TOTTENHAM-WIGAN ATHLETIC PREVIEW – NOT DOWN AND OUT

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

A game against Tottenham at White Hart Lane would appear a daunting task for a struggling team which has not won in its last 7 league matches. Tottenham currently stand third in the table and have lost only one of their 11 home games this season. Are this Latics team that has kept only one clean sheet in 19 games in for a thumping?

We remain in a doom and gloom period with relegation staring us in the face. Not only are we bottom of the Premier League but we have a lot of players out of contract at the end of the season. Rodallega may well go in the next 24 hours, but it would be depressing for the club to lose a player like Diame for nothing, given all the work that has been put in to developing him into the well balanced player he is today. If it were not for his presence in the African Nations Cup maybe he would have been subject to the January sales too? It sounds like he will be going at the end of the season, as also could Maynor Figueroa, Jordi Gomez, Steve Gohouri and Chris Kirkland. There is a significant amount of angry and negative stuff being banded about the internet by Latics followers – not surprising given current circumstances – but writing off particular players as being not up to par is not going to help anybody. Playing in a struggling team affects the confidence of all the players and only the goalkeeper, Ali Al Habsi, has managed to play consistently well in this underperforming team.

Let’s keep the faith! After all what have Wigan Athletic got to lose in this Tottenham match? When you are counted out by so many people and are seemingly at rock bottom where do you go? It could be that we get a performance like that of the 9-1 White Hart Lane thumping in Martinez’ first season. Or maybe the opposite – like the 1-0 win in his second? The team news is that Defoe and Lennon – both of whom have caused so much damage to us in previous seasons – are injury doubts. For Wigan the return of David Jones from injury could mean a return to the three centre halves system. In the continued absence of Alcaraz the three would most likely be Boyce, Caldwell and Figueroa. The skilful new signing Jean Beausejour could appear at some stage of the proceedings.

Sometimes when you feel you have nothing to lose then you approach things in a different way. Hopefully that will be the case tonight and Wigan Athletic will defy the bookmakers heavy odds and get a result at Tottenham. More importantly let’s defy the odds and stay in the Premier League this season – we are by no means down and out yet!

QUEENS PARK RANGERS 3 WIGAN ATHLETIC 1 – A SENSE OF FOREBODING

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

An hour before any Wigan Athletic game is due to start I like to trawl along to the official club website and look for news of the team lineup. I did it last weekend and got an immediate sense of foreboding. Gohouri in for Alcaraz and only one winger in the lineup. A return to playing Jordi Gomez on the right wing? A question of pack your team with midfield players to stifle the opposition? Then maybe bring on another attack minded player later? Was this to be the way to get a good result against another struggling team?

My sense of foreboding was to be temporarily lifted in the first few minutes with Latics going close to scoring on a couple of occasions. However, this was to be only a temporary respite. Wigan were playing without any attacking player on the right. Gomez would track back to help Boyce when the opposition attacked on their left, then move back to a central midfield position to receive the ball. As the half progressed a nervy QPR started to get on top. Their nerves were calmed after 32 minutes when James McCarthy idiotically palmed the ball away from a Barton corner. Helguson scored the resulting penalty with ease. The situation was exacerbated in the 45th minute when Gohouri ‘s trip on Campbell gave Buzsaky the chance to curl a wonderful free kick in off the post.

Martinez brought on Conor Sammon after the break for McArthur – an attacking move but still leaving Wigan with only one real wide player, Victor Moses. However, Albert Crusat was to be brought on the 61st minute, with Latics scoring four minutes later. Set pieces really have not been Wigan’s speciality in the Martinez era and when I saw Hugo Rodallega stride up to take a free kick it did not ease my sense of foreboding. I had visions of his kick hitting the spectator on the back row of the stand behind the goal, but had a pleasant surprise as he stroked the ball home with aplomb from 25 yards. Well done, Hugo! However, after 73 minutes the referee gave QPR a ridiculous second penalty, once more against Gary Caldwell, but Al Habsi pulled off a wonderful save. Once again the goalkeeper had been Latics best player and kept us in the game. The nail in the coffin came when Tommy Smith hit a beauty from 30 yards from open play in the 81st minute.

The Good

Another goal for Hugo Rodallega who is regaining his form. Yet another excellent goalkeeping display from Ali Al Habsi.

The Bad

The last time I had that same kind of foreboding feeling was when I saw the team sheet against Bolton in mid October. We had only one wide player – with James McCarthy nominally on the left wing – and the end result was a 3-1 defeat to a struggling team. This was like déjà vu.

Who knows what might have happened had James McCarthy not palmed away the ball after 32 minutes. It changed the game, giving QPR that confidence that they did not have before. However, let’s not beat about the bush here. When you play with a lone central striker you need two natural wide players to provide an attacking threat and to give balance. The sight of Emmerson Boyce moving into the opponent’s half and putting in long crosses was depressing. No blame attached to Boyce here – what else could he do with nobody else supporting him on that side of the pitch?

During the Martinez era we have seen some good football mixed with farcical errors. More often than not individual errors have lost us matches, or their mistakes have proved to be turning points in converting potential victory into defeat. It is hard to blame the manager for individual errors. This is largely down to the players, probably related to their lack of self confidence. Martinez has to operate a relatively low budget, being unable to bring in the kind of experienced, hardened Premier League pro who demands exhorbitant wages. This means developing players within the club and getting others from overseas leagues or the lower divisions in England. Given the club’s financial restraints – and I applaud Dave Whelan on his insistence on coming close to balancing the books – it means that the club needs to operate a “farm system” to survive. Put simply we need to develop players and sell the odd one each summer to keep the whole thing going. The trick is to have the replacement player groomed to take over from the one due to depart. Last year Charles N’Zogbia was to be the departing star, Victor Moses his potential replacement. Unfortunately Moses struggled with injury for part of last season and just did not get enough appearances under his belt. The result has been that this season he has shown huge promise, but so often the final pass or shot has been lacking. Centre forward has been a problem position under Martinez. This season Rodallega has been off form and has not signed a new contract. Neither Di Santo not Sammon has shown sufficient consistency or self belief to command a regular place.

The manager has a difficult job in terms of the tight budget he has to work within and in getting players to come to what is perceived to be a small club. The irony of the situation is that this year we have probably as good a squad as we have had in the past seven Premier League seasons. It is that self-belief that remains lacking among the players, following an accumulation of horrendous thrashings against top four clubs and the frustrations of individual errors giving the points away against average, and often less than average, teams. A few weeks ago I commended Roberto Martinez on his tactical innovation of playing with three central defenders. It was a welcome change from a manager who had not shown such tactical flexibility in the past. If he has an Achilles heel as a manager then it is in this area.

So Martinez has shown that he is able to adapt his tactics to suit the players he has at his disposal. He will almost certainly continue to pack his midfield and play with a lone centre forward. That is something I do not love, but which I can live with. However, I have to admit my frustration at his repeated tactic of playing either a centre forward or central midfield player on the flanks. Hugo Rodallaga has time and time again shown that he is not a left winger. He simply does not have the dribbling skills or the pace to play in that position. Neither do I want to see Franco di Santo or Conor Sammon assigned to the wings. If we have a lone centre forward let’s at least have two genuine wide players to pose an attacking threat on each side of the pitch. Please, please, please – let’s not see Jordi Gomez nominally on the right wing! Play him in his natural position in the centre of midfield.

Player Ratings

Ali Al Habsi: 9 – Another excellent display. Kept Latics in the game.

Emmerson Boyce: 5 – Had to go off after 69 minutes. Has made too few appearances in the past two seasons. Let’s hope he can get back to the match fitness that is required for him to be a regular fixture.

Steve Gohouri: 5 – Lacks confidence. He has never had a long run inn the team in his natural position as a centre half.

Gary Caldwell: 5 – Is this controversial player a target for referees? I doubt whether the second half penalty given against him would have happened with most centre halves.

Maynor Figueroa: 5 – Once more tried hard but was left exposed at times.
James McCarthy: 5 – Giving away the penalty was not typical of him. He is a mature player for his age, but maybe the nerves are getting to him too.

Ben Watson: 5 – Solid, but uninspired.

James McArthur: 6 – Industrious as usual. Taken off at half time.

Jordi Gomez: 5 – Ineffective in his hybrid role. Substituted after 61 minutes.

Victor Moses: 6 – Tried hard despite the lack of good service coming to him.

Hugo Rodallega: 6 – Worked hard, scored an excellent free kick.

Substitutes


Conor Sammon: 5 – Huffed and puffed, but no end result.

Albert Crusat: – Did not get a lot of the ball. What a shame he was not on at the start.

Ronnie Stam: – took over from Boyce, but had a frustrating time.

QPR-WIGAN ATHLETIC PREVIEW

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

In the first three matches of the season Wigan Athletic had to play the three promoted teams. They drew with Norwich and Swansea –games they should have won – and beat Queens Park Rangers 2-0 in a game they were rather  lucky to win. Two spectacular deflected goals from Franco Di Santo won the game for Wigan, although QPR came close. Football is a strange game.

Away at QPR – another  “must win” match for Latics? Last year Wigan Athletic stayed up largely due to their excellent record against the bottom teams. This year things have not worked out too well against teams currently in the bottom seven.  At home – a win against QPR, defeats to Bolton and Fulham , a draw with Blackburn. Away– a defeat at Wolves and a win at West Bromwich. Overall the progress so far is P6 W2 D1 L3, with four of the six matches being played at home. A good result at QPR will help redress the balance.

Let’s keep the faith! There has been too much doom and gloom among Wigan Athletic supporters in the past couple of weeks. Yes we are a small fish in a big pond. We are the minnows that the big clubs want to nibble. But we are a proud club and we are far from finished this season. Of course Latics  will be found wanting in defence against the attacking quality of a super-luxury Manchester City team, but this does not mean we cannot stay up. Good performances against other teams with their backs against the wall, can make a huge difference. Dave Whelan is right to insist on balancing the books and ensuring our short term future. He is the wonderful driving force behind the club – let’s hope he can hang in there a few years longer.

However, his protege, Roberto Martinez, does not have the “luxury” that his predecessor Steve Bruce had in offering over-the-odds salaries to often less than wonderful players. He has built up a squad capable of staying in the Premier League and better than most in the lower reaches of the division on a meagre budget. What is lacking is confidence, with the accumulation of bad results over the past two seasons having a cumulative effect on the “psyche”of the club. Martinez has players who could comfortably fit in to a top four club, but whose “psyche” has been affected by playing with a struggling team. Every player is affected by playing in such a situation – we should not be too judgmental about their ability to perform the Premier League, given this factor.  There is no player who has played for Wigan Athletic this season who cannot cope with the Premier League demands. Let’s be fair – we can compete with most teams in the division, and even get the odd decent result against the monopolistically rich – and that is a terrific achievement for a small town team. A big transfer kitty for Roberto Martinez in January is not the key – he has the players necessary for Wigan Athletic to stay up – so let’s give him and his team that support.

So what of QPR? They have history, being formed in 1882, from the amalgamation of two clubs, their main players at the time coming from the Queens Park area.  They hold the record of playing at 20 different home grounds in their years in pro-football. They have been at Loftus Road since 1933, except a year at White City in 1962-63. Loftus Road has a current capacity of 18,360.  Their only trophy win was in 1967, when they beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2, coming back from a 2-0 deficit,  in the League Cup, although they were in the third division at the time. One recalls the wonderful football of QPR in the seventies, being graced by the elegance of Rodney Marsh and Stan Bowles, plus that terrific goalkeeper, Phil Parkes.

QPR come back to the Premier League after a 15 year gap. They have a new owner in Tony Fernandes, a Malaysian who has done an incredible job in transforming Air Asia into a huge budget airline. Fernandes has already shown a ruthless streak in dismissing Neil Warnock, who brought them up from the Championship. They have appointed a big name in Mark Hughes, but he has an uphill task in preventing the slide of a team which has only two points from their last nine matches. A win for Latics on Saturday would put a further nail into their coffin.

Roberto Martinez needs to decide on the right tactics to get a good result against QPR. A loss would really knock us down further into the mire. QPR have some seasoned Premier League professionals, many on salaries way above those at Wigan. However, they have only won 1 out of 10  home games this season. They have lost 7 out of the last 9 league games. Hopefully Martinez can get inside his players’ heads and tell them that they can win this match. Yet again, an away win can help transform Wigan Athletic’s  season. Go for it, Wigan!!

WIGAN ATHLETIC 0 MANCHESTER CITY 1 – A VALIANT DISPLAY FROM LATICS

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

A valiant display by Wigan Athletic, but in the end not enough to share the points. It was heartening to see the amount of fight and conviction shown by the Latics against a team way beyond their league in resources and sheer footballing talent. This was certainly no capitulation: no player could be faulted for effort from my viewpoint.

Latics switched their tactical lineup to the old 4-2-1-3 system, with Albert Crusat coming in on the left wing and James McArthur brought in to play the holding midfield role with James McCarthy. Mohamed Diame was absent on Senegal duty and David Jones out injured. Manchester City played Dzeko and Aguero up front and they were to give the Latics central defenders, Caldwell and Alcaraz, a very testing afternoon.

The first 20 minutes or so were really quite open with Wigan attacking with some verve and City promising, but not quite delivering. There was a warning sign after 10 minutes when a cross from Clichy found Dzeko unmarked, but luckily for Wigan he headed wide. It was therefore no surprise when he scored an opportunist header in the 22nd minute from Silva’s free kick. Neither Caldwell nor Alcaraz were close enough to challenge him in his leap. It was a pity to lose a goal like that because Latics had played some good football and had some half chances. Al Habsi made a great save from the dangerous Aguero as the first half was coming to an end.

The first part of the second half saw increasing City pressure, only the excellence of Al Habsi keeping them out. His double saves from Aguero, then from Silva, were absolutely outstanding. Not long after that Aguero skated through the Wigan defence, but somehow Dzeko got in his way and Wigan were let off the hook. Despite this pressure Wigan had still not thrown in the towel and seemed to grow in confidence. Watson and Di Santo were brought on to replace the tiring McArthur and Crusat and Wigan began to attack with some gusto. Their best effort came when a fine pass by Rodallega put McCarthy through, only for his cross shot to be blocked by Hart’s foot.

In the 88th minute Maynor Figueroa deliberately handled the ball when Aguero would have been clean through. He was fortunate to escape with a yellow card, although much has been made in the press since of Mancini’s cynical waving of the imaginary red card at the refereeing team. Mancini should have no complaints about the refereeing: practically every time City went down they got a foul whereas they were not afraid to stifle any attacking intent from Latics with tactical/professional fouling. City average over 12 fouls per game this season, significantly higher than those other clubs in the top six. The match stats read 17 fouls committed by Wigan and 15 by City, but those figures could have been easily reversed given the number of calls he made for 50-50 challenges, almost all of which went against Latics. Both teams finished with 3 yellow cards.

The Good

Martinez showed tactical flexibility in reverting to the old system and the lineup was well balanced. He played with three front players plus Jordi Gomez in the hole behind the centre forward. A bold move against such formidable opposition. Latics played some good football at times and, with luck, could have snatched a result in the last 20 minutes. There was certainly no capitulation and they were taking the game to City in that last quarter of the match. A spirited performance.

The Bad

The defence looked leaky throughout, despite really gritty efforts from the back four to hold back the floodgates. Having said that Dzeko and Aguero are two of the best strikers in the league and are going to cause problems for any defence. However, failing to challenge Dzeko in the air led to one goal and it was lucky it was not two in the first half.

Player Ratings

Ali Al Habsi: 9 – Another superb display. Kept Latics in the game with outstanding saves.

Ronnie Stam: 5 – Has been outstanding in recent games as a wing back, but in this game he had to revert to full back, where he struggles.

Antolin Alcaraz: 4 – The poorest game I have seen him play for Latics. We rely on him to win the ball in the air and he did not do it enough in this match.

Gary Caldwell: 4 – At times looked out of his depth. Tends to really struggle against the quality strikers of the top teams.

Maynor Figueroa: 5 – Not one of his best days, but as always he hung in there and tried his hardest. Lucky not to be sent off.

James McCarthy: 8 – Worked tirelessly in shielding his defence from the City onslaught, showing good skills. Good to see him getting forward, unlucky with his shot on goal in the second half.

James McArthur: 6 – The perennial substitute was given a starting role in the Premier League for only the second time this year. Given his lack of match practice he did a pretty good job. Although he misplaced some passes he did a lot of solid defensive work and put some nice balls forward. Showed his technique with a good snap-shot in the first half.

Jordi Gomez: 7 – Worked hard to try to engineer Latics attacks. Put in some nice touches and covered a lot of ground.

Victor Moses: 5 – Was too greedy in this match, too many times opting to dribble when teammates were in better positions awaiting a pass.

Hugo Rodallega: 7 – Worked tirelessly as the lone centre forward. Gradually regaining his form.

Albert Crusat: 6 – Hardly got the ball. Looked good when he had it. Showing improvement in the defensive side of his game.

Substitutes

Ben Watson: – Surprising to see McArthur preferred to him in the starting line-up. Did a useful job after coming on in the 68th minute.

Franco Di Santo – Tried hard but to no end result after coming on in the 68th minute.

Callum McNamaman – Only came on in the last 10 minutes and had little chance to shine.

What happened to the FA Cup? A post mortem

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

Wigan Athletic have enjoyed some unforgettable moments in the FA Cup. My fondest memory remains a trip to Maine Road to play European Cup Winners Cup holders Manchester City, in January 1971. A fine Man City footballing team full of household names like Bell, Summerbee, and Young, playing against non-league Wigan. There were more than 45,000 people there that day, estimates of 20,000 of them traveling from Wigan. Those were the days of Geoff Davies as Latics’ centre forward. Signed from Northwich for £800, Geoff scored five hat tricks in his first three months, ending up with 42 goals for the season. Latics were unlucky to be losing 1-0 to a Colin Bell goal after 83 minutes following a bad goal kick from their admirable goalkeeper, Dennis Reeves. He had split his boot but apparently did not want to lose his concentration by stopping the play. You can see it here. In the last minute, Geoff Davies had a superb header pawed onto the post by the excellent Joe Corrigan. An unlucky ending for Gordon Milne’s  Latics team whose performance brought great pride to its supporters.

I also recall watching Latics play Leeds United in the sixth round of the FA Cup in 1987. It was a scrappy affair played at a windswept Springfield Park. Sixth round remains the furthest Latics have reached in the FA Cup. When I was a little kid my Dad would talk about the epic cup ties with First Division Newcastle United in the 1953-54 season, with Latics drawing away 3-3 and being on the side of unfortunate refereeing decisions in the 2-3 reverse in the replay. That was the same season a crowd of 27,526 watched them beat non-league Hereford at Springfield Park. The figure remains a record home crowd for Wigan Athletic and also a record for two non-league teams playing at a non-league ground.

Then things changed. In the summer of 1999, Manchester United were given the opportunity to withdraw from the FA Cup for the 1999-2000 season. The reason was political: the FA wanted them to take part in the World Club Championship in Brazil. Alex Ferguson was later quoted “I regretted it because we got nothing but stick and terrible criticism for not being in the FA Cup when really, it wasn’t our fault. The FA and the government felt that playing in this tournament would help England’s bid to host the 2006 World Cup. There was a lot of undue criticism – but it was a great two-week break.” United crashed out in the first round in Brazil, England would fail in their World Cup bid, but Ferguson’s team would go on to win the Premier League by an unbelievable 18 points.

The world’s oldest competition has never recovered from that. United’s withdrawal sparked a downward spiral. How sad it is these days to see Premier League clubs fielding weak teams, citing the overriding importance of their league position. Wigan Athletic’s FA Cup record since joining the Premier League has been less than impressive. They have won 3, drawn 4 and lost 6 in the FA Cup. Last week’s debacle at Swindon is the second time they have lost to a League 2 side, having been defeated 2-0 by Notts County at the DW Stadium in 2009-2010. They have not progressed beyond the fourth round since arriving in the Premier League.

I have read some really good articles on Latics fan sites about last week’s performance against Swindon. I commend those Latics fanatics for the way they have tried to provide a factual kind of report, rather than lambast the players involved. Being Latics fans we need to have thick skins, having been through the real lows of 9-1 and 8-0 defeats to London sides in recent years. However, capitulation to big clubs like Tottenham and Chelsea is one thing, but losing so badly to teams from League 2 twice in three years is hard to take. Roberto Martinez has a great knack of stressing the positives and this time he singled out the performances of Callum McManaman and Jordan Mustoe in the Swindon game. McManaman was excellent during the first half, although he faded out in the second. Mustoe did not look out of place, but hardly excelled. Apart from the goalkeeper the rest were truly mediocre. In the second half it looked like Latics were going through a training exercise, there being so little dynamism and commitment. Supposedly the team was composed largely of fringe players bursting to prove themselves and get into the first team. That certainly did not look the case. Frankly it looked like many of them did not care. The stats show that Latics committed 4 fouls, a long way from their season’s Premier League average of 13 per game. Despite only committing so few fouls they received 3 yellow cards. Hard stats to digest! Moreover if either team played the classier football it was almost certainly Swindon. Hats off to Di Canio for his approach, but let’s not forget they were aided and abetted by a lack of commitment by their opponents.

So what is it with Latics and the FA Cup these days? Although there were two young players in the starting lineup the rest were seasoned Premier League squad players. Did those fringe players really believe that a good performance could edge them back into the first team? If so why did we not visibly see more effort from them? Was it already in their heads that the result did not matter? I simply cannot fathom this. Following the Tottenham drubbing a group of players got together to offer traveling fans their money back. Given how low those players must have felt at the time it was a magnificent gesture. I wonder if the players who underperformed at Swindon would think in a similar way?

Latics need to decide what they want from the FA Cup and give their fans due notice. I feel sorry for the dedicated fans who traveled to Swindon to watch that match. What alternatives do Latics have if they remain in the Premier League next year and the FA Cup comes up once again? One is to put their strongest team on the pitch and actually try to win. Another is to do what they have done in recent years and frustrate their fans to the point of losing their support. A third is to play the development squad and not worry about the result. A  fourth is to seek FA approval to withdraw from the competition. Whatever the decision it is my view that the FA needs to take a look at how it can revive the world’s oldest football competition, so that teams like Wigan Athletic will once again treat it seriously.