Wigan Athletic 0 Brighton 1 – insipid Latics go down

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

Crofts beats Watson and Shotton to head Brighton’s goal
Thanks to Daily Express for photo

A lacklustre display from Wigan Athletic saw them lose their unbeaten home record. Over the past weeks performances like this have been largely excused by the tiredness factor, having had to play too many games in a short period of time. After a two week pause for the international break such excuses cannot apply.

In the 71st minute of a closely matched contest Grant Holt dispossessed Brighton defender Gordon Greer and got into a one on one with goalkeeper Tomas Kuszczak.  A goal looked certain. However, the big centre forward put the ball wide.

Within a minute Brighton’s movement once again troubled a disorientated Latics defence. Lee Nicholls made a fantastic save from Jake Forster-Caskey’s header, but the 5’9” Andrew Crofts got in there before  Ben Watson and Ryan Shotton to head home the rebound.

Owen Coyle had put out the same starting lineup that won the previous league match at Yeovil.

Latics started the game positively, playing the ball patiently through midfield. They went close several times but the finishing was not accurate enough to seriously trouble Kuszczak.

Brighton right back Bruno Saltor came close for Brighton with a volley in the 8th minute which was well saved by Nicholls. The same player was booked after 27 minutes for pulling down Nick Powell and soon after committed a foul against Callum McManaman. It looked like Bruno was treading on thin ice.

Brighton came out more boldly in the second half with their movement causing problems for a static and ponderous Latics defence. Ashley Barnes’ cross found the head of the unmarked Forster-Caskey who somehow managed to head the ball straight at Nicholls. The previously subdued McManaman put in a powerful long range shot in the 52nd minute, which was well saved by Kuszczak.

The giant Rohan Ince started to boss the midfield, Barnes was giving Shotton a hard time and left winger Craig Conway started to look dangerous.

After 60 minutes Coyle took off an ineffective Marc-Antoine Fortune to bring on Grant Holt, who soon got himself in trouble with referee, Iain Williamson. James McClean came on for Marc Albrighton five minutes later. Soon after Holt earned himself a yellow card after backing under Ince for a high ball, the Brighton midfielder being fortunate to avoid injury as he hit the ground.  Once Holt had come on Latics had started to use more of the long ball.

Following Brighton’s goal Latics look shell-shocked and clueless. Conway almost added a second a few minutes later with a powerful right foot shot that Nicholls parried away superbly.

The crowd started to get restless and seeing Latics players arguing with each other on the field did not help. Jordi Gomez was brought on for McManaman after 76 minutes, with Nick Powell being pushed towards the right.

James McClean tried hard to attack the vulnerable Bruno and to inject some life into Wigan.  The Irishman put in a good cross in the 90th minute but Holt’s header was saved by Kuszczak.

It just was not Holt’s day.

In the end Latics were beaten by a better team on the day. Brighton had 56% of the possession and had played the better football. Latics committed 22 fouls, way above their normal level.

The Good

Coyle had put out a team that had an attacking look about it, with two wide players and two strikers. They played some good football in the first half and were only let down by their wayward finishing.

James McClean gave probably his best performance to date, running at the defence, but more importantly managing to deliver dangerous centres. So often since his arrival the player had flattered to deceive, running up blind alleys and not getting the ball across. If McClean can play like this on a regular basis he will be a threat to any opposition.

The Bad

Not long after the kickoff  a fan sat next to me opined that Latics had played better football in the Northern Premier League than most of what he has seen this season.

Early in the second half he said that it looked like Latics were playing a training match.

He had a point. They were insipid, short of flair, short of ideas. The long ball game had started once Holt had entered the fray and the level of football was dropping by the minute.

The job of a football manager is to make the whole add up to at least the sum of its parts. This is not happening at Wigan.

With one of the best squads in the division Latics look no better than a mid-table team. The chemistry that is missing. This group of players play like they are strangers to each other on the pitch.

In the second half Coyle had the opportunity to energize a central midfield which looked one-paced and sluggish, with quality players on the bench ready to come on and add much needed energy.

In the event he brought on the hapless Holt who is sadly becoming the butt of the crowd’s frustration. Coyle did bring a midfield player on, but it happened to be the one-paced Gomez, who ended up playing too far forward to be effective. Bringing on Gomez to provide constructive passes from midfield is one thing, but he is never a central striker and is not good at leaping for high balls.

It was worrying to see Latics’ central defence once more struggle to cope with the opposition’s movement, like they had in the home game against Rubin. Barnett and Shotton are very effective coping with aerial bombardments but struggle against more mobile forwards who drag them out of position.

Left back remains a problem position. The link-up play on the left hand side is a key element on the tactical side, but it is inhibited by James Perch’s limited passing skills on his “wrong side”.  Maynor Figueroa still has not been replaced and Juan Carlos Garcia does not even make the bench.

Player Ratings

Lee Nicholls: 8 – easily the Man of the Match. A fine performance.

Emmerson Boyce: 6 – not at his best.

Ryan Shotton: 5- shaky at times in the second half.

Leon Barnett: 5 – good in one to one challenges, but looked uncertain in his positioning.

James Perch: 5 – poor.

Ben Watson: 6 – tried hard, but it was not his best day.

Chris McCann: 6 – did a lot of good defensive work, but could not put his stamp on the game.

Marc Albrighton: 6 – looked lively in the first half.

Nick Powell: 6 – tried hard and put in some nice touches, but things did not come off for him.

Marc-Antoine Fortune: 5 – not up to his usual level.

Callum McManaman: 5 – largely anonymous, apart from one cracking shot.

Substitutes

Grant Holt: – poor.

James McClean: – the best attacker in the second half.

Jordi Gomez: – ineffective.

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A Brighton Fan’s View

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Match Previews and tagged with , , , ,
Photo courtesy of Visit Brighton

Photo courtesy of Visit Brighton

Less than a year ago Brighton and Hove Albion were playing a style of football akin to that of Wigan Athletic under Roberto Martinez.

A lot has happened since then.

Both clubs lost their managers at the end of the season. Brighton sought a replacement who would build upon the style of play established by Gus Poyet, bringing in ex-Barcelona youth coach and ex-player Oscar Garcia. Latics chose a manager who prefers a more direct approach.

The two clubs are neck and neck in the Championship, with Latics in tenth place, one point and one position above Brighton. Both clubs have had bad luck with injuries so far this season. Both come into the match with two consecutive league victories under their belts.

Let’s get up to date with Brighton through the eyes of one of their keenest supporters.

Tim Attree’s love of the club dates back to when he was a kid and he would help his father sell jackpot tickets on matchdays outside the old Goldstone Ground. His father had watched Brighton from an early age and for decades would volunteer to help out selling programmes and jackpot tickets. Tim has kept up his father’s love of the club and hardly misses a single Brighton match.

Tim first came to Wigan in the mid 1970s, when I invited him to join me at Springfield Park to watch a Northern Premier League game with Stafford Rangers. Since then he paid repeated visits to Wigan to Springfield Park and the JJB/DW Stadium.

Over to Tim to answer some questions.

Does anybody know why Gus Poyet was pushed out after taking his team to the playoffs ?

Nobody seems to know or wants to say anything about it, but he told chairman Tony Bloom that he wanted to leave just before we beat Crystal  Palace back in March. According to Bloom at ‘Fans Forum’ things deteriorated after that.

 Did Albion’s fans like the tiki-taka style that your team played last year?

 Yes we loved the way they played. Some of us think it’s the best we’ve ever seen!

 How is the team performing? Has the style changed from last year?

Injuries have hit us hard, but we try to close down teams very quickly after losing the ball within 5-10 seconds – a bit like Barcelona. Oscar Garcia  was at Barca and has brought that philosophy with him.

In addition there is the feeling that we do not keep the ball as long as we did with Gus and try and cross the ball a bit earlier. If we lose it we press high to get it back whereas with Gus we would all have gone back to defence as quickly as possible.

 Latics made a decision to replace Roberto Martinez with a manager whose football is ‘more direct’. There are mixed feelings among fans about Coyle’s appointment. What do the Brighton fans think about Garcia?

The jury is still out on Garcia, but most fans think he is doing OK particularly having had so many injuries.

 Who are the players in the Brighton team Latics will have to watch?

 Goalie Tomas Kuszczak is very good. Liam Bridcutt (ex Chelsea youngster) is a strong holding midfielder and last week played his first 30 minutes or so after being out through injury. Will Buckley (ex -Watford) is a fast player who plays out wide, mainly on the right wing.

In defence we have Gordon Greer who has just won his first Scotland cap and Matthew Upson. We miss Wayne Bridge at left back but now have Stephen Ward on loan from Wolves who has just got back into the Irish team.

 Who   is going to finish higher in the table at the end of the season – Brighton or Wigan?

 Don’t know! Suspect it will be close if both clubs can get all their players fit for the New Year!

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Latinos ready for Brighton

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

Both Jean Beausejour and Roger Espinoza have had a busy week, but neither would complain if Owen Coyle put them in the lineup against Brighton on Saturday.

What are the chances?

Beausejour played for the first 81 minutes for Chile at Wembley on Friday, then came on as a substitute after only 8 minutes against Brazil in Toronto on Tuesday, completing the remainder of the match.

Beausejour was a key component of Chile’s fine 2-0 win over England. His expert close control in tight situations, together with his patient approach, helped Chile build dangerous moves down the right hand side of England’s defence.

He came early in Toronto because of an injury to midfield dynamo Marcelo Diaz. Brazil went 1-0 up after 10 minutes but Chile got one back when Eduardo Vargas scored a spectacular goal from his headed pass after 71 minutes

Chile had been far from overwhelmed against Brazil, but eventually went down 2-1 to an 80th minute goal from Robinho.

Chile are certainly seeking the right kind of opposition in preparation for the trip to Brazil in June.

Espinoza played for the first 64 minutes against Brazil in Miami, in front of a crowd of 71,000. When he went off Honduras were losing 2-0. They let in another three without him. Check out  this video clip to see how impressive Espinoza looked in that match. Bleacher Report rated him Honduras’ best performer.

Espinoza came on after 46 minutes in the 2-2 draw with Ecuador in Houston on Tuesday. Honduras were trailing 1-0 at half time, but got to 2-1 ahead until Ecuador equalized in the 89th minute. Both teams had been down to 10 men, Wilson Palacios having been sent off after 84 minutes.

Honduras used a total of 12 substitutes in those two matches, in an attempt to give a wide range of players an opportunity to show what they could do against quality opposition. That Espinoza played 109 minutes in the two games is therefore not a reflection upon his performance.

Brazil are going to be the team to beat in June and Honduras needed to play strong opposition outside their usual opponents in CONCACAF. Ecuador are no push-overs either, having finished fourth in the highly competitive South American qualifying competition.

Despite playing well against world class opposition for their countries neither Beausejour nor Espinoza is likely to make the starting lineup against Brighton.

Beausejour missed recent Latics matches through a foot injury, but currently has to compete with James McClean and Callum McManaman for a place on the left flank.

Despite a Man of the Match performance in Kazan, Espinoza was not retained in the starting lineup at Yeovil. In fact he was brought off the bench with five minutes to go. Coyle is blessed with a strong squad of holding midfield players and has rotated them well, with the exception of Espinoza who he has repeatedly snubbed.

In the Brazil match Espinoza played wide in left midfield, not his best position, but he nevertheless looked very involved, winning the ball and putting in some excellent passes.

Coyle has lined up with both Jordi Gomez and James McArthur in wide midfield positions, with little success. He brought Espinoza off the bench in the Charlton match to play wide on the left and the Honduran did not do badly.

Juan Carlos Garcia was also in the Honduras squad for both matches and came on as a substitute after 81 minutes against Brazil. Coyle still has not started him at left back, although he did play in left midfield in the League Cup loss to Manchester City. It would be a big surprise if he started on Saturday.

There is good news for Latics in that the excellent Ivan Ramis is ready to compete for a place, after 10 months out through injury. It will interesting to see if Coyle is willing to put Ramis in the rotation with Leon Barnett, Thomas Rogne and Ryan Shotton for the centre back positions.

At the time of his injury at Fulham in January, Ramis was looking a quality Premier League defender –  a good reader of the game with a strong tackle. Ramis will have to adjust to the high ball game played by so many teams in the Championship, but at 6’2” he is quite capable in the air.

Passing the ball out of defence is something Ramis is good at and the other centre backs in the squad should take note. Too often they have taken the easy option of the long ball or the pass back to the goalkeeper, the end result more often than not being Latics losing possession.

It looks like Will Keane will be shortly be signed on loan.  Although Keane’s signing would look like  a positive move we will have to wait and see if Dave Whelan is going to allow Coyle to make a big money purchase of an experienced striker with a proven record of success.

With a busy month coming up it is going to be interesting to see how Coyle rotates his squad.

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Latics’ Young and Global Fanbase

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

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In the early 1990’s we lived in Colombia.

Friends in England used to ask why we would choose to live in a dangerous place like that. That was a hard question to answer.

How can you explain what a country is really like to someone who has never been there? I would mention the warmth of the people, the climate and the countryside – part coastal paradise, part jungle, part Andes mountains –  so colourful and diverse. It never seemed to convince people that it was a good place to live. They probably thought I would catch a stray bullet and that would be the end of me.

My son, Ned, started watching live football when he was six years old. We were living in Mexico City at the time.  Twice a week I would take him to a match – usually to watch America, Cruz Azul or Necaxa play at the huge and impressive Aztec Stadium. Sometimes we would go further afield to the Olympic Stadium to watch Pumas or to the stadium in the centre of that vast city, where Atlante played. We went to two playoff finals at the Aztec Stadium with crowds in excess of 120,000. The stadium capacity was 105,000 but counterfeit tickets added extra people to the crowd.

Colombians and Mexicans  loved football as much as we did in the UK. The difference was that in both countries attendances could be sparse for run-of-the-mill games, but the big matches would fill the stadia. But then again football filled the air waves – there was always football to watch on tv.

Our visits to England in those days were limited by the cost of flying. However, whenever we got there we would visit my father in Wigan and take a trip to Springfield Park. Ned probably cannot remember watching Bryan Hamilton’s Latics team in a visit  to England from Colombia. His most impressive recollection is later – watching the Three Amigos play in a pre-season friendly, with Roberto Martinez scoring a well taken goal.

From an early age, Ned had become a Latic fanatic. Every week my father would send us cuttings of match reports and features on Latics from the newspapers.  It helped to keep us updated in those pre-internet days.

Ask a Colombian in their thirties which Italian team he likes best and he will probably roll out the usual suspects – AC, Inter and Juventus. But you will also find Parma high on the list. Why Parma?

Faustino Asprilla joined Parma in 1992 and helped them win the European Cup Winners Cup in his first season. The following season they signed  Gianfranco Zola. Practically every Parma match was shown on Colombian television and people were glued to their sets, watching their footballing hero Asprilla. The combination of Asprilla and Zola was to tear defences apart and little club Parma was to win the UEFA Cup in 1994-95. It was the era when those people who are now in their thirties were in their teenage years.

A lot of people get hooked on a team when they are in their early teens. Last May when I was living in Jakarta most teenagers in Indonesia liked Man U, Chelsea or Man City. Fake replica shirts of those clubs were rampant on the streets. However, the expat enclave had a high proportion of Liverpool fans. Hardly any of them were actually from Liverpool – many were Scandinavians in their forties. The successes of Liverpool in the 1980’s must have impressed them as teenagers, let alone that Liverpool have had a fair share of good Nordic players over the years.

In January 2010 the Daily Mail quoted Latics manager Roberto Martinez saying that: ‘In terms of the future we have the highest number of youngsters as season tickets holder in the Premier League. I think it is about 20 per cent of Wigan’s population at under 16 are season ticket holders, so there are many, many positive signs.’

Even kids on the street  in Indonesia are likely know the name of Wigan Athletic right now. Winning the FA Cup has put Latics on the global map.

When I was on holiday in Saigon in January I saw a young Asian man wearing a Wigan Athletic shirt. I went over and asked him if he was a Latics fan. He was Vietnamese and had taken a liking to Latics after seeing them play on television. He had been looking for a replica shirt for some time and managed to find one when he went to Singapore for a holiday.

Some of the young Indonesians would probably buy a Latics shirt too, if they were available in their country.  Indonesians are crazy about English football and with a population of 250 million there are huge marketing opportunities. Once Manchester United signed Park Ji-Sung they won a lot of followers in Korea, selling lots of expensive replica shirts in the process.

Football continues to adjust slowly to the modern world. Video technology has still not been embraced as it has in all other major world sports. However, clubs have started to realise that they have not just a national, but a global, audience. Being relegated from the Premier League means that Latics’ overseas fans have much less access to watching games now. Surely the day will come when all their matches are streamed live overseas through pay-for-view internet? There is money to be made there, let alone in following up on the interest created by selling club merchandise.

Making contact with the local community is becoming more and more important for English football clubs. There was good news last week that the Wigan Athletic Community Trust has been given a £270,000 grant to help up to 70 local primary schools with their football and PE programmes. Latics have  a lot to gain from such an arrangement, building up an early bond with potential young supporters and in providing further links for the club’s Academy to identify young local talent for the future.

19 year old Tim Chow. Thanks to Wigan Athletic official club site for photo.

19 year old Tim Chow. Thanks to Wigan Athletic official club site for photo.

Wigan Athletic have not been particularly successful in nurturing young players from their own back yard, more often than not relying on picking up youth players released by big Premier League clubs in the north west. It is good to see Wigan lad, Tim Chow, currently coming through the ranks in the under 21 team.  There need to be more like him.

Year by year while they were in the Premier League, Wigan Athletic were gradually building up a global fan base. When Ben Watson’s header went in at Wembley it magnified the club’s image on a global level. Being in the Europa League is also giving them more exposure.

Wigan Athletic have turned the corner as far as support is concerned. Their potential fan base is far greater than it has ever been before.

There is a young core of supporters who will remain fans for years to come.  As the club steps up its involvement in the local community more and more people will be drawn to the DW Stadium.

Moreover it now has a global following, that if nurtured, could reap dividends.

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Chile and Latics’ Identity

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

Above: Owen Coyle, Marcelo Bielsa and Roberto Martinez.

To beat England at Wembley is something to savour.  The look of joy on the faces of the Chilean players after beating England 2-0 on Friday was memorable.

Chile had beaten an experimental England team. Things would have been much harder against the first choice home country lineup. In contrast with England, Chile put forward a team that had played together throughout the demanding South American qualifiers for the World Cup. Moreover having a good prior record against England they were not going to be intimidated.

The  manner of Chile’s victory was something Roberto Martinez would have approved of.

In the first half they threw caution to the wind and attacked England. The forwards Jean Beausejour, Eduardo Vargas and Alexis Sanchez  were a constant danger and the Latics player got into a good scoring position in the 31st minute. He could not put it away. But then again, if Beausejour were able to score from positions like that on a regular basis would he still be at Wigan?

In the second half Chile had to defend against England pressure and they were unable to keep up the football of the first half. However, they maintained their composure, passing the ball out of defence, despite having ten England players almost camped inside their half.

It is something that Owen Coyle’s current defensive quartet could not even dream about.

Chile’s attacking style derives from the time Marcelo Bielsa was coach. Current incumbent Jorge  Sampaoli recognizes Bielsa’s influence saying  that “Through his excellence he justifies an attacking style that I have always identified with, and I subscribe to his philosophy and ideas.” .

Chile typically played a high defensive line, meaning their defenders were pushed into risky last-ditch tackles when their forward pressing was by-passed.

Bielsa clearly influenced Sampaoli, but probably also Martinez and his preferred style of play .

I first saw a Bielsa team twenty years ago when I was living in Cali, Colombia. Bielsa’s Newells Old Boys played at the atmospheric Pascual Guerrero Stadium in Cali in the semi final of the Copa Libertadores. They knocked out local club America – who had a great record in the Copa – on penalties . Newells were to be defeated by  Sao Paolo in the final, also on penalties. The football of that Newells of Cordoba team at the time was something different.

Back in Colombia a decade later, I was to see Bielsa’s Argentina team draw 1-1 with Colombia in a World Cup qualifying match in Barranquilla. Argentina  played an exciting formation with three central defenders and two wing backs. Captain Roberto Ayala was superb in the Gary Caldwell role in the centre of defence and Hernan Crespo  got their goal. Bielsa was not to achieve World Cup success with Argentina despite a record of W42 D16 L10 during his tenure.

Chile are an exciting team to watch, almost a throwback to the times when teams attacked with abandon. Last year Barcelona paid dearly against Bayern Munich for their lack of height in the centre of defence. But Chile played 5’8” Cardiff midfielder Gary Medel in a three man defence against an England team who are always going to be dangerous from set pieces.

Sampaoli has bravely continued with the tactical approach put in place by Bielsa from 2007-2011. The team seems to play without fear, characterised by high pressing and 3-3-1-3. Even when under intense pressure they continue to play with composure and belief. Critics would say that the approach is naïve, but it has produced the best results Chile have ever had.

In Bielsa’s  early days at Chile they were able to get a point away to Uruguay at Montevideo and also to beat Argentina. Both were firsts for Chile. But then there was the flip side –  heaviest-ever home defeats in qualifiers, 3-0 against both Paraguay and Brazil.

If Bielsa achieved anything with Chile then it was  giving them an “identity”. In order to play in such a way every player needed to buy in to the system. Players coming in would know exactly what was expected of them and would play with enthusiasm.

At Wigan,  Martinez probably aspired to what Chile do, but never quite had the players to do it. But there are clear parallels.

Latics certainly had those ups and downs, with fantastic  wins over the elite clubs that dominate English football, but also humiliating eight or nine goal defeats.

But then again, like Chile under Bielsa or Sampaoli, there was  certainly “identity”.

Chile will probably get undone in the World Cup finals through set pieces. For the moment they are fascinating to watch, playing with confidence and with a strong footballing philosophy.

Since Martinez left Wigan the style of football has nose-dived. There is a distinct lack of identity about the way this current Latics team plays.

It remains to be seen whether Owen Coyle can provide the results to go along with his more ‘direct’ approach of football.

In the meantime we continue to look for an ‘identity’ at Wigan.

But then again lovers of good football will hope it does not resemble an identity such as those developed by Sam Allardyce at Bolton and Tony Pulis at Stoke.

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Postscript

Current Barcelona manager Gerardo Martino and current Southampton manager Mauricio Pocchetino played in Bielsa’s Libertadores Cup Final team for Newells. As coaches both follow the example of Bielsa
– an attacking approach, with high pressing.