Category Archives: Match Reports

Southampton 0 Wigan Athletic 2: Mature Latics win tricky fixture

Posted by Ned in Match Reports, News, Other and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Saturday’s was a calm and measured performance in which, as time went on, the gulf in experience and class between the two sides appeared to widen.

Had Adam Lallana’s excellent long range strike not been expertly tipped onto the bar by Ali Al-Habsi in the first half, we might be telling a different story. As it was, Wigan limited Southampton to hopeful long range efforts or deep crosses in the first half, before pouncing early in the second and cruising from there on out.

Indeed there was a period of about 4-5 minutes in the second half as Latics pinged the ball around park when it was a like watching Spain — Southampton couldn’t get near them. Statistics will suggest Southampton had the better of the goal attempts, but each of Latics breakaways was incisive and dangerous, while the newly promoted side couldn’t find a way through. The first goal resulted from a cheeky Shaun Maloney flick, which Franco Di Santo raced onto and smashed into the roof of the net. The second was a little more controversial as new-boy Arouna Koné forcefully dispossessed a Southampton defender close to midfield before racing down the pitch to thump home.

The Good:

This performance — as did the final 80 minutes against Chelsea — mirrored the excellent form that kept us up last season. The passing, midfield pressing and levels of concentration were outstanding. The finishes from each striker were as emphatic as any in our Premier League days. New signings Koné and Ramis got another 90 minutes under their belts and performed well.

The Bad:

Not much, really. I felt Victor Moses was missed in the first half and would have been a useful outlet when the team was trying to weather the early storm. Some matches will require players with a bit of dribbling and pace, and the hope is that players like Albert Crusat, Ryo Miyaichi or Callum McManaman can fill that void. But overall we can safely say the squad is strong and full of options, and didn’t miss Vic in this particular fixture.

Player Ratings:

Ali Al-Habsi: 8 — Fantastic. Kept Wigan in it, and ahead, with some brilliant reflex saves. Wisely punched away long range efforts in rainy conditions.

Antolin Alcaraz: 7.5 — Very strong and assured performance from the Paraguayan. It was a pleasure to watch all three centre-backs stroking the ball around, their distribution was excellent.

Gary Caldwell: 7.5 — See Alcaraz.

Ivan Ramis: 7.5 — See Caldwell and Alcaraz. A much more assured showing after that difficult debut against Chelsea. Looked the part.

Maynor Figueroa: 7 — Didn’t get forward quite as much as we’d like, but didn’t let anyone down.

Emmerson Boyce: 7 — Typically solid, played a delicious chipped cross from a tight angle in the second half that the strikers weren’t ready for.

James McArthur: 7.5 — Made some fantastic tackles in the first half, and enjoyed possession in the second.

James McCarthy: 7.5 — See McArthur. Still hoping to see him appear in more advanced positions from time to time.

Shaun Maloney: 7.5 — Quiet in the first half when the team was on the back foot, but excellent in the second before being withdrawn. As usual, provided the creative spark that put us ahead.

Franco Di Santo: 7.5 — An odd and interesting day for the Argentine. Accustomed to leading the line as target man, he played a wider role for much of the match with Koné ahead. We saw a lot less of him holding the ball up, chasing down defenders, and instead saw him pop up out of nowhere to score a very well-taken goal.

Arouna Koné: 7 — Improved as the match went on. His first touch let him down a few times, but he combined very well with Jordi, before smashing home late in the game. A hugely promising signing.

Subs:

Jordi Gomez: 7.5 — Playing in-the-hole, he caused plenty of trouble in his half an hour on the pitch. A ferocious long range effort and fantastic through ball to Koné stand out.

Jean Beausejour: 7 — Nothing flash, but came on as a left winger and was neat in his play. Will be hoping to push his way back into the lineup, having proved his fitness.

Mauro Boselli: N/A — Only on the pitch for a couple minutes, but it was good to see him back. No doubt he will get a chance to shine against Forest on Tuesday.

Chelsea reaction: The good, the bad and the player ratings

Posted by Ned in Match Reports, News, Other and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Each week, after the dust has settled, we’ll be taking a look back on the latest Wigan Athletic result. This week, we examine the lessons from the 2-0 home loss to Chelsea. If you missed our match report, please check it out here.

The Good:

1. Momentum: Despite the wooden start, Latics played in very much the same flowing style and tactical shape as they ended last season. Even the most optimistic of us had felt there was a possibility the team would lose their momentum, or that Roberto might revert to his previously preferred 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 formation. Rustiness and fitness issues aside, the XI on the pitch looked no weaker than last season — while the seven on the bench looked stronger.

2. Maynor Figueroa, the wingback: While the signing of Ivan Ramis provides necessary cover and competition for the established back three, this match confirms it does the same at left wingback. Jean Beausejour remains untouchable when fit, a specialist in his position whose form swung Latics fortunes last season. But Maynor proved on Sunday that he is an excellent option, far more suited that the willing, but ill-suited Dave Jones, who filled the position before Beausejour’s arrival in January. His through ball for Franco Di Santo in the first half was particularly impressive — great vision.

3. Depth: Players like Ryo Miyaichi, Ronnie Stam and Callum McManaman weren’t even on the bench. Nouha Dicko was allowed to leave for a season-long loan at Blackpool. How far we’ve come in the last few years.

4. Statistics: While  we concede that Chelsea were 2-0 up for almost 90% of the match, Wigan were as good or better than them for most of the game. Latics enjoyed 7 corners to Chelsea’s 1, 15 goal attempts to Chelsea’s 6, and 52% possession of the ball.

The Bad:

1. Baptism of fire for Ivan: Having been turned a little too easily by Eden Hazard in midfield in the build-up to the first goal, the defender then lunged at the French attacker in the box, giving away a penalty minutes later. Rough start, but he improved as the match went on.

2. Injuries: Both Shaun Maloney and James McArthur had to be withdrawn with niggles. It has since been reported that they should be fit to play Southampton this weekend, but the McArthur back issue in particular has the potential to continue flaring up if he doesn’t get adequate rest and treatment.

3. Opportunity lost: With a better start, Latics might have gotten something out of this game. Chelsea were good on the break, but wouldn’t have been playing on the break quite as much if they hadn’t taken that early lead.

Player Ratings:

Ali Al-Habsi: 6 — Didn’t have much to do other than retrieve the ball from the back of his net.

Antolin Alcaraz: 6 — A little rusty in the first half but got better as the game went on, and even contributed the attacking effort in the second.

Gary Caldwell: 7 — Good display from the captain, steady in defense and strong in distribution.

Ivan Ramis: 5 — The early mistakes ultimately cost Latics the points, but there was much to like about his reaction to them. Should prove a good addition once settled.

Maynor Figueroa: 7 — Looked instantly comfortable in the left-wingback role.

Emmerson Boyce: 7 — Strong and steady when defending, delivered some quality crosses in the first half.

James McArthur: 6 — Did okay despite a bit of rust, before being withdrawn due to a recurrence of his back injury.

James McCarthy: 7.5 — Very strong in midfield, rarely gave the ball away, great range of passing. We only wish he would shoot more often.

Shaun Maloney: 7.5 — Excellent in the first half, creative, energetic and positive.

Victor Moses: 7 — Gave the Chelsea fullbacks a torrid time when he ran at them. A few poor crosses but a few excellent ones as well, plus a snapshot from an impossible angle that troubled Peter Cech in the first half. Hope he stays.

Franco Di Santo: 6 — Got into some good positions but headed narrowly over early on and took a heavy touch after being sent through by Figueroa late in the first half.

Subs:

Jordi Gomez: 6.5 — Latics did lose some of their positivity when Maloney went off, but Jordi was fairly involved, drew fouls for the team, and might have scored on several occasions.

Arouna Koné: 7 — His first few touches were nervy, but he kept the ball and his movement was hugely promising. He got on the end of two or three crosses and almost scored from each of them.

Ben Watson: 6 — A little rusty as many of his teammates, didn’t contribute an immense amount but didn’t let anyone down either.

Wigan Athletic 0 Chelsea 2: Fatal five minutes mask a promising display

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There was a time, not long ago, when conceding two goals in the first few minutes against a top six side almost guaranteed a hammering. Indeed, Chelsea have inflicted two such high-scoring morale wreckers in the last three years. Say what you will about the first five minutes in yesterday’s season opener, this team is lights years ahead of where it was, even a single year ago.

If you’d picked up the match seven minutes in (and ignored the scoreboard), you would have witnessed a pleasing first-half display of cultured possession football. Crosses were flying in from both sides of the pitch, Victor Moses was enjoying himself, the midfield looked comfortable, and but for a heavy first touch, Di Santo might have scored.

Unfortunately, as Roberto did in his post-match interviews, we must acknowledge those hapless opening exchanges. The match had barely gotten underway when Eden Hazard skilfully — but all too easily — turned Ivan Ramis near the midfield circle and found Branislav Ivanovic with a perfect through ball down the right wing. Chased by Figueroa, who was playing at left wing-back rather than his customary left centre-back position due to an injury to Jean Beausejour, the Chelsea fullback finished coolly past Al-Habsi to make it 1-0. Moments later, Chelsea’s marquee summer signing was causing panic once again, tempting Ramis into a lunge in the penalty box. Referee Mike Jones pointed to the spot and Frank Lampard rarely misses.

It was a tough start for the Spanish centre-back, who is not only adapting to a new country and culture, but a new tactical system with three centre-backs, and faster pace of play. All only a week or so after joining the club, and against the defending European Champions. Midfielders and strikers often get the benefit of being given 15-20 minutes at the end of the match to bed in, as new Ivorian striker Arouna Koné did later on. For Ramis, it was straight into the fire. But he improved as the game went on, and indeed cleared off the line brilliantly to deny Fernando Torres a second-half goal. Despite the mistakes — which were not characteristic of his game in Spain — he showed enough to suggest that once adapted, he will be a good addition.

Jean Beausejour missed his first match through injury since signing for the club in January. In his place, Maynor Figueroa performed well enough to suggest we now have cover, not only for the three centre-back positions, but for the wing-backs on both sides as well. Emmerson Boyce, down the right, was great and just seems to get better with age.

Much of Wigan’s momentum was lost when Shaun Maloney had to be withdrawn with a groin injury early in the second half. Roberto has since admitted both Maloney and MacArthur were taken off with little niggles as a precaution rather than due to serious injuries. Jordi Gomez, Maloney’s replacement, drew fouls and got himself in good positions, but ultimately failed with his finishing. Ben Watson, on for MacArthur, looked a little rusty but is a fine option from the bench. Neither of them filled the void left by Maloney, who along with Moses, has become our creative spark.

Things started to turn Chelsea’s way and a third goal looked likely. But some exciting end-to-end stuff produced Ramis’ aforementioned goal-line clearance and a surging Victor Moses run and cross down the other end. By then Arouna Koné had come on for his Wigan debut, and showed great promise with a trio of decent half-chances. He immediately appeared to have what Di Santo lacks — the movement and instincts necessary to know where to be when a cross comes into the box. Di Santo has just about everything else, but seldom gets on the end of crosses to head, poke, prod, or hammer home.

Wigan finished the match in the ascendancy and were quite unlucky not to emerge goalless. The usual questions will emerge about profligacy in front of goal, but Chelsea won the Champions League on the back of excellent defending (and a healthy slice of luck). They are not easy to break down.

All things considered, this was an encouraging performance. News outlets have of course focused on Hazard and Chelsea’s exciting new strikeforce, but Latics enjoyed more possession, created 15 goal attempts to Chelsea’s six, seven corners to the visitors’ one. The boys played in much the same way they ended last season — minus the defensive intensity in those first few minutes — and the news signings got a game under their belts.

Southampton promises to be a tricky fixture after their near-miss at the Etihad on Sunday. But if we play the way we did for 80 minutes, we’ll be in with a good chance to notch our first points of the season. Stay tuned for The Good, The Bad and Player Ratings, coming soon.

Blackburn Rovers 0 Wigan Athletic 1: Great escape sealed by Alcaraz

Posted by Ned in Match Reports, News, Other and tagged with , , , , , , ,

Wigan Athletic will be in the Premier League for an eighth straight year, crowning a truly unbelievable run of results with an away win at Ewood Park last Monday. A draw may well have been enough from the Latics perspective, but Antolin Alcaraz’s late headed winner was fair reward for another display of cultured, confident passing in difficult playing conditions, in a venue that had not been kind to the Latics in years past.

Anything but a win would have spelled the end for Blackburn, a club in free-fall, but they seemed to have accepted their fate from the outset. This is a club in crisis from top to bottom. Injured and demoralized players, furious fans, inept management and clueless owners — however dire our season may have looked two months ago when we were relegation certainties, it never approach that sort of madness.

And so the first half was all Wigan, with Franco Di Santo and Victor Moses both going very close and Ali Al-Habsi only called into action to catch a stray chicken. If the Blackburn support deserves credit for one thing this season, it is for smuggling that chicken past security.  They did find their voices in the second half, however, and were unlucky not to be celebrating a penalty when Emmerson Boyce tangled with Junior Hoilett in the box. Indeed, there was a nervy period in that second half when Blackburn pumped the crosses in from every angle and Wigan rode their luck, but the initiative was swiftly regained in the final quarter and victory was sealed, ironically, off a set play header.

But you knew most of this already. Lets take this moment to celebrate a truly unbelievable couple months for the club.

The Good:

A fantastic away performance. Dominant in the first half, resolute in the second, and fit enough to win it late on a very heavy pitch. A goal from a corner. The team has become stronger at both attacking and defending set plays. Of the starting XI, only Emmerson Boyce and Maynor Figueroa were not Roberto Martinez signings. He has slowly but surely built a team of his own at Wigan. Congratulations to him and his players, whose commitment and skill have earned the best results and highest-level of performance in the club’s history, after a very difficult season.

The Bad:

It is never fun to watch another team and set of supporters go down.

Player Ratings:

Ali Al-Habsi: 8 — Dealt well with the chicken, and made one or two important saves when the pressure was on in the second half.

Emmerson Boyce: 7 — Almost gave away a penalty but otherwise good.

Antolin Alcaraz: 9 — Outstanding performance, capped off with the winning goal. His absence for most of the first half of the season was a huge factor in the team’s poor form.

Gary Caldwell: 8.5 — Captain fantastic was honoured with the Fans Player of the Season award in midweek, and truly deserves it. Solid again.

Maynor Figueroa: 8.5 — Honoured by his fellow players as their player of the year, a tremendous achievement for a player who has enjoyed his best season in a Latics shirt.

Jean Beausejour: 8.5 — Caused Blackburn trouble with neat footwork down the left, and supplied the cross for the winning goal.

James McArthur: 8.5 — Gets better and better, his passing is thoroughly efficient and neat, but he also has an eye for a through-ball when he gets forward. Really looking forward to watching his continued growth next season.

James McCarthy: 8.5 — The only thing he is lacking from his game is a goal or five. Unfortunately, as soon as he starts producing those, someone will snap him up. The complete midfielder.

Shaun Maloney: 8.5 — Another bright display by the little magician.

Victor Moses: 8.5 — They couldn’t handle him, but his finishing was not the best this time around.

Franco Di Santo: 8.5 — Decent game with some great build-up play, but missed a great chance in the first few minutes of the game.

Subs:

Conor Sammon: N/A — Might have gotten on the end of a beautiful right-wing delivery, but otherwise didn’t see too much of the ball. A likeable player, but how much longer will he be given to prove himself. A striker will surely be signed this summer following Rodallega’s departure.

Fulham 2 Wigan Athletic 1: Tired Latics beaten at the death

Posted by Ned in Match Reports, News, Other and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Fresh from earning what were probably the two best results in the club’s history, Wigan Athletic this time succumbed to a late 2-1 defeat against bogey team Fulham.  Though organized and well drilled, Roberto’s men were visibly tired and lacked the verve of recent performances.

The loss would not have been quite so damaging had QPR, Blackburn and Bolton not all picked up points (3, 3 and 4 respectively) in their fixtures. The good news is that Aston Villa are now well and truly involved, sitting only two points above the Latics with three games to play.

The early calf injury to Franco Di Santo was a warning. Roberto had opted to keep the same XI that performed so well against Arsenal, prioritizing momentum over freshness. After all, how can you drop a player after their involvement in back-to-back wins over Man United and Arsenal? But it was clearly a match too many. Even James McArthur looked tired and was eventually substituted in the second half.

Still, Latics were hard to break down and managed to take a surprise lead through an Emmerson Boyce thunderbolt from the edge of the box, his first of the season. Within minutes it was level, however, when the impressive Pavel Pogrebnyak struck a venomous shot through three Wigan defenders into the bottom corner of the net. Strong Fulham pressure ended in two clear scoring chances bouncing off the post, before Boyce gave away a cheap free-kick, from which Philippe Senderos headed home in the last minute of regular time. With Victor Moses marked out of the game, Latics struggled to create anything of note going forward.

The Good:

Despite the result and performance, Latics were hard to beat and almost came away with a point against one of the in-form teams in the league.

The Bad:

Franco Di Santo’s injury was a shame, given his strong form of late. Conor Sammon is a likeable player, but doesn’t have his skill-level. Perhaps a chance for Hugo Rodallega to make a final, crucial contribution to the club that gave him his big chance?

Battle on:

QPR delivered another upset against Spurs, but are level on points with Latics and must play Chelsea and Man City away, and Stoke at home. Their giant-killing has come at home, and it really is hard to imagine them coming out of those matches with more than 4 points. That said, Chelsea are likely to be exhausted after 4 matches in 9 games, and playing most of that grueling Barcelona affair with ten men.

Blackburn won their absolutely-must-win fixture against Norwich, but also face two extremely difficult trips to Spurs and Chelsea. And of course, the home fixture against us.

Bolton unfortunately beat Aston Villa last night, which I admit I didn’t see coming however bad Villa have been. They, along with us, have the most favorable fixtures of the teams involved. Sunderland and Stoke away — neither easy, but both against mid-table teams with little to play for — West Brom and Spurs at home.

Aston Villa look very poor at the moment and have an interesting last three games: West Brom away, Spurs at home, and Norwich away. They could win any of them, but in current form could lose them all too. A wildcard in the fight, but we’re glad they’ve joined the fun.

Wigan – Newcastle is a mouth-watering affair. The Geordies have some magical players in top form — Cabaye, Ben Arfa and Cisse have been a joy to watch. Demba Ba and Cheik Tiote are not half bad either. They sit three points clear in fourth place and are chasing an unlikely Champions League berth. All to play for. I feel a draw would be a good result for Latics in this one. If Blackburn and QPR lose to their top tier opposition, the point should be enough to ease pressure on that away Blackburn fixture.

Wolves, of course, are down already. But they will be playing for pride, under no pressure, on the last day of the season.

Player Ratings:

Ali Al-Habsi: 6 — Not at fault for the goals but didn’t make many saves either.

Antolin Alcaraz: 7.5 — Solid.

Gary Caldwell: 7.5 — Solid.

Maynor Figueroa: 8 — Cool under pressure.

Emmerson Boyce: 7.5 — Scored a fantastic goal, but gave away a needless foul that led to the winning goal.

Jean Beausejour: 6 — Tired.

James McArthur: 7 — Struggled to own the midfield as he has done recently. Though he still got more touches than anyone else.

James McCarthy: 6 — A bit absent in this one.

Jordi Gomez: 7 — Got into decent positions but his finishing let him down. Substituted for Shaun Maloney.

Victor Moses: 6 — Kept very quiet in this game. The downside of his excellent performances against the big boys is that he will be singled out for special attention for these last three matches.

Franco Di Santo: 6 — Couldn’t get into the game, then went off injured.

Subs:

Conor Sammon: 8 — Lots of effort but no service.

Shaun Maloney: 7 — Neat when he got it, but couldn’t create anything of note.

Ben Watson: 6 — Brought on to reclaim the midfield, but it didn’t work.

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