Defensive crisis deepens as Fig’s penalty karma catches up with him

Posted by Ned in Other

The first goal is important enough in matches like these between teams on the same points tally, but when it comes with a red card to one of your centre-backs away from home, it’s game, set and match. Especially when your three first choice centre-backs are already missing through injury.

The foul itself was nothing much and may not even have been given in other circumstances. But it also wasn’t egregious enough to launch any kind of appeal, which means Wigan will be without yet another defender for the upcoming home fixture against QPR. The second goal knocked the stuffing out of Latics, but despite a spirited start to the second half, the game was done and dusted with a wonder strike against the run of play.

The Good:

Latics’ second half response was very good. Despite being down to 10 men, Roberto’s men looked the better team until the third goal flew in. Ronnie Stam’s attacking performance in the second half was outstanding and he was the team’s most creative player. Adrian Lopez, introduced at half-time for an off-the-pace Gary Caldwell, enjoyed another good performance and will surely start against QPR unless there are multiple recoveries in the interim. No injuries.

The Bad:

Maynor Figueroa has been lucky with 50-50s in the box this season and his penalty karma finally caught up with him. It may not have warranted both penalty and red card, but it effectively lost his team the match.

Ali Al-Habsi’s confidence is a worry. It is harsh to blame him for the second goal, although he could have parried the ball away from the onrushing Demba Ba. But he looked uncharacteristically wobbly throughout.

Latics’ at times looked shellshocked and clueless. While this was most frustrating in the first half, there was a moment in the second when a free-kick in a promising position was played sideways, then backwards, ending up at Ali Al-Habsi’s feet. Even the Newcastle crowd didn’t know what to make of it. We Martinez’s instructions, at that point (3-0 down), simply to keep the ball and limit the severity of the defeat?

Gary Caldwell’s return was more than a little bit wobbly, and he was fortunate not to have been sent off for a clumsy tackle in the first half. He’ll need to be stronger if he is to lead a makeshift defence for the next few fixtures.

Player Ratings:

Ali Al-Habsi: 5 — His weakest form I can remember. The mistake against Reading was bizarre, but ultimately not a problem. The mistake against City was less severe but more important, tipping the encounter in City’s favour. Today’s performance was jittery. Some will argue the second goal was his fault. He needs a couple big saves to regain composure.

Emmerson Boyce: 7 — One of the better performers, didn’t let anyone down at right centre-half.

Gary Caldwell: 5 — One to forget. Was probably rushed back due to the defensive injury list. Substituted at half-time for Adrian Lopez.

Maynor Figueroa: 4 — His red card and penalty so early in the game left Latics with too steep a mountain to climb.

Ronnie Stam: 8 — A bright attacking performance from the Dutchman. Served a peach of a ball into the box that Di Santo watched sail by. Got past his man with intelligent movement and trickery, and was involved in all of Latics’ positive attacking play.

Jean Beausejour: 5 — Played most of the game at left centre-half, which was a big ask. Sloppy in possession.

James McCarthy: 6 — Had a lot of work to do but got frustrated and let it affect his football.

Dave Jones: 6 — Passed the ball well and threaded a nice ball through that Kone was unable to control.

Jordi Gomez: N/A — Substituted after the red card to allow tactical re-shuffle.

Franco Di Santo: 6 — Some bright running in first half and his usual work-rate, but was nowhere near any Stam’s crosses.

Arouna Kone: 5 — On his own most of the time, but took heavy touches more than usual and never managed to thread Krul.

Subs:

James McArthur: 7 — Neat in possession, good tackling — had a decent match.

Adrian Lopez: 7 — Looked comfortable and no fault in the third goal.

From the magic sponge to tailored fitness programmes — a history of injuries at Wigan

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

2012-injuries

Photo shows Larry Lloyd’s 4th Division promotion winning team of 1981-82. Lloyd centre second row, Graham Barrow fourth from left back row, Alex Cribley third from right back row. Kenny Banks, trainer, extreme left, back row. Photo from WiganWorld.

Kenny Banks is a name that  more senior Wigan Athletic supporters will remember with great affection. I never saw him play, but I saw him perform miracles as Latics’ trainer from the early 1960s. A player would go down injured — no histrionics in those days, real injuries — and Banks would sprint on to the pitch with his magic sponge. Invariably dressed in a tracksuit, he was as fast as any player on the pitch, despite his age. In those days there were no substitutes — if you went off your team played with 10 men — so Banks’ sponge was of critical importance. Indeed, to an impressionable teenager Kenny Banks was a magician. Even in the coldest nights of winter he would come on and splash the player with his sponge. Somehow the player would rise to his feet and get on with the game.

With seven of their senior players out injured for the Manchester City game on Wednesday, Latics could have used some of Kenny Banks’ magic. Why is it these days that there are so many injuries in the Premier League? Is English football more physical than it used to be?  In Banks’ time as a player — he made 183 appearances for Latics between 1952 and 1958 — and as a trainer spanning two decades at the club, the game was quite brutal at times. In 1962, Latics had a winger – Billy O’Loughlin – who was lightning fast. At times the crowd would say he was ‘fricky’, scared of the rugged slide tackles of those bruising opposition full backs in the old Lancashire Combination. Billy was just streetwise, trying to survive in a tough environment.

In 1980-81, Aston Villa won the First Division. In those days there were 22 teams in the division, so there were 42 games to play. However, they won the league in style, using 14 players all season! Compare that to Wigan Athletic of the present time. In Wednesday’s game against the League champions they were without Alcaraz, Caldwell, Crusat, Maloney, Miyaichi, Ramis and Watson – all injured. This is not to suggest Wigan get more injuries than other teams. In the last 10 games of last season they stayed relatively injury-free with only 13 players being used in their starting lineups.

The most recent posting on the Physioroom website shows that Wigan, Aston Villa and Newcastle are currently having the worst recent injury problems in the Premier League. None of the these three clubs has played up to the level expected of them this season. In contrast, one notes that currently over-performing West Bromwich have the least number of injuries according to the stats.

Injuries affect the form of all teams, irrespective of the size of their squad. The elite clubs have superb squads, which enable them to compete in Europe as well as the Premier League. They typically rotate their teams so that all players keep some degree of match fitness. Most clubs are not in that position and tend to put forward their strongest starting eleven in each match. This means that when they get injuries they have to bring in players lacking in the kind of match fitness that will serve them in a Premier League game. It usually takes them a game or two to get back to the levels required. Ben Watson and David Jones have both proved themselves to be up to the Premier League level this season, although initially they were not at their best. Rotation of the squad is not something that Roberto Martinez has felt confident enough to practice, except in cup ties.

There has been a lot of debate on why there are so many injuries in the Premier League. Oliver Sparrow identifies various factors that might contribute towards such levels of injury. Any player in the fast and furious Premier League will get injured sometime. As a consequence clubs have improved their medical facilities and sports science has come to the fore. Wigan Athletic’s Head of Sports Science, Richard Evans, came from Swansea with Roberto Martinez. According to the club’s website Evans “combines his knowledge of physiotherapy and sports science to help improve the overall fitness of the squad. This role involves designing specific fitness programmes for improvement and to help the rehabilitation of any players that pick up injuries. Evans also fronts the medical staff on match days and can often be seen pitch side.”

Things have changed since Kenny Banks’ days. Footballers now have to be super-fit, stretching their physical limits on a regular basis. Injuries can often come in waves and Wigan Athletic are currently experiencing a spate of them. Fortunately this is the best squad that Wigan have ever had, with strength in depth. However, Roberto Martinez will still breathe easier when all his front-line performers are available once again.

Is there ever a good time to play a good team?

Posted by Ned in Match Previews, News, Specials and tagged with , , , , ,

The business of writing match previews is a repetitive one. Who starts, who misses out, what happened last time and what tactical approach might lead us toward a path of destruction and misery. Hardly original stuff.

But while fans may rejoice at the absence of the opposition’s star striker, or brace themselves when their three natural centre halves are set to miss out through injury, one such pre-game quandary causes more tossing and turning than others: is this a good time to play them?

There is no denying that form influences matches. Confident players are willing to take risks, confident teams are more likely to recover from setbacks, match fitness and sharpness are hugely important. So good form is almost always a good thing.

But lets take Newcastle, in terrible form by their standards. A squad of talented internationals that hyper-achieved last season but have struggled with injuries and morale this time around. A squad that thought they had three points in the bag at the rowdy cauldron that is Stoke’s Britannia Stadium before two smash-and-grab strikes in the last ten minutes spoiled the party and sent them home sad once again.

They are like a wounded animal, out for revenge. They may be in poor form, but will be fired up, out to reverse the curse in front of their rabid home supporters. Who, by the way, will be thinking, “Well, we got robbed at Stoke, but that was always a tricky fixture. Wigan at home next: that should get the good times rolling again!”

And so, is this a good time to play Newcastle?

The Optimist: Yes. They’ll be fired up and throw everything at us in the first 20 minutes. But if we can keep them at bay, the crowd will get on their backs, they’ll start to rush things, and errors will creep into their play. They’ll be under pressure to win convincingly and leave space at the back for our speedy strikers to exploit.

The Pessimist: No. They’ve got a squad full of talented players, returning from injury, who feel they were robbed at Stoke. The focus will be on eliminating the defensive lapses that cost them those points at the Brittania. Pappis Cisse scored on his return to the squad. They have 5-6 players with something to prove, and any of them could win the game for them. We’ve had it.

Case closed, clearly.

What side of the fence do you fall on? Leave us a comment here or on Facebook.

Resistance broken

Posted by Ned in Match Reports, News and tagged with , , , , ,

Roberto Martinez was on the money when he said Wigan Athletic would need to be tactically perfect against defending champions Manchester City — a soft goal halfway through the second half was the difference in this one.

James Milner added a wonder strike two minutes later but probably wouldn’t have gambled on a shot from that far out without the one-nil cushion. It gave City the confidence to attack with verve against a Wigan side that had until that point looked both resilient in defence and composed in attack.

The Good:

The makeshift defence performed admirably. Adrian Lopez was a revelation and is clearly well-suited to a back three. The midfield pairing of James McCarthy and Dave Jones was excellent, as was Franco Di Santo, who skillfully and energetically led a number of breakaways.

All in all, given the injury crisis the club is going through, this was a positive performance against a team full of match-winners. If you’d pulled four starters and several other senior players out of the squad three years ago, it would have guaranteed a hammering. Not so anymore.

The Bad:

A missed opportunity. City were starting to grow frustrated and Wigan were growing in confidence. Al-Habsi’s mistake was his second in two matches. You can get away with it against Reading — just — but not Manchester City. It was effectively game over.

Player Ratings:

Ali Al-Habsi: 5 — Though it pains me to say it, but his mistake led to the goal that changed the game.

Emmerson Boyce: 7 — Could have done better after Ali spilled, loses a point for that. But he was otherwise excellent in his old position.

Adrian Lopez: 8 — A revelation in the Gary Caldwell role. No fault in the goals, made numerous timely interceptions and tackles, and distributed well.

Maynor Figueroa: 7 — One near disastrous backwards header aside, he did well alongside unfamiliar defensive partners.

Jean Beausejour: 6 — Played one delicious cross in the second half but otherwise failed to have a strong impact on the game.

Ronnie Stam: 6 — Rusty. Struggled to get his ball into the box. But he shows promise and could be very useful in the right wingback role in weeks to come. Especially as Boyce appears to be set for an extended run at centre-back.

James McCarthy: 8 — Outstanding. Didn’t put a foot wrong all game. Broke up play and started counter-attacks.

David Jones: 7.5 — His best outing for some time. Good passing, strong tackling.

Jordi Gomez: 6 — Better in the first half, although casual at times. Might have had a penalty shout but stayed on his feet and then went down under lesser contact. Faded as the game went on.

Franco Di Santo: 8 — Broke up play, broke with pace, created opportunities, but often found himself alone.

Arouna Koné: 7 — Linked up well but couldn’t put away any of the half-chances he had.

Subs:

James McArthur: Glad to see him back.

Callum McManaman: Came on with a minute to play for Ronnie Stam. A bit late.

Barry Horne, Jordi Gomez and Wigan’s Plan B

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

It is 10:00 o’clock in the evening in Jakarta and I am about to watch Wigan Athletic’s home match against Reading. I am hoping to enjoy the commentary on the game. When I hear the monotone voice of Barry Horne, I wince. He announces that this is the third consecutive Wigan game he has been allocated — it sounds like a punishment.

With Wigan Athletic losing to a headed goal in the first half I felt a certain degree of frustration. Latics were not taking their chances, they gave away a poor goal to an unchallenged header. A sense of déjà vu? On top of that I had to listen to Horne’s dreary voice and his “expert commentary”. His main issue with Martinez and his teams is that they do not have a “Plan B”. When things don’t go according to plan and Latics fall behind, Horne suggests that there is no immediate tactical response.

On the face of it, Horne has a valid point. When Wigan fall behind there is no increase in tempo, as one would expect from most teams in English football. This was evident on Saturday, when Latics seemed languid after giving away a soft opening goal. The Englishman in me got frustrated, but then I know Martinez’s teams do not follow the usual national pattern. Watch Barcelona fall behind and you see no change in their brand of football: they will eventually grind you down and beat you. The Barcelona style is clearly an inspiration for the Latics’ Catalan manager, but he is savvy enough to know that Latics don’t have the wherewithal to go with it fully.

Watching Wigan Athletic from afar has its ups and downs. There is nothing I love more than being at the DW Stadium, listening to the buzz of the crowd. Wiganers are resilient people and keep up their hopes in times of adversity. The “I’m A Believer” support in the latter part of last season was absolutely superb and helped inspire the team stay up. However, the buzz can dissipate when things are not going so well. When I am there, I seem to get locked into debates with Darksiders who want an English manager who will have his team ‘get stuck in’ and show real commitment. Although in a minority there are still those who would like to oust Roberto Martinez. Jordi Gomez is identified as a player in whom the manager has had faith beyond the norm. It is not only the Darksiders who have had their fill of Gomez. Normal, rational lovers of good football also tend to be polarized when the name of Gomez is mentioned.

The anti-Gomez lobby has been strong. After the Chelsea match, sheltering from the pouring rain outside, I was privy to a conversation where a group of Latics supporters came to the consensus that having Gomez in the team was like playing with ten men. Given his past performances, their comments had some justification, but the consensus was going a little too far. Yes, Gomez as a midfield player was not providing defence-splitting passes, nor was he scoring the goals he could from the good positions he got into. On Saturday Gomez sent a message to his detractors, with not just a fabulous hat trick, but also some fine midfield play. In one fell swoop he vindicated his manager’s trust in him.

As a midfield player Barry Horne was well known for his abrasive tackling, rather than an elegant passing style. He played for 10 clubs in his professional career and 59 times for Wales. Like many football analysts who we listen to on television he can be put in the position of “expert” for the duration of the match. Although I do not enjoy his commentaries very much, maybe he has a point about ‘Plan B’? Are Wigan Athletic capable of taking their game up a gear when going behind? Or is it a case of “Don’t panic, we’ll get there in the end”? One wonders if Jordi Gomez is his type of player? He is now in his fourth year at Wigan and his manager clearly thinks he is the right kind of player for the club. After that stunning second half display against Reading, Gomez deserves a fresh start in the eyes of Wigan Athletic supporters. Let’s get behind him.