Tag Archives: Ben Watson

LIVERPOOL 3 WIGAN ATHLETIC 0 – WHAT A DIFFERENCE A GOAL MAKES

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

Once again a defensive lapse led to an opening goal, from which Latics were never going to recover. Wigan had managed to stifle Liverpool during a poor quality first half and the home team had not looked like scoring. Neither had Wigan. Latics had a body blow after 32 minutes as Ben Watson suffered a broken leg following a tackle by Raheem Sterling.

However, just after half time, loose build-up play put Maynor Figueroa into a 50-50 situation with Sterling. More often than not  Figueroa would win such a tackle, but having already picked up a yellow card in the first half, he backed off. Sterling ran through and passed to Luis Suarez who scored. Only one goal but effectively it was “Game Over” as Liverpool’s tails were raised and Latics played like a team that had no faith that they could get back into the match. By the end of the game Latics had made Liverpool look a good team, which they are not.

Liverpool had dispensed with the Martinez-like back three that they employed at Chelsea the previous week. Their lineup was unbalanced with the right footed Glen Johnson on the left of the back four and the natural left back, Jose Enrique, in midfield. Rodgers seemed to have lost his rag completely when he made a tactical substitution after only 35 minutes, replacing the inconspicuous Suso with the workmanlike Henderson. However, once that first goal had gone in it looked like Rodgers’ tactical lineup was right after all. Predictably the in-form Suarez was Liverpool’s outstanding player and the main difference between the two teams. Enrique too had a fine second half, enjoying the lack of composure of Wigan’s defence and midfield.

The Good

In the first half Latics had played well defensively, although it was worrying to see how little ambition they showed in trying to put the ball into Liverpool’s net.

The Bad

It was sad to see Ben Watson leave the field with a major injury, just when he was getting back on top of his game. Let’s hope he has a speedy recovery.

When Latics fall behind they just cannot raise the tempo of their play sufficiently to cause concern for the opponent’s defence. Wigan created very little going forward, bar a couple of poor finishes from Jones and Gomez in the second half, when in good positions.

All in all – a match best forgotten.

Player Ratings

Ali Al Habsi: 6 – played well, apart from only being able to parry Sterling’s shot leading to Enrique’s goal.

Emmerson Boyce: 5 – not his best day.

Ivan Ramis: 5.5 – the best in defence, tried to stem the flow of opposition attacks on the defence.

Gary Caldwell: 5 – played well in the first half, but faded. Substituted after 69 minutes when Martinez reverted to a flat back four.

Maynor Figueroa: 5 – not his best day.

Jean Beausejour: 5 – not his best day. His poor backpass led to the first goal.

James McCarthy: 5 – looked lost in the second half without McArthur or Watson alongside him.

Ben Watson: 6 – played pretty well until his inopportune injury.

Shaun Maloney: 5 – ineffective.

Franco Di Santo: 4.5 – could not get into the game. Should have been taken off earlier than the 69th minute when he was substituted.

Arouna Kone: 5 – an afternoon of hard toil for the big centre forward, with poor service being supplied to him.

Substitutes

David Jones: 3 – anonymous after coming on for Watson on the  32 minute mark.

Jordi Gomez: 3– ineffective and lightweight,  coming on after 69 minutes.

Ryo Miyaichi: 5 – tightly marked and did not receive one pass for him to utilize his pace. Came on after 69 minutes.

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.

STOKE CITY 2 WIGAN ATHLETIC 2: A HARD EARNED POINT

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

Ben Watson made a welcome reappearance off the bench to salvage a well deserved point for Latics. A 10 man Latics team were trailing 2-1 when Hugo Rodallega was pulled down in the penalty box. The usual penalty taker, Jordi Gomez, had already been substituted so Martinez had a tough decision to make. It turned out to be an inspired decision, Watson hitting home the penalty with aplomb after being pulled off the bench to take it.

As expected Latics had to withstand the usual aerial bombardment from Stoke with multiple long throws form Rory Delap, although the wing backs did well in keeping in check the dangerous wingers, Pennant and Etherington. The stats tell us that Stoke only had two shots on target the whole game, whereas Wigan had six. Moreover Ali Al Habsi did not have a direct shot to save whereas Stoke’s Sorensen had four, although Wigan had a slice of luck in the 60th minute when a header from Huth hit the post and fell into al Habsi’s welcoming arms. In between the aerial bombardment we saw the usual ruthless tackling from Stoke, with Latics getting minimal protection from the referee. Victor Moses in particularly was heavily marked.

Latics had taken the lead in the 45th minute after Ronnie Stam fed Hugo Rodallega who put in a low cross from the right wing for Victor Moses to score with clinical precision. Stoke restarted in the second half in their usual style –or lack of it – with further aerial bombardment. The ineffective Etherington was taken off in the 73rd minute to be replaced by Cameron Jerome, who had an immediate effect. His 77th minute header was going towards goal to be blocked by a flayling hand by Gary Caldwell. Jonathan Walters scored the penalty and Caldwell was sent off. In Caldwell’s absence Jerome scored a beautifully taken second, running through from a flick-on to score. However, the 10 man Latics refused to give up and got their just rewards through Watson’s equalizing penalty in the 87th minute.

What a pity Stoke City want to play predominantly ‘route one’ football. Although most of the defenders who played for them yesterday are thuggish in their approach they nevertheless have a good squad of very capable footballers. Their squad is much more expensively put together than that of Latics – Kenwynne Jones, a high quality central striker was brought on only in the 90th minute, the kind of luxury Wigan Athletic cannot afford. In fact Stoke have at least five top class strikers – Crouch, Walters, Jerome, Jones and Fuller – to call on.

For some reason the referee played 5 minutes of additional time a t the end of the 90 minutes. I am not sure where this came from. Did he allow added tine to compensate for the accumulated time wasted by Rory Delap every time he took a long throw? Surely referees should take action against Delap who spends time drying the ball before he throws it? For the sake of argument let’s say it took Delap two minutes to deliver each throw and he put in 15 of them. The staggering total is 30 minutes in a 90 minute period. Referees should insist on him taking his throws quickly. Although it is Stoke’s main goalscoring weapon the sheer frequency of these throws and the time lost makes for a disjointed match for the neutral observer.

The Good

Sterling defensive work by Latics, withstanding the aerial bombardment for most of the game. Hats off to Latics for continuing to try to play good football against a team that takes no prisoners.

The Bad

The penalty and sending off of Gary Caldwell. The defence has been working well as a unit in recent games and Caldwell has been pivotal. One can never be sure but it looked like deliberate hand ball to me and if this is the case then Caldwell let his team down.

A Neutral Might Say

Two teams with different styles made for an entertaining game by and large. A draw was a fair result.

Player Ratings

Ali Al Habsi: 7 – Persevered when the balls were flying into his box. Not an easy game for him.

Ronnie Stam: 8 – Snuffed out the danger of Etherington, showing a determination in his tackling that we have rarely seen before. Got forward and supported the attack, setting up Rodallega for Moses’ goal and having a good shot turned away by Sorensen.

Antolin Alcaraz: 7 – A key member of a defence. Sometimes he can make the game look easy.

Gary Caldwell: 6 – Excellent until his sending off that could have lost Latics the game.

Maynor Figueroa: 7 – Quietly confident, did the simple things well.

David Jones: 7 – One of his better performances defensively, keeping Pennant on a tight leash.

James McCarthy: 7 – Worked tirelessly for the team, making decisive defensive interventions. Covered a huge amount of ground.

Mohammed Diame: 7 – Classy. Worked hard against a combative Stoke midfield.

Jordi Gomez: 7 – Once again played the role of midfield general. Worked hard for the benefit of his team.

Victor Moses: 7 – Stoke did their homework and marked him closely.Took his goal like a seasoned campaigner.

Hugo Rodallaga: 7 – One of his better performances this season. Worked hard with little support. Assisted in both goals.

Substitutes:

Steve Gohouri – Not on the field long enough to make an assessment of his performance.

Ben Watson – What a pleasure to see this fine player back on the pitch showing great coolness with his penalty.