Category Archives: Player profiles

Keeping your key asset

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Player profiles, Reflections and tagged with , , , , , , ,
Emyr Huws

Emyr Huws

With less than a week to go to the first training session of the new season the summer sell off at Wigan Athletic is starting to gather momentum. Scott Carson has already gone to Derby and it looks like James McClean is off to West Bromwich and Rob Kiernan to Rangers. The latest rumour is that James Perch will be joining McClean and Callum McManaman at West Bromwich.

The demand for ex-Premier League players like Carson, McClean and Perch was always going to be there. They were to be the three most likely to attract transfer income  for the club, as meanwhile it will ease its wage bill by some £20,000 per week or more for each of them. Keeping the three of them would have entailed using up around £3 m of an anticipated wage bill of £8- £10 m.

Behind them in the domestic transfer pecking order come Leon Barnett (29 years old), Don Cowie (32), Chris McCann (27) and Andrew Taylor (28) who have played in the Premier League, but are also experienced Championship division campaigners. Although their potential transfer values may not be high, the club will try to move on most of them, given their Championship-level salaries. Transfer fees will be waived as necessary.

The pairing of Andy Delort and Oriol Riera cost a total of around £5m in transfer fees last year. Sadly Delort was not able to regain his old goalscoring form after rejoining Tours on loan in January. He hit the back of the net only twice in fourteen starts. Reports from the French press suggest that there are Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs interested in him, but it is doubtful whether they would be willing to pay the kind of transfer fee that Latics paid last September. Reports from Spain suggest that Deportivo La Coruna would like to keep Riera, but are unwilling to match the kind of transfer figure that Latics would like.

Latics face a dilemma with the two players. Sell them off for maybe a combined transfer input of  £1m, signifying a £4m loss, or bring them back and have to use up 20% or more of the total wage bill for a squad of around 24 players, on their salaries alone. The option remains of a further loan period for each, relieving wage bill costs, but leaving the door open for the future.

However, media reports suggest that Latics are actively seeking strikers from other English clubs. It therefore looks like they will take the first option and sell the two players off at a significant loss.

All of the players mentioned so far are those for whom salaries are an issue for a club facing a change from a £30m wage bill to one of around a third of that within a year. However, there are also the cases of the younger players such as James Tavernier (23), Martyn Waghorn (25), Aaron Taylor-Sinclair (23), whose salaries will also have to be taken into account, together with the Malky Mackay signings Billy Mckay (26) and Jason Pearce (27), whom one assumes will be staying.

David Sharpe talked some time ago about needing up to fifteen new players. The implication is that the majority of the players signed prior to 2015 will be encouraged to move on.

However, if players are to move on they need a club not only interested in their services, but willing to get close to matching the salaries they have been receiving. In Grant Holt’s case the options seem slim. Ostracised by Uwe Rosler, Holt faded out of the Latics’ scene.  He was sent off on loan to Aston Villa and Huddersfield, where he received an anterior cruciate knee injury that kept him out of action for the second half of last season. Holt is 34 years old and with that ACL injury he is unlikely to attract the interest of clubs who can afford to pay a salary probably well in excess of £20,000 per week.

Critics will say that Owen Coyle should not have been allowed to offer a three year contract with a lucrative salary to a 32 year old. At the time it appeared to be not such a bad bet, getting a player with proven goalscoring pedigree for a relatively low transfer fee. Little did we know that just two years later the club would be in League 1 and the player’s salary would be like a millstone around their necks.

Injuries certainly affect the marketability of a footballer. Holt’s injury while playing on loan at Huddersfield will most likely prove to be the factor that will mean him staying at the club. At 34 and past his best, recovering from injury, but playing in a lower division can he be a key player? Can he win back the fan support that he lost before he was dispatched to Villa Park?  The likely scenario is that Gary Caldwell will have to find ways of motivating a player who has had a difficult time at the club, into being part of a successful set-up.

The injury to Holt did Latics no favours, but the ankle problem that prevented Emyr Huws playing in the second half of last season might well prove to be a blessing in disguise.  The 21 year old Huws was initially signed on loan from Manchester City, but Rosler signed him for a fee in excess of £2m last September. Not long after Huws injured his ankle while playing for Wales and suffered a series of niggles with it that prevented him reaching top form.

However, it was an incident in training in early February that caused Malky Mackay to report that “Emyr’s rolled his ankle badly, we’ve had it looked at and he’s going to need operating on. He’s going to be out for three or four months, and that’s a real disappointment. He came back in for a couple of games, he grabbed his chance and did really well, and it’s a real blow for us and him.”

Mackay clearly rated Huws and the young Welshman was one who avoided the huge January sell-off. Midfield was to prove a problematic area under Mackay and one can only speculate what might have happened had Huws been fit.

Because of his injury Huws might well avoid the cull that will happen in the coming weeks. Big clubs will bide their time and see if he can overcome his injury and realise his full potential. Moreover Caldwell might consider him a key player, well worth paying a salary above the League 1 norm.

Huws showed what a quality player he can be when on loan at Birmingham in 2013-14. He has shown flashes of his quality at Wigan, but niggling injury has held him back. However, he has all the attributes needed to become a top midfield player. He is combative in the tackle, has a cultured left foot, good dribbling skills and the technique to score spectacular goals from distance.

In League 1 Huws is capable of being the kind of imposing midfield player that Latics have lacked since the departures of the Jimmy Macs, McCarthy and McArthur. Moreover in shedding players who have played at higher levels there is a danger of a lack of class in the team. Huws can provide that.

Who knows how many of the players from Coyle and Rosler’s days will be at Wigan come August? So many will be shed because of economic necessity.

But Emyr Huws could prove to be the asset most worth keeping from that 2014 squad.

Only time will tell if Gary Caldwell thinks the same.

Boyce’s anguished departure signals the end of an era

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Player profiles and tagged with , , ,

 

Photo courtesy of Daily Mail.

Photo courtesy of Daily Mail

 

”I don’t think the history and tradition should ever be forgotten and it certainly should never be seen as a problem or an excuse for how we’re doing now. Showing that this club has enjoyed success in the past provides a target for everyone. But there is a generation of fans who are fed up with hearing about the European Cup victories from my time. I would really like this generation to share the times that the previous ones have done, as they did when they got a bit of glory in 2005.

It is a huge ask to get back to where we were in the Seventies and Eighties, but you always have to aim as high as you can, while at the same time being totally realistic. This club used to be so unified; everybody was pushing in the same direction. As long as I’m sitting here, there will be no divisions. Everybody will be treated with the utmost respect in the position they hold in the football club. “

So said Kenny Dalglish on his return to Liverpool in January 2011. The Scot is not known as one of the most eloquent men in football, but these words were powerful and struck a chord.

Twenty years from now will there be Wigan Athletic fans who are fed up of hearing about winning the FA Cup and the glories of wins over the elite clubs of English football? Will past successes provide a target or will they be a millstone around the club’s neck?

League 1 beckons Wigan after ten years away in the upper echelons. This time around it feels like a step into the unknown. The deconstruction of the playing staff that started in January will be completed over the coming weeks. The club has to cut its coat according to its cloth, from a £50 million salary bill in the Premier League in 2012-13 to one nearer £10 million in 2015-16.

Players come and they go. That is the nature of football. But Emmerson Boyce’s departure is much deeper than that. For me his presence on the field was always a reminder of the teams of the Martinez era, who achieved what was beyond our wildest dreams. Boyce and Wigan Athletic seemed to go hand in hand, the player and the club making constant, steady progress, jointly punching above their weight.

Boyce was signed by Paul Jewell from Crystal Palace in August 2006 as a replacement for right back, Pascal Chimbonda. He quickly established himself as a solid and reliable defender, playing either at right back or in the centre of defence. Boyce was to make 34 league starts in that 2006-07 season. However, Mario Melchiot was signed in the summer of 2007 and became the first choice right back, with Boyce being used primarily in the centre of defence. He made 25 league starts in that 2007-08 season. The following season saw him make 26 starts.

But it was the arrival of Roberto Martinez in the summer of 2009 that was to change Boyce’s career. Distribution had not been Boyce’s strong point, but under the influence of the Catalan, it started to improve.

Boyce was to experience true highs and lows during the four years with Martinez.

In September 2009, with Latics playing a new brand of football, Boyce lined up at centre back with Titus Bramble, in Wigan’s first ever league victory over Chelsea, a 3-1 win. A couple of months later that same central defensive partnership had a torrid time at Tottenham, resulting in a 9-1 defeat with Jermain Defoe scoring five goals. Gary Caldwell was to be signed in January, with Boyce losing a regular place in the lineup. However, Boyce did play in the last match of the season when Latics were thumped 8-0 by Chelsea. He had made 23 league appearances.

Boyce was back in the starting lineup in the 2010-11 season, but missed some 10 weeks due to injury. He went on to make 22 league appearances, including the final game of the season at Stoke when he made a goal line clearance in the first half before Hugo Rodallega’s header guaranteed safety from relegation.

Latics started the 2012-13 season badly and suffered seven consecutive losses in September and October. Following a 3-1 defeat by Wolves on November 6th, Martinez decided to change the system of play. For the next match with Blackburn he brought in a back line of three central defenders – Steve Gohouri, Gary Caldwell and Maynor Figueroa – with Ronnie Stam and David Jones as wing backs.

Gradually results started to improve as the players adapted to the new system. Boyce’s first game in the new system was as a wing back in a 3-1 defeat at QPR at the end of January. He moved into the back three for the next couple of matches, a 3-0 defeat at Tottenham and a 1-1 home draw with Everton. Martinez then opted for the safety of Boyce at wing back, rather than the defensively- suspect Ronnie Stam. Boyce was to get a better feel for the position, which was more physically challenging for him.

The tide was to turn in mid-March as the players started to play really well in the system. Shaun Maloney had established himself as a starter, with Boyce and the January arrival, Jean Beausejour, playing key roles as wing backs. Boyce’s form was a revelation. He had been transformed into a high quality wing back, defensively solid as always, but making long runs off the ball to make himself available to receive passes. But more than anything else it was the quality of his passing that caught the eye for me. Could this be the same player we saw in the Jewell era? He will be long remembered for his classy performances in the epic wins at home over Manchester United and away at Liverpool and Arsenal.

The following season was Latics’ last in the Premier League, but Boyce was to play a key role in helping lift the FA Cup. He had played at wing back in the 3-0 win at Everton and the 2-0 victory in the semi final against Millwall. But for the final he was drafted into the back three, together with Antolin Alcaraz and Paul Scharner. Being captain of a side that won the FA Cup is something he will never forget.

Boyce was clearly a late developer who had gained the self-confidence to play football in the Martinez style. The arrival of Owen Coyle meant a return to a flat back four, but Boyce did get opportunities to play in the wing back position on the occasions when Uwe Rosler chose to play with three central defenders. In the absence of Gary Caldwell through injury, Boyce had become the regular captain and an automatic choice in the team. He was to play a remarkable 50 matches in that 2013-14 season.

In August he had been back once again back at Wembley, leading his team out in the Community Shield against Manchester United. In September he led them out in the club’s first ever European competition match in Bruges. In early March he was to captain them to another famous FA Cup win over Manchester City, a 2-1 win in the sixth round at the Etihad Stadium. A month later he was back at Wembley for the 1-1 draw in the semi final against Arsenal. His season finished with two close encounters with QPR in the Championship playoffs.

Sadly Boyce could not maintain the same kind of form in the 2014-15 season that followed. He was not alone in that respect – it would not be an exaggeration to say that not one single player in the squad played to his potential. However, at times it looked like the years had caught up with him and at 35 he had lost some of his previously considerable pace. January saw a clear out of 13 players including his fellow cup final winners Roger Espinoza, Shaun Maloney, Callum McManaman and Ben Watson.

Just like with Liverpool an era of success had ended and the club was adjusting to a new reality. Dave Whelan had backed Uwe Rosler in the transfer market in a bid to get back to the Premier League, but it was to backfire with the German losing his job in November. Boyce was to work under his seventh manager in his ninth year at the club.

Malky Mackay was brought in by Whelan to get Latics back into the promotion race, but the reverse happened. Boyce no longer commanded a regular starting berth in the team and by the end of January, having seen the vestiges of the Martinez legacy depart, the writing was surely on the wall for him. The club was seriously downsizing just in case the unthinkable happened and Latics were to find themselves in League 1 next season. To not do so could jeopardise its financial future. Moreover so many players had not been playing to their potential, just not appearing to show the commitment on the field that fans expected. Sadly the downsizing left the squad short on quality and Mackay just could not turn things around.

After nine years Emmerson Boyce had become the epitome of what the club’s successful era was all about. In parallel he and the club had punched above their weight, competing on a field that was not level, against the elite of English football. His resilience and willingness to improve professionally made him a role model for his colleagues. Off the field he was a great ambassador for the club and his work with Street Soccer USA and Joseph’s Goal was notable.

As Wigan Athletic supporters we will all have our favourite and most memorable Boyce moments. I can remember being behind Mark Schwarzer’s goal at Fulham, with Latics fans singing ‘I’m a Believer’ at the tops of their voices, when he hit an absolute gem of a shot into the corner of the big keeper’s net. His block of what appeared to be a certain goal by Edin Dzeko in that sixth round cup win was unbelievable and will compete with any such incidents in world football. The post-match celebrations at Wembley and Boyce holding the FA Cup with Gary Caldwell beggared belief. But my favourite was when he carried Joseph Kendrick on to the pitch at Wembley. It was an unforgettable moment in a sport that can be as cynical as any.

As Kenny Dalglish said “…..you always have to aim as high as you can, while at the same time being totally realistic.”

This is what David Sharpe, Gary Caldwell and other senior managers at the club are currently dealing with. The club has to downsize to a wage bill around a third of what it was in that first season back in the Championship. Sharpe and Caldwell have provided a breath of fresh air to a club that was meandering with a lack of leadership and direction. They have a hard road ahead of them, but the support of the majority of the fans. The waters are going to be choppy over the next couple of months as things are reengineered.

There have been fans who have advocated finding a place for Emmerson Boyce, not only as a player, but also as a coach or an ambassador for the club. However, in the current economic climate that the club was facing, adding additional backroom or administrative staff was unlikely to happen. Sadly the club will most likely have to downsize its non-playing staff too, cutting back towards bare bones.

However, Dalglish had also pointed out that “This club used to be so unified; everybody was pushing in the same direction. As long as I’m sitting here, there will be no divisions. Everybody will be treated with the utmost respect in the position they hold in the football club.”

This is something that Sharpe, Caldwell and company will surely work on. Over the past couple of years too many players have been frozen out, with seemingly no future at the club, but still on the books. Others have come in and found it hard to settle and play to their potential.

There are so many supporters who are sad to see Emmerson Boyce not continue to be on the club’s playing staff. Some would say that he should have been offered a contract extension for another year on a salary commensurate with League 1 status. Others would opine that Boyce will be 36 in September, his best days behind him. Better to invest the more limited finances in younger players for the future.

Both views have credence. However, the way in which Boyce has been treated appears to reflect those broader human resource management issues within the club.

A pay-per-play arrangement is hardly ideal for a footballer coming up to 36 years of age, though the club can justify it given its changed economic situation. Boyce labelled the pay-as-you-play offer as “disappointing”, but went further by saying that the deal itself was “laughable”. His wife, Lucy, tweeted:

“A degree of respect would be expected #9Years Unlike the disregard. It came too late & when it did it was a youth equivalent.”

But even if the size of the deal was seemingly derisive for him, Boyce went on to say that “After nine years I would have preferred someone to have sat down and told me they weren’t offering me a deal. That’s the most disappointing thing as far as I’m concerned. “

Some fans were disappointed with Boyce in that he had talked with the media about how he felt about the contract offer. Moreover his wife was active on the subject on Twitter. Why would a player who has appeared such a role model behave in that way? Some even said that he was using the media to put pressure on the club to give him a better offer. After all what right did he have to complain after picking up £1 million-plus salaries from the club over the years?

Others sided with the player. There had to be something seriously wrong with the scale of the offer he received. Why was the club offering its most highly respected player and captain a deal on youth equivalent terms? What happened with the communication?

The anguished exit of Emmerson Boyce leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

However, life goes on at the club and fans will continue to support the youthful duo of Sharpe and Caldwell. They have a difficult job to do to turn things around, but they remain optimistic about the road ahead.

Let’s hope they can learn from past mistakes made by the club and make sure they do not recur.

 

A Delort and Riera partnership

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Player profiles and tagged with , , , , ,

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“They’ll all be in for the start of pre-season on June 25, and they’ll all be big players for us next season.”

David Sharpe’s announcement has provided a fresh boost for Wigan Athletic’s bid to regain their Championship slot.

The return of Andy Delort, Rob Kiernan, Oriol Riera and James Tavernier from loan spells is surely a declaration of intent from the young chairman. Moreover if the club is as active in the transfer market as media rumours suggest, the squad for the coming season is going to be as strong as any in League 1.

Bringing back the loanees has its financial implications, but Sharpe is clearly willing to stick his neck out in the bid for promotion. At a time when the club is at the point of jettisoning its higher earners, Sharpe is clearly gambling on Delort and Riera delivering the goods. Strikers are an expensive commodity on the transfer market and rather than splash big money out on a player from another club, Sharpe is using the players he already has. Moreover Grant Holt, Billy Mckay and Martyn Waghorn remain on the books.

So many players suffered in the depressive climate of the relegation season recently concluded. That included Kiernan and Tavernier. Neither could reach his previous levels of performance and they were shunted off on loan in the January transfer window by the hapless Malky Mackay.

Kiernan remains highly regarded by Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett following a series of good displays. After leaving Wigan in January he had to wait until February 21st to make his first start against Brighton, playing in midfield, but from then on became a regular in the centre of defence. Kiernan had been promoted to Wigan’s first team in the second half of the 2013-14 season by Uwe Rosler, for whom he had played on loan at Brentford the year before. He performed well, particularly when playing in a back line of three, showing good positional sense, skilful in his distribution.

Tavernier too suffered in that spell at Wigan. He had arrived with good credentials from Rotherham where he was a favourite of the fans. His ability to strike on goal and make crosses with pinpoint accuracy was already evident in the pre-season. Sadly he could not produce his true form in the seven games he started at Wigan. He just did not seem to have the pace or quickness of thought to play as a full back in an orthodox back four. However, being employed as a wing back, Tavernier was to make a lasting impression in Bristol City’s League 1 title winning team. His spectacular goal from 45 yards against Colchester might look a freak, but given Tavernier’s technique and ambitious approach, it could well have been intentional.

 

Riera was shipped back to Spain in January after a frustrating time at Wigan. He had taken time to adjust to the physicality of the Championship and was hardly helped by the lack of service from a dysfunctional midfield.  However, a well taken goal against Blackpool surely boosted his confidence and he looked more comfortable in the 4-0 win over Birmingham City that followed. But Riera was surprisingly left as an unused substitute on the bench in the next game at Birmingham, in favour of a newly arrived Andy Delort. Riera was never given a run of starts after that and his confidence dwindled.

It was therefore no surprise when he joined Deportivo La Coruna. Since his arrival at the Galician club he has been a regular starter at centre forward and has scored four goals. His last one, a 60th minute header at Malaga, salvaged an important point for a side fighting to avoid relegation from La Liga.

 

Delort too will look at his time at Wigan with regret. Thrust into a lone centre forward role he looked like a duck out of water. A player who had scored 24 goals the previous season in Ligue 2 looked sure to make his mark in the Championship, but Delort had been used to playing with a twin striker at Tours. Rosler was to stick by his formula of playing with one central striker, as did Mackay when he first arrived.  Delort was sent back to a Tours side that was struggling against relegation. He has not been able to reproduce his prolific goalscoring of the previous season. Delort has scored two goals in thirteen starts.

During the time that Delort and Riera spent at Wigan many fans had hoped to see them play in tandem as twin strikers. But it never happened. However, there is now a prospect of seeing that Latin partnership for Latics in League 1.

Given their unhappy stays at Wigan, neither player will be over keen to return. Moreover stories of members of Latics’ coaching staff writing the two of them off have become more and more credible. Tim Chow too had been written off, being told that he would not receive another contract, only for Caldwell to intervene and bring the young player back into the fold.

Given the united front shown by Sharpe and Caldwell up to this point, we can assume that the manager is supportive of the return of the four players. It looks like Caldwell’s preferred formation will be 3-5-2, which would suit them. Tavernier is a natural wing back with great attacking potential. Kiernan would slot into a back line of three capable of passing the ball out of defence. Moreover Delort and Riera could make a formidable partnership up front.

Much will depend on the ability of Caldwell, and the coaches, to bring the best out of the four players. Latics paid around £5.5million for Delort, Riera and Tavernier. A good season from them could help the club back into the Championship, in addition to increasing their values on the transfer market, which will have nosedived over the past eight months.

Wigan Athletic are keen to put the nightmare 2014-15 season behind them. The slate needs to be wiped clean for those who suffered the contagion that swept through the squad. It is a fresh start and the four players still have much to offer.

The controversial MAF

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Player profiles and tagged with , , , ,

Fortunemiss

“Marco is a quality player and we were very impressed by just how well he did for us last season. People say he didn’t have a fantastic scoring record. But look at the goals from midfield after he came in. The goals the other boys scored because the way he played was phenomenal. Marco had a great ethic about him in his training as well as his playing. He was a privilege to work with.”

So said Peter Grant when Marc-Antoine Fortune signed for Celtic in July 2009. Grant had moved to a coaching position at Celtic after a spell at West Bromwich Albion, where he had previously worked with the French Guianan.

Celtic had paid Nancy a fee of £3.8m for “MAF”, after he had impressed in a loan spell with West Bromwich in the second half of the 2008-09 season. MAF had become a fan favourite at the Hawthorns and after 18 appearances and 5 goals he was voted ‘’Player of the Season”.

Sadly times have changed for MAF. A mere mention of his name among Wigan Athletic supporters will cause controversy.

The player appears shot-shy, unwilling or unable to make the probing runs off the ball that are expected of a striker. But despite a record of 7 goals in 70 appearances (including 43 starts), MAF continues to figure prominently in Malky Mackay’s plans. It causes a considerable amount of consternation among the majority of fans. Put simply, how can a player with such a striking record regularly make the starting lineup?

However, MAF does have his supporters who will say that he is a real team player, with his strong hold-up play and willingness to chase. Moreover on occasions when he has been substituted during the course of a game, Latics’ play has got worse, not better. The team so often seems to play better when he is on the pitch.

At 33 and nearing the end of his contract, will there be a possibility of him staying at Wigan? He has never been a prolific goalscorer, but there have been spells at clubs where his record has been well within the acceptable range. Is he at the end of his career now or can he still show that he can score goals more often?

That move to Celtic had been potentially the high point of MAF’s career, but despite scoring 10 goals in 32 appearances for the Glasgow club, he could not live up to his price tag and new manager Neil Lennon shipped him off to West Bromwich a year later.

MAF was not able to relieve his previous highs in his second spell with the midlands club, but nevertheless stayed with them for three more years. He was to score 10 goals in 62 appearances.

When Owen Coyle took over as Wigan Athletic manager in the summer of 2013 he had a major rebuilding job to do with a squad that had been decimated following relegation from the Premier League. Coyle had been given a year to get the club back into the Premier League. His recruitment plan was to largely focus on seeking experienced professionals who had played in the Premier League.

In his signing of Grant Holt and MAF it looked like he had found a good blend of strikers. Holt was the bustling, goalscoring centre forward, with MAF the foil, through his unselfish and hardworking support. Sadly the partnership never really got together , with Holt dispatched off on loan in January.

Their lack of success had drawn criticism from many fans of Coyle’s signing of two 32 year olds on long term contracts. With the departure of Holt on loan the focus fell more and more on MAF. Under Coyle he had made 19 appearances, which included only 8 starts. His solitary goal had come ironically from a superb crossfield pass from Grant Holt at Yeovil. However, he was to find favour with new manager Uwe Rosler under whom he made 15 starts and 15 appearances off the bench, scoring 4 goals.

When Oriol Riera and Andy Delort were signed early on in the current season, and with Martyn Waghorn’s proven goalscoring record, it had looked like MAF would fall well down the pecking order. But he has come bouncing back. Riera and Delort are gone, Waghorn is marginalised and new signing Billy Mckay finds himself warming the bench. MAF has weathered the storm, working under three managers at Wigan, all of whom have shown faith in his abilities.

So far this season MAF has made 22 starts, with 5 appearances off the bench. He has scored 2 goals and made no assists. The last time he scored a goal at the DW Stadium was in February 2014.

Despite the value MAF might add through his hold-up play and commitment can Malky Mackay continue to justify his inclusion in a team desperately short on goals?

Has Mackay considered playing MAF wide on the right, where he can play an effective role but not labour under the burden of scoring goals?

The controversy appears set to linger on until the end of a bitterly disappointing season.

 

 

Sinclair to face Watford

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Player profiles and tagged with , , ,
Jerome Sinclair. Photo courtesy of Daily Telegraph.

Jerome Sinclair. Photo courtesy of Daily Telegraph.

The rumours have been circulating for days and must have been unsettling for at least a couple of members of the Wigan Athletic squad. With just nine games left in the season, Jerome Sinclair has signed for Wigan Athletic.

Sinclair is an 18 year old forward who has made one appearance in the Liverpool first team. That was in September 2012 when he came on as a substitute in a League Cup tie at West Bromwich, where coincidentally he had learned his early football under their youth academy. He was just 16 years and 6 days old at the time and holds the record of being Liverpool’s youngest-ever player.

Sinclair missed much of last season through injury, but has scored 24 goals at youth and under 21 levels this season.

Although Sinclair is highly rated at Liverpool, many Latics fans are already questioning the acquisition of such a young and inexperienced player so close to the end of the season, giving him little time to settle in with his teammates and the style of play.

Mackay had publicly stated that he was looking at the loan market for a player who could get on the end of those loose balls in the opposition penalty box. He clearly believes that the 18 year old might be that person.

In the meantime both Billy Mckay and Martyn Waghorn will surely be thinking their days at Wigan are numbered. McKay was only signed at the end of January, but has since not made a single start. Last week a seemingly crazy rumour was flying around about Waghorn going on loan to another club. Given the current developments it now remains within the realms of possibility.

Following James McClean’s tenth yellow card on Saturday he will be unavailable for the Watford game tomorrow night. Fans will have their fingers crossed that Leon Clarke will be back from injury to lead the line. The big striker adds physicality to the attack that will be needed against a strong Watford side, currently in second place.

Should Clarke not be available it is possible that Sinclair will start, assuming the paperwork of his loan move is completed in time. It is reported that he has been training with the Wigan squad today.

There remains a possibility that either Mckay or Waghorn may be involved. But Mackay has already thrown the 17 year old Liverpool winger Sheyi Ojo into his starting lineups. Is he going to repeat it with Sinclair?

Interestingly enough at 5 ft 8 in Sinclair is of a similar height as Mckay and Waghorn. Let’s hope that if he does come on at some stage in the match, the ball does not continually fly over his head as the defenders hoof the ball forwards, as has happened so often to Latics strikers this season.

Bringing in Sinclair at this stage of the season can be considered either a bold move or smacking of desperation.

Check Mackay’s comments on Sinclair by clicking here.

Maybe Mackay will have the last laugh if the young man helps Latics avoid relegation.