A West Brom fan’s view on Marc-Antoine Fortune

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

Fortune

Marc-Antoine Fortune has made a promising start to his career at Wigan Athletic. The 32 year old forward from French Guiana arrived at Wigan following a three year stint at West Bromwich Albion.

We reached out to Iain Bate, editor of fan site westbromwichalbion-mad, for his views on the player. Our thanks go to Iain for the interesting article below.

I’m glad to hear that Marco is doing well at Wigan. I was a little surprised that he dropped down a division into the Championship – although a two-year contract was more than Albion were offering.

Fortune was a good player at Albion – although the more I think, I struggle to remember any real outstanding performances or memorable moments from him. He was always a hard working individual and a team player. But, If I’m honest, he probably lacked that extra bit of quality you need to excel at the highest level.

When he originally joined the club under Tony Mowbray we were desperate for a striker. He joined in January and did well. He scored 5 times in 17 appearances. I remember his debut against Middlesbrough and he ran himself into the ground. He trundled off to a standing ovation with his socks around his ankles. Fortune’s link-up play has always been good. However, he never really offered a goal threat. I wouldn’t say he’s a natural goalscorer – despite his goals from January to May. He was unable to prevent the club from being relegated.

When Fortune came back to the club after a spell in Celtic, he never really reached the level of performance he had when he was at the club the first time around. In fact, he struggled to get in to the side first under Roberto Di Matteo and then Roy Hodgson. His time at The Hawthorns seemed up. He went on loan to Doncaster Rovers in order to get some game time and he came back with renewed vigour and purpose. By this time, Hodgson had moved Fortune away from the centre to the right-hand side.

Marco was intelligent enough to adapt his game and did well as a right-sided forward. He always tracked back and put the required effort in. In fact, he earned himself an extra year at the club. But once Hodgson had moved on he found it difficult to get in the side under Steve Clarke. The arrival of Shane Long, Romelu Lukaku and Markus Rosenberg meant that Fortune wasn’t even considered in a central option any longer.

Fortune didn’t really feature in the first half of last season as Peter Odemwingie and Zoltan Gera kept him out of the side. But, as both either dropped out of favour or were injured, he got his chance to earn himself another deal. He performed well and scored the odd goal. Albion earned him a one-year contract, but he chose more stability at Wigan.

I don’t think you’ll find any Albion fan which would have a bad word to say against Fortune. He maybe lacked the quality to perform regularly at the highest level, but he always tried his best and was liked by the fans. Hopefully we’ll see him at The Hawthorns again soon.

Fortune favours the brave!

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Latics and Height

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

tall&short
Do you need height to win matches in the Championship?

Doncaster Rovers were already 1-0 up in the 43rd minute at the DW Stadium on Tuesday when the 6’2” Bonjani Khumalo crossed the ball to the 6’7” Rob Jones. Jones headed the ball into the path of 6’1” Chris Brown who headed home. Soon after half time Khumalo saw his header strike the post. Then after Wigan’s last minute equalizer a header from 6’1” substitute Billy Painter hit the crossbar in time added on.

To be fair Doncaster’s football is not only about aerial power. Their first goal came from 5’9” striker Theo Robinson who turned and slotted the ball home in style. On the other hand when a team has a defence as tall as Doncaster’s they are less likely to concede headed goals from crosses or set pieces.Latics please take note.

Wigan Athletic’s tallest defender in that match was Leon Barnett, at 6’2’. Both Emmerson Boyce and James Perch are 5’11”, while Stephen Crainey is 5’9”. This is not to say that Wigan didn’t have tall players in their squad. Chris McCann is 6’1”, although not  well known for his heading ability. Central strikers Grant Holt and Marc-Antoine Fortune are both 6’.

Surely the best way to unlock a defence like Doncaster’s is to run at them and not to loft the ball in the air. In order to do that Wigan need to win those 50-50 balls in midfield and use the ball intelligently. The central striker needs support from the flanks and the midfield.

It needs a lot of graft and hard work to overcome teams like Doncaster who can be uncompromising, well organized and industrious. An interesting statistic was that no Latics player received a card, while Doncaster got three yellows.

The Bournemouth and Doncaster games have given Wigan Athletic a wakeup call. Latics are in a period of transition and are struggling to find a consistent style of play. Ideally they should be able to switch from the possession-mode to the direct-mode as required, but this is still a work in progress.

In that final Premier League season the opposition had started to realize that the stylish football played by Roberto Martinez’s teams could be disrupted by “high pressing”, preventing them from stroking the ball around in their own half.

Championship teams will surely follow suit with Owen Coyle’s teams. When this happens Wigan are going to need more ‘off the ball’ movement from players further forward, allowing defenders to bypass the press. This is a different matter to what we have seen so far when defenders have too often put in hopeful punts which have been gratefully received by the opposition defence.

Not all teams in the Championship will pose an aerial threat like Doncaster and the understanding between Leon Barnett and James Perch in the centre of defence will surely grow as the season moves on. But there will be competition for defensive positions.

The Honduran, Juan Carlos Garcia,  6’2” , can play left back or centre back and is likely to be pushing for a place. The 6’4’ Thomas Royne and 6’2” Ivan Ramis remain on the injury list, but their aerial power is going to be useful once they get back to full fitness. If Gary Caldwell can fully recover from hip surgery he will be a real force at this level.

Let’s hope that the last two games have been a learning experience for Latics. The squad is laden with players with the quality to excel at Championship level, but they need to be physically and mentally tougher if they are to regularly beat teams like Doncaster.

The aerial threat of the opposition is minimised when you cut off their supply lines. Doing so requires hard work and commitment.

Only time will tell if this talented Latics squad has the steel to match its skill. The Middlesbrough game on Saturday will give Latics the opportunity to show that they can learn from adversity.

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Doncaster Preview

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

Tonight Wigan Athletic entertain Doncaster Rovers in a match that was rearranged because of Latics’ Community Shield appearance.

Following a disappointing defeat at Bournemouth promotion-chasing Latics will be keen to win at home for the first time since March. Doncaster might well suffer the whiplash. Wigan will be going into the match without the suspended Callum McManaman but can be expected to field an attacking lineup.

Owen Coyle fielded a crowded midfield at Bournemouth, sacrificing width. However, we can expect him to play two wide players tonight in a home match where Latics need three points to push them up the league table.  Shaun Maloney may be pushed wide after playing in a central position at the weekend.  An alternative would be to use James McLean and Jean Beausejour on the flanks, with Maloney or one of the three holding midfielders being left out.

Given that this is Wigan’s third game in ten days Coyle might want to rotate his squad, but the lack of defensive cover rules out many of his options. With Thomas Royne, Gary Caldwell and Ivan Ramis out through injury the defensive  option would be  Juan Carlos Garcia, who can play at centre back or left back. The midfield trio of Roger Espinoza Jordi Gomez and Chris McCann – all of whom would be regular starters in most Championship lineups – will be keen to get their chance of game time.

It is the first league  game between the two clubs in 16 years. In previous contests Wigan have won 10, and Doncaster 9, with 7 draws.  Doncaster come on the back of  a 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers, after losing their first match at Blackpool. Last year they won the League 1 title, winning a remarkable 15 games away from home.

Doncaster come into this match with optimism but they are going to meet a Wigan team that needs the three points and will be keen to impress the home crowd. A Wigan win is on the cards.

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A Sunderland fan’s view on James McClean

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

McCleanAs the Owen Coyle revolution continues so too does our coverage of Wigan Athletic’s new signings. This week’s insight comes thanks to Martyn McFadden and Matthew Wear of Sunderland fan site “A Love Supreme”.

Matthew shares his views on most recent signing James McClean. He likens the player with Marmite- an interesting comparison!

Here is Matthew’s article:

In his time with Sunderland, there was a lot of side-taking for the Irish International. He was a little like marmite, either you love him or you hate him. He signed for us for a mere £300,000 from League of Ireland side Derry City, and under Steve Bruce it was seemingly a signing for the future.

However, due to his impressive performances in the reserve side he was placed on the bench but didn’t appear till Martin O’Neill’s first game in charge, which wasn’t until December, and many credited McClean for changing the game around in our favour.

For the rest of the 2011-12 season, McClean was in fantastic form as it seemed he had no fear taking on defenders from the top teams in the land and not being put off by them. Many SAFC fans believed we had unearthed a gem in McClean who would shine for us for years to come.

 In his first half-season he played 29 games, scoring 6 goals and putting in some fantastic displays. With a great season behind him McClean was called up to the Republic of Ireland squad for Euro 2012 but only making a substitute appearance against champions Spain. Many fans criticised Giovanni Trapattoni as they felt McClean warranted more game time than what he actually got during the tournament.

As the 2012-13 season rolled about fans were expecting as good as, if not better performances from McClean. But throughout the season, his off-field antics overshadowed his time on the pitch. The controversy surrounding the poppy situation lead to death threats from many fans across the country as he refused to wear the Sunderland shirt with a poppy sewn into the kit and instead chose not to. A lot of our fans then turned their backs on the Irishman, which subsequently lead to a loss of confidence on the pitch.

However it was later revealed that 6 people from the estate he grew up on, were shot by the British Military in 1972. But despite this he was unable to shrug off the booing, which despite what he has done, wasn’t warranted in my opinion.

This all culminated with a very, very poor season by the whole of the SAFC  team, but the majority of the blame fell onto McClean as he was in the middle of the controversy with the poppy. However, his form did drop dramatically in comparison to his debut season as he was labelled a ‘one trick pony’ by many fans and in 41 games he scored 5 goals. Lots of SAFC fans believed he had been found out and his success in the previous season was only because no one knew who he was or how to defend against him.

But despite all this, personally I wish all the best to the lad as I feel that in a new club like Wigan, who themselves still have some quality players who have played in the Premiership, he will thrive and possibly help them push for a place back in the top flight.

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Bournemouth 1 Wigan Athletic 0 – the end of the Honeymoon Period

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Match Reports, Other and tagged with , ,
Scott Carson was Wigan's best player in a disappointing performance.

Scott Carson was Wigan’s best player in a disappointing team performance.

The honeymoon period for Owen Coyle and the FA Cup winners came to an end at Dean Court.

Latics were brought back to reality as a nervy, but resolute, Bournemouth team proved strong opposition. A succession of errors by Wigan handed the initiative to the home side who took full advantage of a weak performance from referee Graham Scott.

Wigan had brought back Jean Beausejour in place of James McClean on the left wing. Shaun Maloney was to operate in central midfield together with James McCarthy, James McArthur and Ben Watson. By packing his midfield Coyle had to sacrifice width, the result being that Latics rarely looked dangerous in open play in the first half.

The game opened with an error from Wigan in the first minute. McArthur’s slack pass allowed the home side to set up a clear chance for Lewis Grabban but Scott Carson blocked his shot. Latics had to work hard to contain a lively home team but it looked like they were heading to half time with a clean sheet. That was not to be as James Perch lost his concentration and sent a back pass directly to Grabban who took his goal well.

Wigan started the second half with another major error as Beausejour’s clumsy challenge on Brett Pitman resulted in a penalty.  The same player was to see his penalty kick saved by Carson diving to his left. Beausejour was substituted after 56 minutes, together with McArthur. The result was a much more attacking shape for Latics as Coyle brought on wingers Callum McManaman and James McClean.

However, three minutes later McManaman was sent off after the Bournemouth players, staff and crowd put pressure on the referee. In a match where a number of rough challenges had been ignored by the referee, he nevertheless decided that McManaman’s tackle on Pitman merited a straight red card.It hardly looked even a foul.

Ten man Wigan took the game to Bournemouth but could not find a way through. The nearest was a header from Leon Barnett cleared off the line.

The Good

Scott Carson kept Latics in the game with a series of fine saves, including a penalty stop. The big Cumbrian looks like a bargain signing.

It was good to see Coyle throw caution to the wind when he switched to an attacking 4-3-3 formation with McManaman and McClean on the wings, Grant Holt leading the attack and Maloney in an advanced midfield role. It is an option that he may well choose to employ during the course of the season.

The Bad

In their eight years in the Premier League Latics suffered a host of bad refereeing decisions. When they faced the top clubs it was almost an expectation that they would receive no favours from the referee.

This is less likely to be the case in the more egalitarian Championship. However, referees are going to be influenced by the crowd and the pressure of home players. This was certainly the case in this match where the referee and his team made some poor decisions to Bournemouth’s benefit.

Latics’ midfield disappointed: they were unable to provide the central strikers with clear chances for goal and they did not get in the area enough to trouble the Cherries defence. Too often the final pass was a hopeful centre. Moreover the lack of width stifled Wigan’s play.

Although it would be easy to blame the referee for Latics’ woes it was their own errors that handed the initiative to the Cherries.

Player ratings

Scott Carson: 8 – showed his experience and technique with his shot-stopping. His distribution still needs improvement, his long punts being easily dealt with by the opposing defence.

Emmerson Boyce: 6 – solid in defence.

Leon Barnett: 7 – continues to play well. Made a number of timely interceptions.

James Perch: 5 – strangely off-key, not only with the back pass that led Bournemouth’s goal.

Stephen Crainey: 5 – worked hard defensively, but his passing needs a lot of improvement.

Ben Watson: 5 – worked hard, but to no avail. His long diagonal passes continue to go astray.

James McCarthy: 5 – disappointing. Still adjusting to his more attacking role.

James McArthur: 5 – not at his sharpest. Taken off after 56 minutes.

Shaun Maloney: 5 – busy as always, but not at his best. Did not produce the kinds of incisive passes that are his trademark.

Grant Holt: 6 – worked hard as always and showed his skill with some nice passes in the first half. Substituted after 65 minutes.

Jean Beausejour: 5 – out of sorts and careless in giving away the penalty. Taken off after 56 minutes.

Substitutes

Callum McManaman: – is the so called “horror tackle” of last season going to haunt him and influence referees against him? Let’s hope that referees will give him a fair crack of the whip this season.

James McClean: – petulant and ineffective.

Marc-Antoine Fortune: – came on after 61 minutes for Holt.  He too was to be starved of decent service from the midfield.

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