Tag Archives: Scholes

Five things the new man must get right

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

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It has been a whirlwind couple of days since the news broke that Dave Whelan had sacked Owen Coyle (sort of), and the rumour mill has been churning out names ever since.

Football certainly has both a sense of timing and humour, after the eventful week that led to Coyle losing his job also saw Rene Meluensteen accept the Fulham position and Steve McClaren supply the damage that ultimately sealed the former Bolton and Burnley manager’s fate.

There have been murmurs that Whelan regrets the short-term mentality of his latest appointment, after witnessing how little time it took Coyle to dismantle the three years of club ethos-building groundwork of his predecessor. One newspaper stretched this rumour to suggest he is specifically looking for his “next Roberto Martinez” — a young and ambitious manager with a long-term view and a twinkle in his eye. What seems more likely is the appointment of someone who, regardless of age, is thinking not just of how to get Wigan out of the Championship, but stay out of the Championship. The popular favourite at the moment is Mike Phelan — more on that here.

In the meantime, our top five recommendations for the new man:

1) No need for a revolution

Coyle could be forgiven for feeling that he was inheriting a disjointed squad after the relegation-fueled exodus at the end of last season. He acted swiftly and admirably to bring in a number of new faces, most of whom on paper, were excellent Championship signings. But it was a huge mistake to try and re-invent the club’s ethos and actively reject the work Martinez had done before him. Even if he felt the tikki-takka stuff wasn’t for him, there was simply not enough time to completely transform the way the team played, gel new signings, and obtain results. In Jordi Gomez, Ben Watson, James McArthur, Emmerson Boyce, Roger Espinoza, Callum McManaman, Jean Beausejour, and Sean Maloney before his injury, he had a set of players who performed key roles in an FA Cup winning squad. He also had Gary Caldwell, Ivan Ramis and Ali Al-Habsi to return from injury, and settled young talents Frazer Fyvie and Nouha Dicko ready to push for first team football. In the end, he rotated the squad so much that the established players at the club who knew each other and had chemistry on the pitch, were rarely in the lineup together.

If there is a concrete lesson for the new man in charge, it is to embrace the strengths the club already possesses and tweak rather than rebuild. Swansea is fantastic example when it comes to such smooth transitions, from Martinez to Paulo Sousa, to Brendan Rodgers and Michael Laudrup.

2) Get the fans back onside

Injuries or not, one got the sense that fan favourites such as Ali Al-Habsi and Sean Maloney were on their way out of the club. Add to this the limited playing time afforded to Roger Espinoza, despite repeated clamouring from the crowd to see him, and it was clear he was losing the supporters.

It would be a very good move to publicly talk up the returns of Al-Habsi and Maloney, give Espinoza a chance, and focus on getting the best out of the club’s established players such as Emmerson Boyce, James McArthur, Ben Watson, Jean Beausejour and the returning Ivan Ramis, who himself was gaining something of a cult following before that terrible knee injury at Fulham last January.

It would also be wise to praise the work of his predecessors. Coyle deserves immense credit for his work assembling a strong squad of players in a short period of time. Even more important, however, is public acknowledgement of what Martinez did, not only delivered the club’s greatest achievement, but investing hugely in the club’s long-term future. It is difficult to replace an icon, but acknowledging his work puts everyone on the same side.

3) Get the best out of Grant Holt

He was the marquee summer signing — the proven goalscorer at this, and just about every other level in English football — but it all seems to have gone wrong. An instinctive finish against Barnsley on day one promised great things, and he’s shown flashes of talent (his setup play for Marc-Antoine Fortune’s winner at Yeovil stands out), but it’s largely been frustrating for the big centre-forward, and in recent weeks, Wigan Athletic supporters. His confidence is clearly low, and he doesn’t appear fully fit after being rushed back from a knee injury several games back, but the biggest problem was tactical.

A striker who scores the vast majority of his goals from crosses was all too frequently playing with the wrong supporting cast. Beausejour — the finest crosser of the ball at the club — was rarely in the lineup at the same time. His starts seemed to coincide with matches in which Latics failed to control possession of the ball, limiting him to counter attacks for which his talents were ill-suited.

With the less-than-prolific Fortune and young, unproven Will Keane the other options in the striking department, it is clear that the new manager needs to get the best out of Holt if Wigan are to stand a chance of being promoted this season. That means providing service.

4) Fill the gaps

The other option, of course, is to spend time and money on another proven striker.

And a left-back, assuming Juan Carlos Garcia needs more time to adapt and Stephen Crainey doesn’t dramatically improve under new leadership.

If Graham Barrow’s 3-5-2 formation in yesterday’s loss against Leeds was anything to go by, neither is deemed one of the club’s best XI. If the new manager goes the same route, a backup for Boyce on the right flank will be a priority.

5) Improve away form

Another loss, this time to Leeds, means Latics have now lost five out of eight away games — the same number as Yeovil and more than Sheffield Wednesday, both in relegation places. Only Barnsley, bottom of the league, have lost more.

Think we missed one? Please leave us a comment below.

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Manchester United 4 Wigan Athletic 0 – A disaster rerun

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

At times the second half of this  match seemed like a rerun of those intermittent disasters that we have witnessed  over the past three years. Playing at Old Trafford after an international break; against a team keen to get revenge after the 1-0 result in April; with a weak referee — all these factors appeared a recipe for disaster. And so it proved.

Antolin Alcaraz had been ruled out of consideration due of injury, so Latics put out the same lineup that played against Stoke two weeks ago — Ramis, Caldwell and Figueroa comprising the back three.

Whenever Wigan Athletic play at Old Trafford one almost expects penalties and red cards to flow. The penalty only took three minutes to come, Welbeck faking contact  as Al Habsi challenged. The Omani keeper made a good save from Hernandez’s penalty, Figueroa doing well to stop Nani taking advantage from the rebound. Latics continued to be put under pressure but managed to make some headway. Ramis headed narrowly wide and a cross from Beausejour found its way to Kone at the far post but he was unable to get his shot on target. It was to be 0-0 at half time and United had begun to look a little frustrated.

As is often the case it was the first goal that changed the match irreversibly. It came in the 51st minute. Nani was put through by a beautiful ball by Carrick, delivering  the kind of  low cross-shot that goalkeepers hate. It was fumbled by Al Habsi, the ball falling to the feet of Scholes who scored easily.

United’s debutant full back, Buttner, seemed to have the freedom of the park on Wigan’s right. He miscued a shot in the 63rd minute but it went straight to Hernandez who put it in. Buttner had been played onside by Boyce, who had failed to get in line with his defence. United’s new signing was to have even more fortune in the 66th minute after he made a determined run past Boyce, McCarthy and Ramis to get to the by line. The normally excellent  Al Habsi will have nightmares over the way he fluffed Buttner’s shot, allowing it to go in from such a tight angle. The rout was to be completed in the 82nd minute when McCarthy made a casual pass across the edge of the penalty box to Ramis, who just did not react. The ball was picked up by the debutant Powell, who had all the time in the world to put in a good shot from outside the box to Al Habsi’s right. On a good day one sensed that the Omani would have saved it.

In the last 3 minutes Welbeck made an appalling “red card’ tackle on Di Santo. Unfortunately, justice was not done and he received a yellow. It was fortunate that the young Argentinian was not seriously injured by the tackle. The Argentine had also been clattered from behind in the box earlier in the second half, but not penalty was given.

The Good

Despite an horrendous penalty decision against them in the first three minutes Latics held firm during the first half. They managed to keep their discipline and spirit despite refereeing that consistently favoured the home side. Some of Paul Scholes’ tackling during the game has subsequently been described as “thunderous” by certain elements of the media. “Dangerous” might be a more appropriate word.

In the end, each team received two yellow cards. One feared worse for Wigan.

The Bad

All four goals were gifts. Once that first goal went in the match was only going to head in one direction. Latics looked tired and bedraggled in the second half.

From a Wigan Athletic supporter’s point of view this was a match best forgotten. Let’s keep the faith and look forward to a fresh start against Fulham at the DW this coming weekend.

Player Ratings

Ali Al Habsi: 5 – a terrific penalty save, but not a good afternoon for the normally excellent keeper.

Emmerson Boyce: 5 – despite a wonderful jinking run and effort in the first half, it was an afternoon to forget for this player who has been a revelation over the past months.

Ivan Ramis: 5 – together with Boyce, was unable to stem the flow of opposition attacks on the right hand side of defence.

Gary Caldwell: 5 – not up to his usual high standard.

Maynor Figueroa: 6 – the best of an overrun backline.

Jean Beausejour: 6 – played some dangerous crosses into the box but did not look fully fit and went off after 69 minutes to be replaced by David Jones.

James McCarthy: 5 – the Jimmy Macs were unable to wrest the midfield initiative from the experienced United trio of Carrick, Giggs and Scholes. Both gave the ball away on occasion a little too casually.

James McArthur – see above.

Shaun Maloney: 5 – taken off after 59 minutes for Jordi Gomez.

Franco Di Santo: 7 – worked hard and never gave up.

Arouna Kone: 5 – his first half chance was not easy, but it would have changed the game if he had taken it.

Substitutes

Jordi Gomez – ineffective.

David Jones – once more failed to impress after coming on for the last 20 minutes.