Category Archives: Reflections

On probation: Latics quarter-season report card

Posted by Ned in News, Other, Reflections and tagged with , , , , , , ,

Technically, we’re one and a half matches late for a quarter-season analysis. Like most Latics supporters, I tend to need a few days to recover from the latest loss. Fulham and Wolves took a bit longer than usual. But along came the international break, allowing me the space and time to cycle through all five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance — and a new one, faith-based optimism. Warning: this final stage may set you up for another round of the previous. But what if it doesn’t?

I’ll stop short of predicting a turning point in our season this Saturday against Blackburn, as I’ve made that mistake before. But it certainly seems an appropriate time to look back at our disastrous start and assess the individuals involved in it. First, we’ve averaged each player’s match performance ratings this season (which are admittedly subjective and only based on those given by Los Three Amigos writers, but serve as an interesting starting point for discussion). There are some surprises in there, but all interesting and insightful. For instance, defying all emotion, the struggling Gary Caldwell scores the same as reliable Emmerson Boyce. But while Emmerson has been steady and Gary Caldwell poor of late, it was the latter that scored highest (8) points in matches against Swansea and Newcastle. We try to make sense of it all below:

Player Ratings

Ali Al-Habsi: 7.1 — With Moses, our best regular performer. His score would have been higher but for the costly mistake against Norwich on day one, which cost the team 2 points, and probably cost Ali at least 0.2 in this assessment.

Emmerson Boyce: 6.2 — Our most consistent defender, the only one we seem to be able to rely on. He’s one of the few players who seems to be improving as the season goes along. Had a tough day at Villa but otherwise 6s and 7s.

Gary Caldwell: 6.2 — On the whole has looked slow and past it. But he had a couple cracking games, versus Swansea and Newcastle away, defending well and displaying the qualities you look for in a captain. A lot of fans have made him something of a scapegoat, but Roberto has asked a lot of him. So far, he’s had Lopez, Gohouri, Boyce, Alcaraz and Figueroa partner him — five players in 11 matches. The central defensive partnership is the most important on the field and has been completely disrupted. It is telling that his best performances came with Alcaraz/Boyce at Swansea, and then Alcaraz at Newcastle.

Antolin Alcaraz: 6 — Missed the opening part of the season to injury and will miss the next three matches for spitting at an opponent. Started poorly against Bolton, looked good in a couple, then brought shame on himself and the club with the spitting incident at Molineaux. A shame, since he’s the club’s best centre back.

Maynor Figueroa: 6.2 — Was given a few generous ratings when filling in at centre back. Has looked low on confidence recently, his attacking is better than his defending and goals often start down his side. Recently admitted to an Honduran newspaper that he is not in a good moment of form.

Ronnie Stam: 6 — Largely limited to substitute appearances, has done reasonably well when he has come on, but isn’t the solution. Not good enough going forward to be a winger, not good enough at defending to be a right back.

Patrick Van Aanholt: 7 — Was excellent against Everton when Maynor Figueroa was pushed inside, but has since featured very little.

Adrian Lopez: 4.75 — Latics’ lowest rated performer largely thanks to a nightmare against Norwich on opening day. Looks uncomfortable whenever he plays.

Steve Gohouri: 5 — A bit of a nightmare season for him. Sent off trying to mark Gareth Bale, then gave away the crucial goal against Bolton on his return, and looked wobbly at centre half. He’ll need to improve if he remains there throughout Alcaraz’s suspension.

Ben Watson: 6.7 — Consistent. Latics problems have not been in the midfield passing department. Truly masterful against Newcastle — my favourite performance of anyone in a Wigan shirt this season — but otherwise in the 6 and 7s. The question still lingers: is he best-suited to that deep midfield role?  If he tackles like he did at St. James Park yes, if not, no.

Mo Diame: 6.7 — Started slowly but has grown into the season, scored a couple very well taken goals, and looks our best midfielder.

James McCarthy: 5.5 — We expect more. Was probably playing with niggles in the early part of the season, before getting more seriously injured and losing his place to Dave Jones. Lets hope the spell on the sidelines has allowed him to heal. His performances were a catalyst in the team’s turnaround last year, we’ll hope he can do the same this time around.

Dave Jones: 6.9 — Highest-rated midfielder, although he has played fewer matches than the others. He has injected energy and intelligence into the midfield, with four of his five performances 7s.

Jordi Gomez: 6.5 — Started the season well, with an excellent performance at Swansea. But eventually lost his place and hasn’t been seen since.

James McArthur: 5.9 — Hasn’t let the team down in his substitute appearances, but also hasn’t provided much that the other midfielders at the club didn’t already.

Victor Moses: 7.1 — If he’d scored a few goals by now we’d be raving about him. (We’d also not be bottom of the league). His dribbling, pace and strength are unplayable. But his final pass, cross or shot lets him down every time. Is too young and raw to be playing such a crucial role at the club, though he has been extremely unlucky, hitting the post about 4-5 times.

Albert Crusat: 6.4 — Has looked lively in his five appearances, good pace and touch, but needs someone to get on the end of his crosses. Doesn’t seem direct enough to score himself.

Shaun Maloney: 7.5 — His rating is based on a cameo at Villa Park, during which he immediately changed the way the team attacked. Other appearances have been so brief they went unrated. Would like to see more of him.

Hugo Rodallega: 5.9 — Has gotten worse and worse. Desperately needs a goal, but chances won’t come easier than the one he missed at Wolves last week. Are contract talks affecting his form? Frustrating to watch at the moment.

Franco Di Santo: 6.8 — Has played well this season as the lone frontman, but all three goals have come from deflections, and he never seems to be in the right place at the right time. Would probably gel very well with Hugo in a 4-4-2, but we know that’s probably not going to happen.

Conor Sammon: 6 —  10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, hard to judge him. But he certainly deserves his chance. His pace, energy and heart lift the stadium when he comes on.

Conclusions

The exercise has confirmed the obvious. Our defense has been unsettled and inconsistent. The club’s goalscorer is having a bad season. And the man we were banking on to match Charles N’Zogbia’s contribution has played well, but not produced the numbers the Frenchman did. Last season, Hugo and Charlie shared the burden of scoring our goals. But neither Hugo nor Victor Moses has scored this season. Sure, the defense has not played well — but by far the bigger concern is at the other end of the pitch.

Goals conceded, per match, this season: 1.8

Goals conceded, per match, last season: 1.6

Goals scored, per match, this season: 0.63

Goals scored, per match, last season: 1.05

¿Que fue de Hendry Thomas?

Posted by Ned in News, Other, Reflections and tagged with , , , , , ,

ENGLISH VERSION

Despues del partido contra Wolves, me senti completamente deprimido, una sensacion demasiado comun para el hincha del Wigan Athletic en lo que va de sus años Premier. “¿Por qué no apoyas a otro equipo? Estas insoportable, y siempre es asi cuando pierden los Latics. Es lo peor que te he visto!”, me dijo mi mujer, y estaba en lo cierto. Tal como Wigan, me hacia falta inspiración este ultimo fin de semana. Estaba hecho un miserable.

Un par de días despues estaba caminando por mi vecindario cuando vi un hombre alto y de piel oscura, vestido con camisa de rayas azul y blancas con el nombre “Thomas” en su espalda. ¿Otro aficionado de los Latics en esta parte lejana del mundo? (el autor vive en Indonesia). ¿Un seguidor de Hendry Thomas? Imposible. Resulto no ser camiseta del Wigan sino el que lucio Honduras en el mundial de Sudafrica. Lo debi haber saludado pero no lo hice. Pero si le vi la cara, y definitivamente no era el mismo Hendry. Seria imposible no reconocer esa cara!

Se me ocurrio que los dioses del futbol me estaban mandando un mensaje. Casualidad o no, me levantó los ánimos y me puse a pensar en Hendry Thomas y sus predecesores en esa labor de destructor, de volante seis: Lee Cattermole, Wilson Palacios y Michael Brown, por ejemplo. ¿Qué pasó con Hendry? Mi ultima memoria de el es del partido contra Tottenham el año pasado cuando regalo un penal. Desde entonces no se ha visto, ni en la banca ni en las reservas. Es dificil saber si se trata de su nivel futbolistico o algo mas. Cuando Roberto Martínez se hizo cargo del Wigan, vendio a Cattermole y a Brown, mientras Palacios ya habia sido cedido al Tottenham. Los tres fueron claves en la transformación de Steve Bruce, quien se decidio en construir el equipo de atras hacia adelante, con una defensa solida y protegida, con un par de atacantes creativos y oportunistas. El futbol no era tan bonito, pero funcionó.

Durante la primera etapa de su temporada debut en la Premier League, Hendry Thomas fue muy efectivo en ese papel de destructor. Las estadísticas confirmaban que el Hondureño era uno de los dos jugadores de la liga con mas pelotas recuperadas. El otro fue Scott Parker — quien fue votado el mejor jugador de la Premier el año pasado. Pero se desvaneció en la última parte de la temporada y no lo hemos vuelto a ver. Desde entonces, Ben Watson — quien ha mejorado en marca pero es mas armador que luchador — se ha establecido en esa posicion.

Para mi, hace falta la labor de Hendry, especialmente en tiempos dificiles como los que estamos viviendo. Algunos dicen que esta version de los Latics estan obsesionados con el fútbol bonito. ¿Pero qué dicen las estadísticas? Hasta ahora, el Wigan Athletic ha cometido 153 faltas, segundo lugar detras de nuestros viejos amigos, Blackburn, con 157. Wigan ha ganado 106 faltas, colocándolos en el puesto 18 con sólo Everton (105) y Blackburn (104) debajo de ellos. QPR ha ganado 159 faltas. Las estadísticas son informativas: los Latics comenten muchas faltas, pero no lo hacen efectivamente. Ni me acuerdo de una falta tactica, para romper ritmo, para frustrar al mejor jugador del rival A nosotros nos hacen faltas estrategicas, profesionales. Nosotros las cometemos desesperados.

Hendry Thomas es un gran contencion. La mayoria de las veces gana la pelota limpiamente, pero cuando no lo hace asi, tambien cumple una labor importantisima — le inyecta miedo al rival. Entra fuerte, es fisico. Sus pases son simples pero no la regala, y el tipo lo da todo por el equipo. Cada equipo necesita un Hendry Thomas.

Roberto debe cambiar su sistema táctico para adaptarse a la situación en la que estamos. Hay espacio para ambos Thomas y Watson. Para sobrevivir en la Premier, le tenemos que dar mas proteccion a nuestra defensa. Le tengo mucha fe a Martinez, un tecnico joven idealista, pero su rigidez táctica es su talón de Aquiles. No se olvide del Hondureño Roberto!

A vision of steel – bring back Hendry Thomas

Posted by JJ (Tony) in News, Other, Reflections and tagged with , ,

EN ESPANOL

I was utterly depressed  after watching the Wolves match. That sinking feeling that one frequently gets as a Latics fan really hit me for six.  “Why don’t you support another team? You are a pain in the neck to live with when Latics lose. Come to think of it, this is the worst I can remember you being”, remarked my wife.  She was right. Like Latics I was short of inspiration last weekend, downright miserable to be precise.

A couple of days later I was walking down the street when I saw a tallish dark-skinned person wearing a blue and white shirt with the name ‘Thomas’ on the back. Another Latics supporter in this far-flung part of the world? A Hendry Thomas fan?  Surely not. On closer examination I determined that it was not a Wigan Athletic  shirt but the outfit  Honduras had worn in the World Cup, with the blue and white stripes.  I should have plucked up the courage to talk to the man but I didn’t. However, I did see his face and it definitely was not Hendry himself. How could anyone fail to recognize his remarkable visage?

Did this really happen? Was somebody trying to send me a message? Fluke occurence or not,  it certainly cheered me up. It got me thinking about Hendry Thomas and his predecessors in that ‘touch of steel’ role: Lee Cattermole, Wilson Palacios and Michael Brown coming to mind. Whatever happened to Hendry? I remember him giving away a bad penalty, against Tottenham I think it was. Since then he has hardly seemed to exist. Is it a case of one bad game or is there something deeper going on? When Roberto Martinez took over at Wigan both Cattermole and Brown were allowed to go, Palacios having previously been sold to Tottenham.  The three had been key players in Steve Bruce’s transformation of  a Wigan side that had been in complete disarray when he took over from Chris Hutchings. Bruce’s strategy was to build a solid back four with a combative midfield in front of it. Then he would rely on the ‘flair players’ to pinch a goal or two. It worked.

For the first half of his first Premier League season Hendry Thomas was very effective in that midfield destroyer role. Statistics at the time placed him in the top two players in the division for tackles won. Scott Parker was the other one. He faded out in the latter part of the season and this was to be repeated again last year. Ben Watson was to establish himself in that holding role in front of the back four, his tackling really improving and his distribution providing a touch of class.

Am I advocating for the return of the tough Honduran? I certainly am! There are some who say that this Latics team doesn’t get  stuck in enough, that they are obsessed with playing pretty, pretty football. What do the statistics say? Up to this point Wigan Athletic have committed 153 fouls, second only in the fouling league to our old friends, Blackburn, who have 157. Latics have won 106 fouls, placing them in 18th place with only Everton (105) and Blackburn (104) below them.  QPR have won 159 fouls . The stats are illuminating: they suggest Latics foul a lot and don’t get  fouled so much themselves. How many bad Latics fouls do I remember? Any memorable ones? I can remember several of those of the opposition: professional fouling designed to stop our key players. But malicious  Latics fouls are hard to recall. On the flip side: if you pass the ball sideways or back most of the time then you are unlikely to draw a foul. Oh for players with the confidence to run at the opposition and draw fouls, score goals.

Hendry Thomas is a great ball retriever. He does not commit so many more fouls than Latics’ average, but he breathes fear into the opposition. He wins tackles. His distribution is steady and he is a team player. Put him back in and the other team will not feel comfortable on the ball. We are all fed up of watching the other team play!

For goodness sake, Roberto: change your tactical system to fit the situation we are in. There is room for both Watson and Thomas, given a little tactical adjustment. The latter is something you need to think about if you want to keep our team up there. I am one of your greatest fans, but your tactical inflexibility is your Achilles’ heel. Please think of adjusting your mind-set…

Reflecting on Roberto: Time to repay his loyalty

Posted by Ned in News, Other, Reflections and tagged with , , , , , ,

Bright-eyed, congenial, eloquent as they come, Roberto Martinez is the kind of character people in the game love, with good reason. In the past year alone, he has led our unfashionable Wigan to survival on a shoestring budget in the most principled of ways. Then, he follows it up with an encore of rare football loyalty, turning down an offer from a much bigger club that would double his paycheck, not to mention spending power in the transfer market. The chairman treats him like a son, guaranteeing him a job for life. It’s a match made in heaven.

And it doesn’t stop there. His relationship with the club — and town — dates back to 1995, when he arrived as a player with fellow amigos Isidro Diaz and Jesus Seba, scored on his debut, finished club top scorer and was voted player of the year in the old Division 3. His return was to Wigan as a manager was greeted as that of the prodigal son, and rightfully so.

Fast forward to present. 19th in the league, fresh off a mistake-riddled 6th consecutive defeat, this time to our despised local rivals. Supporters have taken to the web and are understandably upset. If Martinez’s lineup on Saturday raised some eyebrows at kick-off, even more at full-time. Specifically, the inclusion of Steve Gohouri at left-back when both Maynor Figueroa and Patrick Van Aanholt were available; and the conservative decision to field James McCarthy in an unfamiliar left-wing role when more natural — an adventurous — options were available for the position.

The odd thing is that while these might have been mistakes, it is not individual tactical mistakes at the root of the fans’ growing frustration with Roberto. Deeper is the feeling that he is too rigid, unwilling to adjust his formation and style of play to accommodate the players available or the situation faced.

One recurring debate is his deployment of Hugo Rodallega on the left-wing ala David Villa — a goalscorer playing as a winger, cutting in and joining the centre-forward in attack. The idea is a good one, and sometimes works, but in practice Hugo is more limited than David Villa. He doesn’t have much dribbling, his crossing is not particularly good. He is most productive as a striker, playing alongside another striker. His best days came under Steve Bruce in a 4-4-2, with Heskey his partner.

The Rodallega conundrum is central to most fans’ concerns about Martinez. When you’re a goal down, at home, against weak opposition, why not switch from one centre-forward to two? The midfield could easily shift its shape to accommodate, while both Di Santo and Sammon would offer muscular foils for the Colombian. So many players have struggled in that lone centre-forward role, starved of service. Our wingers have not scored a goal this season, is there not a plan B? (And more importantly, shouldn’t plan B involve two strikers?)

My take on all this — and it has taken several days to reconcile with the Bolton performance — is that we owe him time and support to turn it around. It’s too easy, and not fair, to turn on him after a deeply frustrating match, in which three individual errors lost us the game. His system just about worked last season, once the squad was fit. It sounds foreign at the moment, but he had managed to make Wigan hard to beat. His defense was organized, his players fired up, and his key man Charles N’Zogbia (read Victor Moses for this season) started delivering goals. Once again, he has been terribly unlucky with injuries this time out. Whereas captain Gary Caldwell missed the first third of last season, Antolin Alcaraz has been out this time. Emmerson Boyce has missed games. Instability is a defense’s worst enemy, and Roberto has had more of that in defense than any other manager in the league.

Lets try to keep this all in perspective too. Anyone aware of Latics’ financial challenges (this article is essential reading) knows we are basically asking Roberto to perform miracles. His first moves were to free the club of big earners such as Titus Bramble, Paul Scharner, Mario Melchiot, Lee Cattermole. I would imagine Mo Diame, James McCarthy, Victor Moses, Antolin Alcaraz are making half the wages of their predecessors, which allows the club can keep ticket prices low, continue to expand it’s supporter base, and hopefully eventually compete on slightly more level playing field. The fact that Bolton were able to buy a young striker who made 63 appearances for Liverpool illustrates the gulf between even those two clubs in terms of transfer market spending power and allure. Ali Al-Habsi and Franco Di Santo remain the only players signed directly by Roberto Martinez from other Premier League clubs, and they were both reserves. He’s basically being asked to survive in the premier league with a team of players plucked from inferior leagues.

So, I’m supporting him. He’s a young manager and will make mistakes. But he’s been unlucky. If Jordi’s shot had gone in at Swansea, or Victor’s, or Ben’s penalty, Dave Jones’ lob at Goodison — any one of those would have pulled us out of the relegation zone. Unfortunately, the Bolton match was the kind that sours everything else. But you can bet he will be using this example to stamp out those kinds of mistakes. And who knows, given our players’  apparent need for a wake-up call, perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise that the relegation battle starts so early this year.

Latics against the big boys: damage limitation or capitulation?

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

My son’s mother in law is a psychologist. I could have used her help this weekend. Psychologists can help you sort out your head. They can enable you to meet reality and deal with it. For us Latics supporters this can be a real challenge. After the first half against Tottenham on Saturday I was suffering from a depression that was extreme. The immediate reality was intolerably hard to bear. However, a beer at half time, together with an improved second half performance from Latics, dissipated some of my immediate symptoms.

Cast your mind back to August 14th, 2005: Latics first match in the Premier League. What chance did we have for a result against the champions, Chelsea? Not much, according to the pundits at the time. Robbed in the end by a great strike from Hernan Crespo in the 93rd minute. That Latics team went on a great run after that and were second in the table briefly, reached the League Cup final and eventually finished in tenth position. A wonderfully uplifting season, giving us Latics fans hope for the future.

Optimism or pessimism? What is Latics’ reality? How did you feel watching that first half against Tottenham? And what about the recent capitulation against Manchester City? Did you expect anything different? Are you into market economics? What do you think: can the economically small compete with economic giants? Okay, Tottenham are giants compared with us, but not the biggest. We had beaten them only once in their six previous Premier League visits, so what did we expect? Can we ever narrow this huge gap?

How do you feel when Latics are about to play a team from the top four? Apprehensive? Statistics of Latics’ performance against the elite are stark. Even our most successful team in 2005-2006 could not win a single point against the top four teams that season. Since we joined the Premier League our number of points against the teams who were to finish in the top four each season has been (goal difference in brackets):

Year HOME AWAY TOTAL Positive results

2005/06: 0 (3-6) 0 (2-12) 0
2006/07: 0 (3-11) 0 (2-12) 0
2007/08: 1 (0-5) 2 (2-8) 3   — Arsenal H 1-1, Chelsea A 1-1, Liverpool A 1-1
2008/09: 1 (2-8) 0 (7-3) 1  — Liverpool H 1-1
2009-10: 6 (6-11) 0 (1-21) 6  — Chelsea H 3-1, Arsenal H 3-2
2010-11: 1 (2-14) 0 (0-7) 1  — Arsenal H 2-2

So, on average Latics have gained just less than 2 points per year of the 16 available against top four teams. A key statistic is that, if these points had not been obtained, Latics would still have had sufficient points to stay up, except in 2009/10 when they would have had the same number of points as the 18th placed team, Burnley.

In December 2009 Wolves put forward their reserve team to play at Manchester United in a Premier League game. This caused a considerable amount of anger among their visiting fans. However, Charles Ross, editor of a leading Wolves fanzine commented that: ‘… the fact of the matter is – and it doesn’t matter whether Mick McCarthy rested one, five or 10 players – the Premier League should take a long, hard look at themselves. Wolves are competing in a league where it is clear they are not operating among equals. The gap that the Premier League have created begs the question as to why managers like Mick McCarthy feel the need to do this. He knew he was going to be pilloried for his team selection at Old Trafford, but the mere fact he has been forced into this should spark a debate about the anti-competitive nature of the Premier League. There are the top four, a well-financed bunch below them and the rest of us feed off the crumbs.”

In April 2007 Liverpool fielded what was effectively their reserve team to lose at Fulham. Without those three points Fulham would have been relegated. Circumstances were radically different in the cases of Wolves and Liverpool , but both played weakened teams and flouted league rules such as: “In every league match, each participating club shall field a full-strength teams. “ and “In all matters and transactions relating to the league, each club shall behave towards each other club and the league with utmost good faith.”

Latics’ performances at Manchester City and in the first half against Tottenham set my mind rolling off in tangential directions. I began thinking of players like Cattermole and Palacios. Would Silva, Modric and Co have been able to drift past players like that with such ease? In both games it seemed like Latics had given up before they had even started. Did they need a sports psychologist to get inside their heads? Were they merely going through the motions, looking towards the next match, having given up on that one? In the end the scorelines were quite flattering: only 3-0 at City and 2-1 with Tottenham after a second half turnaround in attitude and approach. Was this through Martinez, a would-be psychologist, getting into the players’ heads during the half time interval? If so, one must ask why he couldn’t have done it before the game started?

There were statistical similarities between the City capitulation (we lost 3-0 on paper but it could have been a lot more) and the 9-1 loss a couple of years ago at Tottenham. Tottenham committed 9 fouls in that nightmare game, Latics gave away 10. Neither team received yellow cards. In the recent game at City we committed 9 fouls, City 6. Once again no yellow cards for either team. How can we be completely outplayed yet commit less fouls than teams usually do and not even get a yellow card? Don’t get me wrong – I am not advocating a return to the more pragmatic, physical approach of Steve Bruce’s Latics – but the stats give food for thought.

Have Latics been a “soft touch” under Martinez? Do we need a more Bruce-like approach to succeed? Once again the statistics tell another story. Over the past two Martinez seasons Latics have committed more fouls and had more yellow cards than the average in the Premier League. They would not have won any fair play league.

What should we do when we have games coming up against the big boys? Do what Mick McCarthy did and give our fringe players a chance? Flout the rules and the ethos of the Premier League as our more affluent and cynical adversaries frequently do? We stayed up last year largely because we had the best results of any of the lower placed teams when playing against each other. One could argue that these games should be our main focus and we should use the pairings with the big boys for developing our youngsters. I am not so sure that this should be the way to go, but capitulation is hard to bear. The second half against Tottenham last weekend was much more palatable, even if Gohouri did get sent off and we will be once again sorely stretched again in defence in his absence through suspension. At least there was effort, commitment and belief.

Do the Latics’ first team players need psychotherapy to exorcise those communal memories of being constantly flattened by the big teams? Or is it simply that they are taking a “damage limitation” approach, avoiding injuries and suspensions for more “winnable” upcoming matches? Is winning at least a point from Manchester United this season within the realms of possibility? It has not happened during the past six years, but maybe this will be the season? One continues to live in hope.