Following a promising start to the season Wigan Athletic’s 5-1 defeat to Burnley provided them with a real wake-up call. Although the visitors lost key players over the summer they recruited well and looked a fine side on the day. The 5-1 scoreline was flattering to the visitors, the stats showing that Wigan had 18 shots (with 4 on target) compared with Burnley’s 8 (4 on target).
Leam Richardson chose to pack the midfield in a 3-5-2 formation, without a central target man. The tactic backfired and a clinical Burnley side proved too much to handle.
Will the manager persist with that 3-5-2 tomorrow when West Bromwich Albion are the visitors? Or will it be the more attacking 3-4-3 that has been the norm on previous occasions when playing with three central defenders? Another alternative is the 4-2-3-1 formation that is Richardson’s most favoured.
West Bromwich have had a disappointing start to the season by their standards. They have 7 points from 6 matches with a record not dissimilar to that of Latics: W1D4L1. Last season they finished in 10th position.
A remarkable trait of Richardson’s team last season was in being able to bounce back after an adverse result. They lost eight league games in total but won seven and drew once in the games immediately following those reverses. The most traumatic of defeats was a 3-0 home drubbing by Sunderland, but Latics went the next nine games undefeated.
There was a train of thought that Wigan showed too much respect to Burnley on the field of play. Moreover, they left three central strikers and two attacking midfielders on the bench. Richardson will most likely approach this match in a different fashion, bringing back a target man, most likely Josh Magennis, and pushing Will Keane back to his best position behind the central striker. The manager has consistently showed loyalty to the players who have been his mainstays in the past. He will be forced to bring in a right back to replace the injured Tendayi Darikwa. The defensively solid, but less attack-minded, Ryan Nyambe would be an obvious choice in a 4-2-3-1. Should it be 3-4-3 he might employ Max Power as an attacking full back.
Steve Bruce’s teams are typically physically strong and well organised and Latics will have to work hard to beat them. It promises to be a tough encounter.
The transfer window closes at 11 pm on Thursday, September 1. We can expect activity from Latics, particularly in the acquisition of loan players. To make room for new players we can expect some departures from the current squad.
Leam Richardson was quoted today as saying:
“I always say as a manager of a football club, if you get enough transfer windows right, to make those steps you want to make, to mould what you want to mould, you’ll do all right. I still think we’re two or three of them off, partly because of where we’ve come from, and having to work a hundred miles an hour last year, to make that happen. We’re still very much a progress.“
The transfer window closes at 11 pm on Thursday, September 1. We can expect particular activity from Latics in the acquisition of loan players. To make room for new players there may be some departures from the current squad.
Tom Pearce signed a new contract over summer but has made only one league appearance this season, as an 89th minute substitute against Preston. Stephen Humphrys was used as a late substitute in the first two league games but has not appeared since. There have been rumours about Graeme Shinnie leaving the club, possibly back to Scotland. But with Jordan Cousins out with a long-term injury the club are unlikely to release Shinnie unless they can find a couple of new holding midfielders.
There has been lots of speculation about Latics signing players from Egypt, with a bid for goalkeeper Mahmoud Gad having been made. If Gad were to be signed, he would initially be sent out on loan to another country to get the experience needed for a working visa in the UK. Ahmed Sayed, commonly known as “Zizo”, of Zamalek, is the leading scorer in the Egyptian league this season, although a winger. Were Latics to be serious about signing him they could expect to pay a fee of around £3m. With 23 appearances under his belt for Egypt a working visa would not be a problem.
Thinking of Steve Bruce coming to Wigan tomorrow and the possibility of an Egyptian joining Latics brings memories of Amr Zaki. Most of us had never heard of him when Latics signed him on loan from Zamalek in 2008 for a fee of £1.5m. He made a sensational start, scoring 5 goals in his first six games, before falling foul of Bruce in January. Sadly Zaki could never live up to his early promise and returned to Egypt at the end of the season.
“I’ve been speaking to a few people and the best way of getting into the Brighton team would be on the left-hand side of a back three.”
Dan Burn was thinking ahead of his expected move to Brighton in January. But was it in the back of his mind that he might be playing there too for Latics over the next couple of months?
Paul Cook reverted to a line of three central defenders in the final third of the Millwall game, Burn looking so much more comfortable there after a difficult time as a makeshift left back.
Most managers have a favourite formation and Cook is no exception. The 4-2-3-1 that has been the default system during his tenure as Latics manager has enabled not only good results, but good football too. Under that formation Latics have used the flanks to great advantage, stretching the opposition defences wide. Sadly, Cook has lost his most favoured wingers – Michael Jacobs and Gavin Massey – to injury. The two were able to not only attack with pace but play a key role in dropping back to help regain possession. Their all-round team play been sorely missed.
Another feature of Wigan’s best performances this season has been the high press, with the defence pushing up in a high line and Christian Walton playing an important role as keeper/sweeper behind the defence. Although still evident in home games it has been not the norm on the road since the attacking performances in the first two away games at Aston Villa and Stoke, where Latics’ play was a joy to watch.
Some managers are stubborn in sticking to the same formation, come what may. It has advantages in that recruitment can be built around the needs of that system, with players knowing precisely the role they are playing. The disadvantage is that the opposition know exactly what to expect and can find ways of shutting it down.
At Portsmouth Cook was criticised for not having a “Plan B”. But at Millwall he started out with a version of 4-4-2 and switched to 3-5-2 in the second half. Wigan’s football at the New Den could be best described as “direct”. Last season in League 1 we had witnessed similar occurrences, with long balls being launched forwards in a Plan B mode.
Not many teams play 4-4-2 these days, but some do, and they can use it successfully. Like any other system its successful functioning depends on having the right players in the right positions. It could be argued that 4-4-2 lends itself better to a more direct approach than 4-2-3-1, with defenders able to put in weighted long passes to twin strikers. The problem with the version of 4-4-2 we saw at Millwall was that the long passing was rarely well weighted.
Some managers will change their starting formations according to the opposition. Uwe Rosler did that very successfully in his first season at Wigan, switching between 4-3-3 and 3-4-3/3-5-2. Is Cook now looking at doing something similar?
Burn has shown himself to be an accomplished central defender at Championship level. However, Cook will be loath to break up a blossoming central defensive partnership of Dunkley and Kipre. Cook can solve some of his headaches by operating a 3-4-1-2 system, with full backs James and Robinson able to push forward with more security behind them. Nick Powell could play a similar role as before between the holding midfield and the forwards. We have seen so little of Callum McManaman so far, the pundits suggesting that he is still not fully fit and does not track back from the wing in the style of Jacobs and Massey. McManaman thrived in Roberto Martinez’ 3-4-3 where had a free role.
With Lee Evans unable to play against his parent club, Callum Connolly will most probably move into central midfield tomorrow. Were Cook to decide to play with three at the back we could see a lineup something akin to: Walton – Kipre, Dunkley, Burn – James, Connolly, Morsy, Robinson – Powell – McManaman, Windass.
Cook’s dilemma rests in whether to switch to three at the back – which is really five when under pressure – or to stick with the 4-2-3-1 system that has served him so well.
No matter which formation the manager adopts the discerning fan will be looking for an attacking approach following the lack of ambition shown in recent away games. Seeing Latics adopting the high press early on would be a good sign. Keeping the hoofing to a minimum would also mean less pressure on the defence as more possession is retained.
Cook deserves great credit in bringing Latics through to a mid-table position at this stage of the season. They have already shown they can compete with the top teams. Should Latics adopt an attacking approach at Bramall Lane tomorrow and get badly beaten the manager will suffer some degree of flak. On the other hand, were they to be as negative as in recent away games and still lose he would suffer even more.
The bookmakers William Hill are offering odds of 13/8 on Brentford being promoted, a close second to the favourites Leeds United at 6/4. They quote Wigan Athletic at 8/1, making them seventh in the rankings. Both teams have made a good start to the season, with the Bees just a point ahead of Latics.
But bookmakers’ odds can soon change so early in a season with just 6 of the 46 games having been played so far. Brentford have won all three home games up to this point, with Wigan winning one and losing two on the road. But Wigan Athletic have a good record against Brentford, having won 19 times, drawn 9, losing 7 since they first played each other in 1982.
Brentford came up from League 1 in 2014 and have consolidated themselves in the second tier. Much of that is down to owner, Matt Benham, who has not only made a huge financial investment, but also shown vision and belief akin to that of Dave Whelan at Wigan. But when Latics were back in the Championship, buoyed by parachute payments, after eight years in the upper tier they could afford a wage bill exceeding £20 m, reaching the playoffs in 2015. Since then the club has suffered two relegations and the paruchute money is no more. This year’s wage bill will probably be nearer to £10 m.
Although Brentford manager, Dean Smith, might dream of promotion to the Premier League this season, Paul Cook will be primarily looking at consolidation. But who knows what might happen? Cook’s team plays with the kind of belief that suggests they can upset the bigger names in the division.
On their relatively modest budgets, can Brentford, or even Latics, overcome the financial odds against them and punch beyond their weight?
Despite the scintillating football we have seen up to this stage by Latics, results have lagged behind performance. Cook has adopted an attacking philosophy that suggests his team is afraid of no one in the division. “Soft goals” in the closing minutes have widened that performance/result gap, but Cook deserves great credit for his positive approach. Will Brentford be in for a surprise on Saturday?
It promises to be a fascinating encounter. In order to get a Brentford fan’s view on Saturday’s match we contacted Billy Grant. Billy writes, podcasts and blogs for Beesotted (@Beesotted) the Brentford Fanzine (beesotted.com). You can catch Beesotted’s post-match podcast from around 7pm on PrideOf West.London – talking to both Wigan and Brentford fans in the pub after the match.
Here are Billy’s responses to the questions we put to him:
Brentford have got off to a good start to the season and the bookmakers are reckoning your team are candidates for promotion. Is promotion a possibility for a club that works on a smaller wage bill than the likes of Leeds and Middlesbrough?
It’s been a great start to the season but to be honest, last season we played wonderful football but couldn’t buy a win for the first couple of months. It was I think 8 matches before we got our first victory despite playing a lot of teams off the park. So I put last season down to a learning curve and this season we haven’t fallen into the same trap – thank Horatio.
We have been trying to keep below the radar so its a bit annoying that the people are starting to back us. We love being the team that no-one knows about. When we came into the division, we were the laughing stock. The team who ‘dumped’ Warburton (which wasn’t true). They laughed at our use of stats to find obscure players that no-one had heard of or thought would cut it in the championship. Players like Jota. And Andre Gray. And Scott Hogan.
Four years later and we’re turning down bids for £10m plus for players who have played barely 30 matches after graduating from our B-team. Theres a stat that says that we have made a profit of £50m plus on players since we came into the Championship. I wince a little bit at that as it’s not all about selling players for the sake of selling players. But we apparently have a knack of selling when the player becomes overvalued. We cash in and buy a better player for a fraction of the money. So as much as I would LOVE for us to stick with a team and a squad for a period of time, it’s not going to happen. Because other teams have realised that we are successful in finding talent and do the olde vulture job.
So the question. Is promotion a possibility?
Ask that to Huddersfield a few seasons ago. Or Brighton even (although they had a big budget. People just don’t know it).
The answer is of course.
One of the keys to success is that the club is run properly from bottom to top. It’s taken a few years for Brentford to sort itself out. And pull together a management and coaching team who believes in the long term vision of the club willing to pull together in the right direction. We did great in that playoff year but unfortunately not everyone working at the club was pulling in the same direction so eventually it would have gone belly up.
The owner – Matthew Benham – is a very smart man. A Bees fan from when he was a kid. And he says “when” we get promoted and opposed to “if”.
So it will happen.
Sometime.
We have seen a vast difference between our club now and three or four years ago. Strength in depth. Players who want to play for the club. No nonsense politicking. That has all come about from experience of problems in the past.
No we haven’t got a huge budget. I think it is just over £10m a year. Compare that to the likes of Villa and Birmingham and Leeds and Boro and even West Brom, Swansea and Stoke, its chicken feed. It’s still a lot of money. But when it comes to competing, we have to ensure that we spend that money wisely. No QPR-style p!ssing it up the wall or Forest-style spending £13m on one player.
I’m actually proud that our record signing is £2.5m. We bought Ollie Watkins for £1.8m last year. Neal Maupay for about £1.5m i think. Erzi Konsa this summer for about £1.5m again and Said Benrahma for around the same. These players are all quality and will easily quadruple the price we paid for them in the next two years at least.
So now who’s laughing?
What tactical formation does Smith employ and what kind of football can we expect?
To be fair, we don’t (or can’t) flip to a more aggressive direct style of football as we haven’t got the players for it. We’re pretty much 4-3-3 or if you want to get more intricate 4-2-3-1. We play it out from the back most of the time (not always). We have developed the team over time so that every player is comfortable on the ball – even the centre backs.
We pass the ball a lot. Like a ridiculous amount. We get a stupid amount of chances. Last season Im pretty sure we had the most chances in the whole of the league. Ben from @Experimental361 – a renounced statistician – labelled Brentford ’energetically wasteful’ in one of his many colourful graphs describing how each team was performing meaning we created endless chances but delivered only a fraction of them.
So there will be a lot of passing.
Who are the Bees’ key players?
Cliché time. But we play as a team. Yes we have key players. But we have also realised when they come out of the Brentford ‘ecosystem’ many of them do not perform as well. Jota was brilliant for us because of what was around him. The players played to his strengths. And weaknesses. And don’t under-estimate the mental cotton-cuddling we would give him. He’s gone to Brum and the fans want to run him out of town.
Personally, I saw Benrahma play in a friendly against Watford and I said to Laney who co-runs Beesotted “Blimey … he’s quality”. And he is. It normally takes our foreign players 9 months to acclimatise to the UK. But he seems to be doing very well – talking the p!ss at every possible opportunity.
Have to give a mention to Chris Mepham who – alongside Erzi Konsa – forms our central defence with a joint age of 40 years. He’s got a lot of hype on him at the moment having gone from Brentford B-team to Wales team 1st-on-the-sheet within 12 months. He’s played less than 30 games for us but we’ve already turned down £10m plus bids from the Bournemouth for him. He’ll go for sure. Ryan Giggs loves him. And the club know that.
But if he does go – and we hope he doesn’t – we’ve got Julian Jeanviere waiting in the wings. He was Reimes player of the year for the past two seasons and apparently he’s meant to be mustard. He’s played two Carling Cup matches when we put out a second-string (well A minus) side and he scored two goals.
Will he play against Arsenal?
Now that is the question.
Ryan Woods – our midfield quarterback – left for Stoke a couple of weeks ago. He was great. We thought we would miss him. But to be fair, Josh McEachran – who we signed from Chelsea three years ago – and Lewis McLeod have stepped up to the plate. Most fans had written them off to be honest as they seemed to be permanently injured. And when they came back, they had one good game out of four which wasn’t good enough.
How much money do you estimate Mathew Benham has put into the club so far? Is he reaching the break-even target where outgoings are met by revenue? What is the news on a new ground?
Matt Benham has spent in excess of £100m. To me i would be cacking my pants if I had spent that type of money but he is a professional gambler (from a statistical background) and he is not phased in the least. After losing £10m to £15m each year, this last year the club pretty much got on an even keel – losing just under £1m if I remember rightly. The though is with the future transfer dealings, Brentford will operate on an even keel for the foreseeable future – meaning that Benham won’t be pumping large chunks into the club any more.
If (when) we get to the Premier League, he will get his £100m back. If we don’t I am of the understanding that he will write it off as a bad gamble (maybe not literally). That’s how confident he is of us being promoted sometime.
Lionel Road is our new stadium and it is in full flow. It’s 15 mins walk from the current ground right beside Kew Bridge Station. If you check the Brentford Drone you can see videos of it’s construction.
It’s not a huge ground. 17,250. But it looks impressive. The thought is – the club would rather it is smaller and compact and buzzing with atmosphere rather than scrabbling around trying to fill 30k fans every week in a morgue of a stadium. And fair play.
Up to 3000 away fans. Safe standing in both ends (assuming approval which I believe will happen by 2020). Loads of pubs in the immediate viscinity.
No it won’t be Griffin Park. But hopefully it will be buzzing.
Move date has been moved back to Summer 2020. Which is great. Means we have another two seasons at Griffin Park – Im very happy with that.
What is your prediction for Saturday’s game?
Since the World Cup, where I was really reserved with my predictions and enthusiasm – despite spending pretty much three weeks out in Russia – I have tried to reel back on the expectations. It’s hard seeing how classy the side are at times. However, I realise there are so many factors which determine how you get on in this league. One of them is luck. Another is injuries. And another is attitude.
In principal, I believe that we are not going to take Wigan for granted. Something that we may have done a few seasons ago. If so, I reckon we should win 3-1. Mainly because we are due a few goals after a fairly barren spell (compared to chances created) over the last few weeks since we trounced Rotherham 5-1.
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In late November, 2015, we saw a dull, scrappy game at the DW Stadium.
It offered little in the way of entertainment and seemed to be heading for a goalless draw until Abdenasser El Khayati scored for the visitors from a breakaway in the 74th minute. An ugly, but well organised Burton Albion side, who had looked like they had come for a draw, went on to inflict on Wigan their first league home defeat of the season.
Following a difficult start to the season, Latics had been on an unbeaten run of 11 matches, moving up to 4th place, Burton being just a point behind them in 5th. Burton’s victory helped them leapfrog over Latics and it was to be the case for four more months, with the Brewers looking like potential champions until Wigan overtook them late in the season.
Latics entertain Burton once again on Saturday, four points behind the Brewers in the Championship division. In the corresponding game last season Gary Caldwell was outmaneuvered by his opposite number, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. On a day when so many players were below par it was hard to come up with positives. Caldwell had clearly been preaching patience to his players, as they struggled to break down the Burton defence.
Sadly the patience was there, but the dynamism that was lacking.Yanic Wildschut was heavily marked. Michael Jacobs was ineffective on the right and Alex Revell, favoured ahead of Will Grigg, was a lonely figure up front. So can Caldwell get it right this time around?
Even though Hasselbaink left the Brewers for QPR last December, Nigel Clough was to gain promotion on his return to the club. Like his predecessor Clough is tactically astute and his Burton team will pose a challenge. He will have done his homework and will be ready to cancel out Wigan’s attacking players.
Following a home win against Wolves and a draw at Brentford after a dismal set of results, Caldwell will be keen to get a good result on Saturday.
Last season he played a modified 3-4-3, which Burton managed to stifle. Given the improvements in performances since aborting playing three at the back Caldwell can be expected to adopt a 4-3-3 formation.
However, the manager is never predictable. The return from injury of Reece Burke gives him the option of playing the talented West Ham loanee on the right of a back three, with Nathan Byrne in his natural position as right wing back. The alternative is to play Burke at right back, with Byrne as a winger.
Latics are certainly good enough to beat Burton, but a home win is by no means a foregone conclusion. The visitors will be a hard nut to crack. Caldwell’s approach to the game last year was cautious, but at the time Wigan had ground out previous results playing like that. It just did not work out against another team which played the same way.
But then again, can Latics surprise us and press Burton from the start, getting an early goal, setting up a comfortable victory?
This time a year ago Wigan Athletic sank to a 2-1 home defeat to Bury in the League Cup, just three days after losing their opening League 1 match at Coventry. They had been up 1-0 but their legs seemed to go two thirds of the way through the match and the Shakers took full advantage.
There was a suspicion of lack of fitness on Saturday too at Bristol, with Latics being sharp and positive in the first half, but abject in the second, unable to stem the flow of the home team’s attacks. Most supporters there put it down to Caldwell’s team being negative, trying to defend a 1-0 lead through a rearguard action. But were the majority of the players really prepared for 90 minutes of hard toil?
The League Cup tie at Oldham will give us more insight. Will the players who turn out be able to play full-on for 90 minutes? What kind of lineup and tactical formation will Gary Caldwell use?
The League Cup will surely be low in Caldwell’s priorities. But typically such occasions can provide opportunities for the fringe players. Tim Chow, Ryan Colclough, Donervon Daniels, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Michael Jacobs and Sam Morsy were on the bench at Bristol so we can expect them to start this evening. Jack Hendry will surely take a central defensive role, together with at least one of the three who started on Saturday. Jordan Flores can be expected to start too. Left back remains a problem position, given Reece James’ continued absence and Stephen Warnock’s pre-season injury, although he played at the weekend.
For the trip to the West Country, Caldwell could not call on Craig Davies, Emyr Huws, Reece James, Andy Kellett and Nick Powell because of injury. Should most of those continue to be unavailable will the manager give further opportunities to young talent developed within the club?
Caldwell deserves credit for giving the talented 18 year old full back, Luke Burke, his competitive match debut on Saturday. He could have played another senior squad player at wing back, even if it were not their best position. Burke responded by giving a fine display, showing remarkable composure when facing wave after wave of opposition attacks in the second half. Hats off to the manager for having faith in the player.
However, Caldwell missed the opportunity to give a young striker an opportunity on Saturday. Knowing that Will Grigg could not last the full game he put in Michael Jacobs, later replacing Yanic Wildschut with Ryan Colclough. Neither was effective. Both are wide players or creative midfielders who can be effective in the hole behind the centre forward. But strikers they are not.
Strikers are hot property and cost a lot. Rumour continues to suggest that Latics are willing to splash out money to sign Lee Gregory from Millwall. A very positive prospect. However, speculation persists regarding the 29 year old free agent, Ishmael Miller, who has a career goalscoring record akin to that of Marc Antoine Fortune. Caldwell could have used a big man like Miller on Saturday, someone to hold the ball up, to draw a foul, take pressure of his defence. But would a signing like that be better than giving home grown talent an opportunity?
The 18 year old James Barrigan is likely to be the next former youth team player to make his senior team debut, after being on the bench at Bristol. Development squad central striker Sam Cosgrove, 19, will probably make the squad tonight, although Nick Powell could be the starter assuming he has shaken off his groin injury. Development squad winger Danny O’Brien, 20, who has had loan spells at Chester and Wrexham could also make the squad.
Caldwell will look for a blend of youth and experience in his lineup tonight. Given his wont for shuffling between 3-5-2 and 4-3-3 it could be the latter formation, with Colclough, Powell and Barrigan the front three and Morsy, Chow and Flores in midfield.
Oldham were defeated 3-0 at Millwall at the weekend, but will be keen to renew their rivalry with Wigan. Latics v Latics is a Lancashire derby and we can expect some passion. Let’s hope Wigan Latics can not only play with commitment and pride, but do so for the full 90 minutes.
LOS THREE AMIGOS 