Tag Archives: Owen Coyle

Poyet and Wigan

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

The rumours are that Gus Poyet is lined up for the vacant position of Sunderland manager.

A few months ago Dave Whelan was looking for a new manager, but Poyet was still involved in wranglings over his controversial dismissal at Brighton. Where would Wigan Athletic be now if Poyet had taken over at the DW?

Poyet’s Brighton last season had been playing a kind of football akin to that of Wigan Athletic under Roberto Martinez. If Whelan had wanted to carry on the footballing tradition put in place by Martinez, Poyet was the most obvious choice.

Poyet had joined Brighton, struggling in League 1, in November 2009. Within no time the style of play had changed to something unseen before at the south coast club.  Moreover it brought excellent results. Poyet steered the club to safety in that first season, then to the League 1 title in 2010-11, when he was named ‘Manager of the Year’ in the division. Last year Brighton adjusted well and made a late run to reach the playoffs in the Championship, but were thwarted by Crystal Palace.

Why Poyet was sacked soon after remains a mystery, but his record was undeniably good. He had transformed a disjointed, struggling League 1 team into a formidable side who played with an emphasis on skill. Moves built up from the back, with the ball on the ground – not a common sight in the frantic Championship, let alone League 1.

Poyet’s name was one of many banded about by the media to replace Martinez,  but in the end it came down to either Owen Coyle or Steve McClaren, both experienced and capable managers who could do a job for the club. However, once their candidacy was made public the writing was already on the wall for Latics’ playing style, which had been developed over a period of four years at all levels within the club.

Latics were to choose a manager diametrically opposed to the previous one in terms of football philosophy and tactical approach. In contrast, Brighton sought to find someone who could continue to build on the work of Poyet. Oscar Garcia was to be their new appointment.

On his appointment Garcia said that “My obsession is to attack, to attack the opposition, to keep the ball and to have the ball as many times as possible”. They could have been the words of Roberto Martinez or Gus Poyet.

Looking at Garcia’s background it is not surprising that he espouses that philosophy. He was an attacking midfielder for Barcelona in the 1990’s, winning no fewer than 11 trophies in his time with them as a player. From 2010-12 he was in charge of Barcelona’s famous youth academy at La Masia, before going on to take Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Israeli title for the first time in ten years. Maccabi’s owner had wanted to change their philosophy to develop a more attractive style of football.

Neither Garcia at Brighton nor Coyle at Wigan has had an easy start to the season. Brighton and Latics  stand neck-and-neck just below mid-table at this point. Both clubs have had injury problems and have not yet  performed at their best.

It will be interesting to see who is higher in the table at the end of the season. Will it be the club who appointed someone to build on past success by maintaining a certain style of football or will it be the one for which the style is secondary to good results and promotion back to the Premier League?

It seems a long time since Roberto Martinez left Wigan. His Everton team are currently unbeaten and in fourth place in the Premier League. Moreover the quality of their football has noticeably improved in his short tenure there.

Martinez certainly had his up and downs at Wigan, but he proved that a club of relatively modest means can win the FA Cup – on merit, through playing attractive football.

Whether Martinez can maintain the good results at Everton remains to be seen. The Goodison club just don’t have the financial resources to consistently challenge the elite. However, he has certainly confounded his critics and made a good start.

Football would be boring if all teams played in the same way. People like Guardiola and Allardyce have widely different philosophies, but both have produced results out of what they have had available.

The question is not of choosing one style over another, but how to provide progression within a club. Surely Coyle would be wise to build on the good things that Martinez put in place, working on the weaknesses, rather than throwing out the baby with the bathwater. A better defence and a more direct and urgent approach in attack would help.

Only time will tell if Coyle is willing or able to do that. Who knows what would have happened had Poyet been appointed at Wigan in July?

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Progress Report: Owen Coyle

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

Coyle4Owen Coyle surely knows that the npower Championship is not an easy place for a football manager.

He has been there twice before. In the 2008-09 season he was successful, taking Burnley back to the top tier of English football for the first time since 1976. Just over three years later his inability to halt his team’s slide down that same division caused his release by Bolton.

If a manager is looking for longevity at a football club he should steer clear of the Championship, where the average length of stay is much lower than in the Premier League and Leagues 1 and 2. Statistics provided by the League Managers Association put the average length of stay for a Championship club manager at a mere 1.16 years.

The likelihood is that Coyle will spend no more than a year as manager of Wigan Athletic in the Championship. He was appointed on a one year contract with the brief of getting the club back into the Premier League. If he fails to do so it is unlikely that he will stay. If he were to win promotion Dave Whelan would then need to decide if he were the right man to lead the club in the Premier League.

Can Coyle succeed in reaching the goal of getting the club back into the top flight?

Let’s take a look at his progress so far. The grades go on a scale from A (excellent) to E (poor).

Success in the Transfer Market: – A

Coyle was faced with an uphill task when he arrived. The playing squad had been decimated over the summer through players leaving at the end of their contracts. Moreover three of the senior professionals he inherited were recuperating from treatment for long-term injuries.

Coyle has done a remarkable job in bringing in twelve new players, including two on loan. All the players he has brought in are suitable for a Championship promotion run. Some players came in at the ends of their contracts with previous clubs, others for bargain fees.

Moreover he has left the club in a good position financially. The funds he received for the transfers of Mauro Boselli, Arouna Kone and James McCarthy by far outweigh what he has spent on new signings.

Although the transfer window is now closed Coyle continues to scour the market for further loan signings.  When the window opens again in January he will be in a position to spend money were the right player to become available.

Public Relations: – B

Coyle might lack the charisma of his predecessor, but he is eloquent and comes over as a bubbly, positive person with the media. He has made a point of recognizing the importance of the fans. His warm briefing to fans on the aeroplane to Belgium was something special.

Results so far: – C

Latics are currently in 11th place in the Championship, but have a game in hand. At home their record is W2 D2 L0, with an away record of W1 D0 L2.

They got a good result in their first-ever Europa League match, drawing 0-0 against Zulte Waregem in Belgium.

They lost 5-0 at Manchester City in the League Cup.

Given the high proportion of new players in the squad it is not surprising that results up to this point have not reached most fans’ expectations.

Although Coyle’s primary goal is promotion to the Premier League he also has an obligation to fans to ensure that Wigan give a good account of themselves in the Europa League.  Few supporters will be upset with the club’s exit from the League Cup, given that it was Latics’ third game in six days.

Results over the next three months are likely to be unpredictable, with so many matches to play in a packed calendar. However, by January the three long-term injured players – Al Habsi, Caldwell and Ramis – should be back in action and the six matches in the group stage of the Europa League will have been completed. The transfer window will reopen and new players can be brought in to supplement the squad.

Latics need to be in at least a mid-table position in the Championship by the end of December if they are going to make a push towards promotion.

The Balance and Quality of the Playing Squad: – B

Coyle has done well in making sure that there are at least two players competing for every position.

The players he inherited are experienced Premier League players, capable of excelling in the Championship. Many of the players he has brought in had ample Premier League experience;  others had performed at good levels in the Championship.

The squad is particularly high on quality in the areas of goalkeeping and midfield. It is currently light in the area of strikers.

Coyle has recruited largely British or Irish players. Of the three from outside the British Isles two speak good English.  Many of the overseas players brought in by Martinez  left in summer. The benefit is that fewer players are going to come back jet-lagged and exhausted after international breaks, which was problematic in the Martinez era. The higher proportion of  British and Irish players is  going to change not only the languages spoken in the dressing room, but also the style of play.

Coyle has already been unlucky in having key attacking players ruled out by injury. Callum McManaman is still not fully fit and injuries to Grant Holt, Marc-Antoine Fortune and Shaun Maloney have made life difficult for the manager.

The challenge for Coyle is in uniting the new players with those he inherited. Let’s hope there is no truth in the rumours of rifts between the two camps.

Tactics and Team Selection: – D

When a new manager comes in he usually brings with him his own tactical stamp. None has been evident from Coyle up to this stage.

It is still early days but Latics lack a defined playing style. The one consistent feature has been playing with a flat back four. He has put in lineups without attacking width, other times using two wingers. The norm has been a lone centre forward, but he has also fielded twin Continue reading →

Are Grant Holt’s goals the key to Coyle’s revolution?

Posted by Ned in Other, Specials and tagged with ,

holt

The signing of Grant Holt might well be a landmark for Wigan Athletic. The centre-forward’s rise through the divisions mirrors that of the club he has joined – early years in non-league football followed by a period of consolidation in each of the three Football League divisions before enjoying Premier League success. Like Wigan Athletic, he has come up the hard way and he should be very proud of his achievements.

Holt is not the type of player that Roberto Martinez would have been looking at bringing to Wigan. He is often euphemistically called an archetypal, bustling centre forward. There used to be an abundance of those in English football before the advent of the Premier League and subsequent influx of foreign players. They got most of their goals from crosses coming in from the wings after physical battles with centre halves and goalkeepers.

Grant Holt became an icon at Norwich. His goals helped bring them up two divisions, into the Premier League. Coincidentally, he made his top flight debut at the DW Stadium in the first match of the 2011-12 season. He was to end up second leading scorer in the Premier League, in addition to winning his club’s ‘Player of the Season’ award for the third successive year.

It is reported that the 32-year-old has signed a three-year contract at Wigan — a lot for someone his age. Though snapped up at a bargain price, the length of contract was probably necessary bait to secure his services. Owen Coyle has done well to beat off the opposition to this signing.

The new manager has now made seven new signings at the time of writing in a space of just over two weeks. Moreover there is not a single one that looks questionable. He is going for players with the kind of background and experience to get Latics out of the Championship division. The football is not going to be as silky as that we saw in the FA Cup Final, but the parameters have changed and up to this point Coyle’s recruitment looks impressive.

To view Holt as a physical player without much skill would be a mistake. His close control in scoring a superb goal against Everton is one to be savoured.  A brilliantly taken goal against Manchester United also shows his capabilities.

 

Holt’s goals might well send Latics back to the Premier League. The prospect of him getting on the end of those sublime  crosses from Jean Beausejour and the cut backs from the speedy Callum McManaman is mouth watering.

Despite Roberto Martinez continuing to raid Wigan Athetic of players and coaching staff – Arouna Kone, Antolin Alcaraz and Dennis Lawrence being the latest – Owen Coyle has got the club headed in the right direction.

In contrast with previous years new players have been brought in early, allowing them time to settle into the club and its culture. The Coyle dynasty is taking shape quickly, and the signs are encouraging.

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A breath of fresh air from Coyle

Posted by JJ (Tony) in Other, Reflections and tagged with , , , , , ,
coyle2

Owen Coyle – a breath of fresh air

What a breath of fresh air Owen Coyle has brought to Wigan. Like him or loathe him he cannot be criticized for sitting on his backside and waiting for things to happen. Within the place of week he has signed two new players who look like a really good fit for the club. At a time of doom and gloom, when it looked like the heart was being ripped out if the club, he has come in and his positive outlook has already started to lift our spirits.

Wigan Athletic were stuck in limbo during the ”Will he stay or will he go “ saga with Roberto Martinez. Worse was to follow -even before the charismatic Spaniard had been unveiled as Everton manager – there were stories about him raiding his old club for playing and backroom staff. It seemed like he was going to be the main destroyer of the infrastructure he himself had painstakenly built in his four years at Wigan.

Reports suggest that Martinez is coming back from vacation and is ready to start forming his backroom staff at Everton. Graeme Jones is a probable departure to Goodison, but we will have to wait and see if Graham Barrow and other coaches and backroom staff will go too. Once again we seem to be waiting for Martinez and it is not an ideal situation for Coyle to come into as new manager.

At this stage it looks like each of James McCarthy and Arouna Kone already has a foot out of the door. However, there have been reports saying that Callum McManaman wants to stay and that could be of huge importance for a promotion push. Championship defences will not relish the prospect of dealing with McManaman’s speed, trickery and directness on one flank and the dangerous, curving crosses coming in from Jean Beausejour on the other.

There has been much said about Latics allowing players to run down their contracts over the past couple of years. Maynor Figueroa has already gone to Hull, Roman Golobart to Cologne and it looks odds-on that Antolin Alcaraz will go to Everton.

Figueroa was a real stalwart for Latics and will be missed. He has been reunited with Steve Bruce, the manager who brought him to Wigan.

Golobart was being carefully nurtured by Martinez and it looked like he might be a key player for the coming season. However, there were question marks whether he had the pace needed in the Premier League.

Alcaraz had three topsy turvy years at Wigan. In his first season he started in 34 Premier League games, but injuries hampered him after that. He made 25 league starts in his second season, but only 8 last year. Ironically his best performances came near the end of his time at Wigan, when he looked a class act.

However, freedom of contract is a double-edged sword and Latics are using it to their own advantage. Both Chris McCann and Stephen Crainey are highly experienced and capable Championship level players, who have also played in the Premier League. The signing of the 22 year old Thomas Rogne is being processed  – he would be one for the future and the 6’4” Norwegian would provide height and power that the Latics centre of defence has been lacking.

Coyle recently stated that he needed at least six new signings, but that looks like a conservative figure. It could be that he is looking at youngsters like Lee Nicholls, Jordan Mustoe, Eduard Campabadal, Daniel Redmond and Nouha Dicko stepping up to the plate, although we await confirmation on those who were at the end of previous contracts.

If Coyle can avoid a firesale and only McCarthy and Kone depart he will have a strong squad. However, he is going to have to get out the cheque book to sign those kinds of quality players who can add something special. Signing some of the best of the Championship’s younger players would appear to be the way to go forward. Latics have already been linked with two 25 year olds –  Derby County full back John Brayford and Bristol City winger Albert Adomah. However, if Kone were to go he would be hard to replace and it would be Coyle’s greatest challenge.

Coyne has inherited the backbone of a team that – with a few key additions and a minimum of departures – would be quite capable of pushing for promotion. His critical signings may be yet to come.

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Too much change in the wind

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

It is time for change at Wigan Athletic with a new manager having come in, with a huge quantity of new players to recruit. It is exactly the situation Latics supporters would have wanted to avoid.

There are too many change parameters to cope with at the moment. What is going to happen to Roberto Martinez’s backroom staff? How can Owen Coyle bring in nothing but quality players when the number needed to make up the squad reaches outrageous proportions?

We have heard nothing about the likes of Graeme Jones and Graham Barrow going off to Everton with Martinez. In terms of stability it would be much better if they stayed at Wigan. Then again what is going to happen to Kevin Reeves, Inaki Bergara and those ex-Latics players who are scattered around the club, especially at youth level?

Owen Coyle recently said Latics had 14 senior squad members left. Soon after that he was talking about James McCarthy and Arouna Kone going if the price was right. Add to them Shaun Maloney and Callum McManaman and the squad decimates to 10.

Of the end of contract players Maynor Figueroa has already signed for Hull and Roman Golobart for Cologne. There is talk about Antolin Alcaraz going to Everton or into Europe. Latics have lost too many good quality players at the ends of their contracts over recent years.

Dave Whelan’s philosophy of giving players the chance to move to bigger clubs, if the price is right, is admirable in many ways. However, there comes a point when you have to stem the flow and require players to meet their contractual agreements.

The more players Whelan lets go – even at good prices – the more difficult for Owen Coyle to find adequate replacements, even with money to spend.  

It is a matter of sheer numbers. The club stands the risk of its heart being ripped apart in both backroom and playing staff. Coyle is going to be faced with employing journeymen to make up the numbers, rather than build on a strong base that was there before.

Whatever happens I ask Wigan Athletic supporters to bear these things in mind and not make instant assessments of Owen Coyle’s worth. He has come in and is already speaking about having to sell prized assets.

Let’s hope he does not make the Martinez mistake of bringing players from his former club. Thank goodness he has already insinuated that he will not be pursuing the 36 year old  Kevin Davies. However, he is already being linked with Burnley veterans Martin Paterson and Chris McCann.

Latics need to avoid a mass exodus. All that Roberto Martinez built could be gone within a matter of weeks.  It would be crippling for the club.

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