He was left out of the 18 for the win against Barnsley this week and that was widely seen as confirmation that he would leave the club.


An element of the Derby fanbase wrote Dowell off very quickly and he will certainly not be missed  However, in his defence, it was a tall order for any attacking midfielder to come in and try to replace the elite talents who left the club last summer – Mason Mount and Harry Wilson – and there have been plenty of poor performances since the Brentford defeat in which Dowell was not involved at all, so it’s not as if he could be scapegoated for our difficulties this season.  He did not impress here, to put it kindly, but there’s definitely a talent in there, if somebody can unlock it.  


From the limited time he spent on the pitch, my assessment would be that he is best used as a number ten, without being asked to take care of much (any) defensive duty.  It’s obvious that Wigan are in need of creativity and, if played in a relatively free role, Dowell does have the potential to make things happen – he was the best Derby player for key passes per 90 minutes this season, with 1.9 – but he was unable to replicate the burst of brilliant goals he scored for Nottingham Forest and I wouldn’t expect him to win you many duels in the midfield hurly burly.




Given the difficult position Wigan find themselves in and the lack of goals in the Latics’ side, I think this is a loan move which is definitely worth a shot.  




Wishing you all the best for the rest of the season.  Good luck!

			

	
	



				
					


	

		
A Nottingham Forest fan’s view of Kieran Dowell


				

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Wigan Athletic yesterday announced the signing of 22-year-old Kieran Dowell from Everton on a loan deal until the end of the season. Since the departure of Nick Powell Latics have badly lacked a midfield playmaker/goalscorer and Dowell certainly fits that profile.


The 6 ft 1 in tall attacking midfielder was born in Ormskirk and joined the Everton Academy at the age of seven. After playing for the reserve team he made his first team debut in a Europa League game against Krasnodar in December 2014. Dowell signed a professional contract in March 2015. He went on to make his Premier League debut as a 19-year-old as a substitute in March 2016 against Bournemouth. He made his first start two weeks later in a last day of the season win over Norwich city. He was given a new three-year contract in the summer of 2016. Dowell gained over 40 caps for England at all levels U16 to U20, being part of the under-20 World Cup winning side in the summer of 2017.


In August 2017 he joined Nottingham Forest on a season-long loan. He soon became a regular under Mark Warburton and scored a hat-trick against Hull City in October 2017. He went on to make 31 starts in the Championship with 7 appearances off the bench, scoring 9 goals.


Dowell joined Sheffield United on loan in January 2018 going on to make 8 starts and 8 substitute appearances, scoring 2 goals as the Blades won promotion to the Premier League. He went to Derby on loan in July 2019 making 8 Championship starts and 2 appearances off the bench.


In order to find out how Dowell did at Nottingham we contacted Matt at the Forza Garibaldi fan site (www.forzagaribaldi.com).


Matt commented:


At Forest, Dowell’s first couple of months were electric. He created chances and he scored goals. Some were absolute corkers too. He created something from nothing and was an instrumental part of our side. 


 Sadly, Dowell’s impact faded quite dramatically. I won’t pin all of it on him as Forest did do their usual trick of collapsing and a change of manager at the turn of the year clearly disrupted things but he wasn’t the same. 


Dowell’s appearances and influence dwindled and when the season ended and he returned to Everton it wasn’t really registered amongst Forest fans. When he signed for Derby on loan in the summer I thought it will either go really well or really badly. 


 He may be an excellent addition for Wigan. There is definitely talent there, it just needs extracting. It just looks like a bit of a gamble which Kieron Dowell turns up.


 


			

	
	



				
					


	

		
Five talking points following an away win at Birmingham


				

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Birmingham City 2 Wigan Athletic 3


Wigan Athletic’s first away win since April was another nail-biting affair, but this time they held out to gain an invaluable three points to lift themselves off the bottom of the table. The celebrations of the players at the end showed how important the win was for them.


Paul Cook made just one change in the starting lineup with Michael Jacobs coming in for Gavin Massey. That meant Josh Windass continuing at centre forward with Joe Williams in the number 10 position.


The irony is that Latics won the game without playing as well in recent matches, but still showed enough pace and movement to trouble a suspect Birmingham defence. Once again they let in soft goals, but the home side can also be accused of the same, with all three Wigan goals coming from defensive errors. For once Latics capitalized on their opponents’ errors.


Windass proves his worth


Cook kept faith in the enigmatic Josh Windass, who went on the score the first goal and have a hand in the other two. Playing without a big man up front means puts an onus on defenders and midfielders to be more creative. Windass has genuine pace that allows him to pounce on well-hit long passes. It is so refreshing following the mindless long-ball approach that characterized Wigan’s away performances for so long.


He had his best performance for the club today.


Naismith provides composure in defence


Kal Naismith has been excellent in the centre of defence in the past six matches. He provides the composure that has been so lacking for so long. Given his limited experience playing in the position we could have expected him to have made some major gaffes, but that has not been the case. Naismith has an ability to read the game, not to panic and to make the right tackle at the right moment. His distribution of the ball from defence has been outstanding.


Sadly Naismith had to go off at half time with what has been reported as a thigh injury. When he left the composure dissipated.


It is no coincidence that Cedric Kipre has looked much more comfortable since teaming up with the Scot in the centre of defence. When the combative Chey Dunkley came on after the interval Kipre was moved across to the left to accommodate him.


Nathan Byrne has a tough one


It has not been an easy season so far for Nathan Byrne. He had a torrid time this afternoon against the speedy French winger Jeremie Bela, then later with the likewise pacey Ecuadorian Jefferson Montero.


The 20-year-old Chelsea loanee Dujon Sterling has competed with Byrne for the right back position, making 9 appearances compared with 19 for the latter. Sterling did not make the bench today.


Full back is not an easy role in Cook’s style of play. Full backs are not only expected to perform their full defensive duties but to bomb forward in attack. Byrne certainly put a lot of effort into his runs forward but at times looked exposed when Birmingham attacked.


Latics have enough quality to climb out of the relegation zone


Latics have shown repeatedly that there are few teams in the division for them to fear. Most of their defeats have been of their own making, in squandering chances or giving away goals through defensive errors. Nottingham Forest are now fourth in the table and Wigan made them look distinctly ordinary three days ago, even if the final scoreline did not do them justice.


Despite the rare away win the manager still remains unpopular with a majority of fans. Many still believe they will get relegated if Cook stays. However, at this stage it looks like he will be here at least until the end of the season.


However, although the manager continues to frustrate fans with his loyalty to certain senior pros as far as team selection is concerned, together with his use of substitutions, there have been improvements. The standard of football we have seen in recent away games has been light years ahead of the mindless stuff we saw for so long.


There is some light at the end of the tunnel, but it is not going to be an easy ride.


A trip to Leicester


Few of us have any expectations for the trip to face Leicester City this weekend. The likelihood is that Latics will receive a tonking. But on the other hand Leicester can be expected to put out a weakened lineup and Cook’s Latics have a surprisingly good record against Premier League teams in the FA Cup.


The bottom line is that Wigan will go into the game with nothing to lose, except maybe a little pride.


Stats courtesy of WhoScored.com