Category Archives: Other

YEOVIL PREVIEW – will the tide turn?

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Match Previews, Other and tagged with , , , ,
Yeovil's Huish Park ground.

Yeovil’s Huish Park ground.

You can say what you like about Owen Coyle and his ‘Bolton-style football’, but you can’t deny that he is building a team that is growing match-by-match into a highly competitive outfit.

They are physically and mentally determined and have the ability to grind out results . It is not pretty, but if it gets the results Latics need to get back up into the Premier League then few supporters will complain.

Last year Latics conceded fifteen headed goals – more than any other in the Premier League. But that will not happen this year with big central defenders like Leon Barnett, Thomas Rogne and Ryan Shotton around.

Moreover the trio pose a danger in the opposition penalty box – Barnett has already scored three, Shotton also has one too and Rogne has been unlucky to be denied by the woodwork. Add to them good headers of the ball like Emmerson Boyce, Grant Holt and Chris McCann and you can see why Latics are dangerous from set pieces.

Wigan Athletic  have never played Yeovil before and now is a good time to play them as they are bottom of the Championship table. What better chance for Latics to pick up three points?

Coyle will rotate his squad following the defeat at Kazan. Thankfully Emmerson Boyce will return at right back. His passing skills were missed in Russia where Ryan Shotton had a miserable 57% pass completion rate. Shotton is much better at centre back and he will compete with Thomas Rogne for a place in today’s lineup.

James Perch will move back into the back four, where he has provided defensive stability in the problematic  left back position. Midfield is not his best position. Coyle will have another difficult decision in who to play in midfield. Roger Espinoza was the ‘Man of the Match’ in Kazan and deserves another outing. He will have to compete with James McArthur, Chris McCann and Ben Watson for a place.

Up front Coyle might well choose the more mobile Marc-Antoine Fortune to start, with Grant Holt coming on later as an impact player.

This being an away  match that is very ‘winnable’ he could well go for two wingers, rather than use Jordi Gomez on the right. Marc Albrighton is on loan for 28 days and Coyle will need to give him ample opportunity soon if he is to assess the young Brummie with a  view to permanent signing. Albrighton could line up on the right, with Callum McManaman on the left.

Latics have so far been unlucky with shots and headers hitting the woodwork on too many occasions.

The tide is due to turn some time. It could well happen today.

Like us on Facebook, or follow us on twitter here.

Rubin Kazan 1 Wigan Athletic 0 – route one Latics go down

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Match Reports, Other and tagged with , , , ,
Central Stadium, Kazan

The Central Stadium with the impressive Kazan Kremlin as its backdrop.

Some 150 Latics supporters made the long and expensive journey to Kazan. They deserved something better than this.

There have been worse performances by Latics in recent years and a 1-0 loss away to a team with a strong European pedigree does not look so bad. But it was so depressing to see Wigan Athletic playing a brand of football that has been the hallmark of teams like Bolton and Stoke.

Young Lee Nicholls continued in goal in place of the injured Scott Carson. Coyle brought back Thomas Rogne at centre back, with Ryan Shotton moving over to right back in place of Emmerson Boyce. Stephen Crainey came in at left back for James Perch, who moved in to midfield. At long last Roger Espinoza was given a start lining up, with captain for the night, James McArthur, to complete a central midfield trio. Callum McManaman and James McClean played wide, with Grant Holt being recalled at centre forward.

Latics started cautiously, with hopeful balls forward their only weapon. It looked like they were looking for a goalless draw. However, after 22 minutes that possibility evaporated.

In one of the few quality moves in the whole match Rubin’s Israeli midfield player Bibras Natkho put a lovely pass over Stephen Crainey’s head. Full back Oleg Kuzmin raced through and put in a powerful shot that went straight through rookie keeper Lee Nicholls and into the net.

Apart from putting the big men up for set pieces Latics posed little threat. The only quality move of note was when Espinoza put in a superb long cross from the left wing. Holt rose well but was not able to keep the header down and it went over the crossbar. The rest of Latics football in the first half was forgettable, with Rubin not much better.

Wigan came out in the second half with more resolve and started to take the game to Rubin. The approach was ‘Route One’. It looked like we were watching Sam Allardyce’s Bolton, but then were echoes of Stoke as Shotton put a series of long throw-ins into the penalty box.

Using this method Latics were able to put pressure on the home defence, without creating clear-cut chances. Coyle took off the hapless Perch after 60 minutes and Nick Powell came on. The youngster soon went on a mazy run before unleashing a good shot from 30 yards that went just wide. For the remaining 30 minutes the talented teenager was to see the ball go over his head most of the time.

Coyle brought on Marc Antoine Fortune for the cumbersome Holt after 71 minutes, then Jordi Gomez for McManaman three minutes later.  Soon after another superb cross from Espinoza was met by Rogne, whose header hit the crossbar.

In the end an out of form Rubin team gained a victory that practically puts them through to the knockout stages.

The Good

Latics played with spirit and commitment.

Roger Espinoza made a successful return, his energy and work rate being second to none. Moreover he provided moments of quality together with his incisive running.  The crosses he put in for Holt and Rogne were inch perfect.

The Bad

Once again Coyle showed a lack of tactical awareness.

He sent out a cautious lineup with three holding midfielders. For the second time this season Coyle put James Perch into a midfield role. He must have realized his mistake when he took Perch off on the hour. I might run the risk of repeating myself, but Coyle has an abundance of quality midfield players at his disposal. To put someone as technically limited as Perch in that position is hard to understand.

Holt was not the right man to start at centre forward in this match. He looked slow and out of touch. The more mobile Fortune would have been a better choice, but maybe Coyle had Sunday’s game at Yeovil on his mind. The French Guyanan is not particularly effective at jumping for the high balls which were the mode of operation for Latics in the second half.

The wide players, McManaman and McClean, were not able to get into the game. On the few occasions McManaman did run at the defence he was fouled. Latics wide play is just not getting the results it should.  Without Boyce on the right of defence McManaman was starved of decent passes. The Route One approach did not help in this game.

It seems to be ingrained in this Latics team that the long ball is the tactic in the second half. The quality players in midfield and on the wings become marginalized as defenders hoof the ball forward.

The back four in this match were all Coyle signings.They were either incapable or unwilling to play the ball out of defence in the way that the likes of Caldwell, Scharner and Alcaraz would. Or were they putting through those hopeful long passes under the manager’s instructions?

Player Ratings

Lee Nicholls: 5 – a tough European baptism for the young keeper.

Ryan Shotton: 5 – defensively solid, but his distribution was awful.

Thomas Rogne: 6 – solid in defence and unlucky to hit the woodwork yet again. Needs to work on his passing.

Leon Barnett: 6 – solid in defence, but poor in distribution.

Stephen Crainey: 5 – just does not look the part although used the ball more effectively than on previous occasions.

James Perch: 4 – poor. Taken off after 60 minutes.

James McArthur: 5 – could not put his stamp on the game.

Roger Espinoza: 7 – made some errors in his passing, but his energy and creativity were a real asset.

Callum McManaman: 5 – systematically fouled and heavily marked. Came off after 74 minutes.

Grant Holt: 4 – out of touch. Taken off after 71 minutes.

James McClean: 5 – the fingers pointed at him for not marking his full back when Rubin scored. An enigma – full of promise but does not deliver.

Substitutes

Nick Powell: – did what he could, but the style of play did not suit him. What a player he might have been had he come to Wigan a year earlier!

Jordi Gomez: – hardly saw the ball.

Marc Antoine Fortune: – heavily marked except on one occasion when he shot into the side netting with unmarked players waiting for the ball in the box.

Like us on Facebook, or follow us on twitter here.

A good time to play Rubin

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Match Previews, Other and tagged with , , ,

Europatable

Wigan Athletic travel to the most easterly club remaining in the Europa League on Thursday to play Rubin Kazan.  What are the chances of a good result for Latics?

Latics’ 1-1 draw with the Russian team ten days ago at the DW Stadium was well-earned and keeps them in with a more than even chance of qualifying from the group. Moreover it halted a nine game winning streak by Rubin in Europe.

Rubin are a formidable side at home in Kazan in European competition. They have not lost there for 22 matches, winning 13 and drawing 9. They have not conceded a goal in their last 7 European matches at their Centralniy Stadium.

For climatic reasons Rubin have had some of their previous European ties moved to Moscow, where they have understandably been less successful. However, this match will be played in Kazan, with a 9 pm kick-off (5 pm UK time).

Latics will count themselves fortunate in that they are going to arrive in Tatarstan a couple of weeks before the night temperatures drop below zero. The weather forecast for Kazan on Thursday indicates a daytime high of 11 °C, dropping down to 7°C at night.

Despite their formidable record in Europe, Rubin have only won one out of their last five matches in the Russian Premier League. Prior to coming to Wigan they lost 2-1 away at Volga Nizhny Novgorod. After drawing at the DW Stadium they lost 2-1 at home to second placed Lokomotiv Moscow, with ex-Tottenham player Roman Pavlyuchenko getting the Muscovites’ first goal.

Last Wednesday they made the 3,600 mile trip to Vladivostok, where they were knocked out of the domestic cup competition, losing 4-2 to the home side Luch. On Saturday they drew 0-0 at Rostov-Na-Donu. Rostov is on the Don River a mere 700 miles south west of Kazan. The result puts Rubin in 9th place, level on points with Rostov, but with a superior goal difference.

The timing of the match looks good for Wigan, despite the continued absence of key players through injury. When I wrote my initial posting about Rubin Kazan in early September they were unbeaten and in seventh place, within striking distance of the leaders Zenit St Petersburg. Since then Rubin’s league form has not been so impressive.

Although they are not scoring a lot of goals in the domestic league, Rubin are the most prolific scorers in the  Europa League Group Stage with ten goals. Although Latics have scored only four up to this point other statistics for the two teams make interesting reading.

Both teams have committed 43 fouls in their three games so far, but Rubin have suffered 36 and Latics 49. Rubin have completed 829 out of 998 passes attempted, Latics 716 out of 852. Rubin have had 16 goal attempts on target, compared with 14 for Latics. The Russian team has had 7 yellow cards, Latics 5.

Although Rubin’s form in Europe has been impressive, poor results in the Russian Premier League indicate they are not playing at their best.

Wigan Athletic will be hoping that Rubin’s recent run of poor form will continue – at least for one more game.

Like us on Facebook, or follow us on twitter here.

Albrighton ready for crunch match with QPR

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Match Previews, Other and tagged with , ,

Albrighton

Marc Albrighton could be thrust into the crunch match with Queens Park Rangers at the DW Stadium tonight.

The 23 year old has been  signed from Aston Villa on what must be one of the shortest of loan periods –  reported to be just 28 days. However, the winger  has had injury problems and has fallen out of favour with Paul Lambert. If he can prove his fitness and fulfill his potential he might well become a player that Latics want to keep.  The possibility remains open for a permanent deal when the transfer window opens up again in January.

The QPR match is the acid test for Owen Coyle’s Wigan Athletic revolution. Failure to win will be viewed as a failure by most fans who feel that Latics need to build more momentum for a promotion challenge. They face an expensively assembled QPR team that is currently on track in 3rd place, with only one defeat so far.

At this point Latics stand in 14th place with a record of won 4, drawn 3 and lost 4 matches. The games they have lost have all been away from home to teams above them in the table – Leicester (in 2nd place), Blackpool (4th), Watford (7th) and Bournemouth (11th).

Up to this point Latics are unbeaten at home, a considerable improvement given the terrible record they have had at the DW Stadium, albeit against much stronger opposition over recent years. However, Coyle will be keen to make the DW a fortress for visiting teams to scale as the promotion battle unfolds.

Given the indifferent form of Latics’ wide players it could be that Albrighton will find himself in the starting lineup. Coyle has already shown he is not afraid to throw in new players at the first instance, after doing the same with Leon Barnett and Nick Powell earlier in the season.

It will be interesting to see how Coyle deals with the squad rotation for this game. On Sunday, Ben Watson looked tired, but was withdrawn only after 72 minutes. The man best known for his famous header has been a key component of Coyle’s lineups in recent weeks.

Roger Espinoza came on and looked useful at Charlton and it could be that he will see more playing time tonight, but one doubts  that he will make the starting lineup ahead of Watson. Moreover Jordi Gomez is higher up in the pecking order and is due for a return.

Leon Barnett is the outfield player who has played most matches this season, only missing the game at Zulte Waregem. If Coyle is willing to risk resting Barnett he will have the option of bringing in Ryan Shotton to partner Thomas Rogne in the centre of defence, although the big Stoke man might come in at full back for Emmerson Boyce. Another option would be to move James Perch across and bring in Stephen Crainey at left back.

The risk with too much rotation in defence is that in a radically new formation the players are not going to have that mutual understanding built up through regularly playing together.

Up front Coyle has to decide whether he wants to play with twin strikers – any two of Marc-Antoine Fortune, Grant Holt and Nick Powell – or play with two wingers.  Latics actually  played with two strikers and two wingers – an old fashioned 4-2-4 system –  for a period in the defeat at Blackpool.  Coyle is unlikely to risk it against a midfield as strong as that of QPR . His other option would be to play Powell in what is his best role, in attacking midfield behind the central striker.

Latics will want to narrow the 12 point gap between themselves and QPR.  Although they look good on paper the visitors are by no means invincible.

If  for once Latics take their chances and the ball does not keep crashing against the woodwork  there is no reason why they should not come away with three points tonight.

Whether they can do that will depend largely on Coyle’s tactics and how he rotates his squad.

Like us on Facebook, or follow us on twitter here.

Wigan Athletic 1 Rubin Kazan 1 – a point gained

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Match Reports, Other and tagged with , ,

Fortunemiss

Wigan Athletic were denied a memorable victory against a strong Rubin Kazan side in the dying seconds of the match.  Marc-Antoine Fortune’s close range shot had ‘goal’ written all over it but Russian goalkeeper Sergei Ryzhikov made an outstanding save to keep the scores level.

Rubin would have counted themselves unlucky had Fortune’s shot gone in as they were the more accomplished side, with players of superior technical ability. It was through sheer determination that Latics managed to claw their way back into the game and almost win it at the end.

Owen Coyle left regular league starters Thomas Rogne, James Perch and James McArthur on the bench, bringing in Ryan Shotton, Stephen Crainey and Chris McCann. Jordi Gomez was pushed into a right sided midfield forward role, with Jean Beausejour on the left. Grant Holt and Nick Powell played as a striking duo.

The opening minutes saw Latics controlling midfield but creating little danger. They received a wake-up call after 15 minutes when Alexander Prudnikov evaded Leon Barnett’s attempt to play him offside and slotted the ball past Scott Carson with aplomb.

The goal knocked the stuffing out of Wigan and the crowd were getting frustrated and were on their backs. Prudnikov seemed to have the freedom of the park at times, roaming around without anyone picking him up. However, a flowing move from Latics saw Holt square the ball across the box but Gomez fired high and wide from a great opportunity.

The equaliser in the 39th minute when Ben Watson’s backheel gave Powell the chance to rifle in a fine opportunist low shot from the edge of the penalty area. The goal lifted Latics and they began to more than hold their own through a mixture of skill and resilience.

The second half saw neither side dominant as Wigan started to adopt a more direct approach the their play. Ryan Shotton was fortunate to receive only a yellow card in the 49th minute after a scything tackle on the edge of the box.

Holt was replaced by Fortune who did well to get past three defenders but could not get enough power behind his shot after 70 minutes. A couple of minutes before Latics had breathed a sigh of relief as Roman Eremenko’s sliding shot was blocked on its way to the net.

James McClean had replaced Beausejour after 68 minutes, but the pattern of the game continued. Callum McManaman replaced Gomez in the 75th minute and had a near post shot blocked near the end.

Latics continued their aerial bombardment, but Rubin’s big Spanish defenders, Ivan Marcano and the 6’4″  Cesar Navas who was brought on after 67 minutes, were able to repel most of the long balls.

In the end it was a point well won by Latics, against the team that will surely win the group.

Maribor’s shock 3-1 victory against Zulte Waregem in Belgium has opened up the group and Latics will need at least one  good result in the  games in Russia and Slovenia and at home to Zulte Waregem to continue to hol second place.

The Good

Latics could not be faulted for effort. The midfield holding players – Watson and McCann – put in a hard shift, helping to protect their defence, building up attacks.

This Latics side does not give up easily and they still stand a good chance of qualifying for the next round.

The Bad

Once more we had a tactical change from Coyle. This time the wide players were more withdrawn towards midfield and Powell was paired with Holt as a central striker, albeit playing a little deeper.

Powell is best employed running at the defence from midfield, in the kind of role Shaun Maloney used to play. He is not suited to the long ball game that Latics played too often in the second half. Given Maloney’s absence, possibly for the rest of the season, Powell is going to be a key player at such a young age.

Once again we saw Coyle put Gomez in a midfield attacking role on the right. The Spaniard had a nightmare game, slowing down attacks and passing the ball backwards far too often. His lack of defensive cover on the right hand side, put Emmerson Boyce under pressure, especially in the second half when Rubin brought on the speedy Ghanaian Mubarak Wakaso on the left wing.

Playing Gomez in that position is not doing him any favours. He can play a useful role in the centre of midfield, either in a holding role or playing in the hole behind the central striker.

Once again Latics adopted a long ball game in the latter part of the match. One hopes that Coyle can develop another ‘Plan B’ as the season continues. At times it looked like we were watching a Bolton game.

Player Ratings

Scott Carson: 6 – only had a couple of saves to make.

Emmerson Boyce: 6 – once again played with great heart. His pace is not what it was and he was troubled by Wakaso in the second half.

Leon Barnett: 6 – together with Ryan Shotton he forms a physically intimidating centre of defence. However, at times he looked disorientated with the movement of opposition forwards and midfield players.

Ryan Shotton: 6 – ditto

Stephen Crainey: 6 – made a cautious, steady return. Looked solid enough in defence and is clearly working on improving his distribution.

Chris McCann: 8 – an excellent performance from the cultured Irishman. Provided good cover for hs defence and put in some nice passes with his educated left foot.

Ben Watson: 7.5 – was involved in Wigan’s two best moves of the first half and worked very hard to hold Rubin back. His set piece deliveries were not up to his usual high standard.

Jordi Gomez: 3 – poor.

Nick Powell: 7 – took his goal really well. A quality player who needs the ball to his feet, rather  than in the air.

Grant Holt: 5 – looked clumsy and short of pace. Not long back from injury he probably needs more time to get in top shape.

Jean Beausejour: 5 – starved of possession and could not get in the game.

Substitutes

Marc-Antoine Fortune: – looked more mobile than Holt, but was too often outnumbered by opposition defenders. A pity his last gasp effort did not go in.

Callum McManaman: – showed a little more than in recent games when coming on for the last 15 minutes. Let’s hope he can rekindle last season’s form over the coming weeks.

James McClean: – worked hard and put in a good defensive stint.

Like us on Facebook, or follow us on twitter here.