Wigan Athletic 12th Man - 2/02/12

This weeks 12th man page in the Wigan Evening Post features two pieces from Vital Latics:

Goals Galore?

All the attention of the past week has been focused on the comings and goings at the DW Stadium, but now that the transfer window has shut for another six months and we have what we have, the focus will now swing around to the final 15 games of the season, 45 points up for grabs and it looks like that a minimum of 20 would still leave the Latics sweating on their survival chances.

So a mammoth task ahead and first up this weekend is the visit of Everton to the DW, Moyes' side are almost as unpredictable as the Latics, my own view on the Toffee's is that they flatter to deceive, a workman like outfit that play it tight, their goalscoring is almost as dull as our own, just 23 goals from 23 games speaks much about their attacking intent.

We will need to be patient against Everton, they don't score many but neither do they concede, add that to our inabilities in front of goal and this game has a no scoring draw written all over it, but that won't be good enough, Martinez's men need to start to collect maximum points from games, especially those at home. The importance of going on a winning run can`t be stressed enough, especially through February, if any run of fixtures in the Premier League can be classed as winnable then this month has them, after that, well it gets tough again, so it's now or never.

Barry Worthington


It all becomes clear

Another day passes, another game slides by. The position we are in clarifies itself by the minute. We are in trouble and there is no denying it. The window closed last night, and a couple of attempts to boost the squad were seen to fail, this means that we now have to work with the players currently on the books. I know lots of supporters already believe we do not have enough quality to survive, and that's with them working on the assumption that nobody gets injured. Having seen the results we have got so far this season and looking at the table it's easy to come to the conclusion.

I refuse to give up. When you consider that in more games than I want to remember, we have been the architects of our own downfall, and put ourselves in this position. I then becomes clear that all is not lost. When you walk away from the DW more than once thinking how did we lose that, then it's clear that all that is needed is a few decent results and the same momentum that carried us last year would start up again. The problem is that it's getting a bit late to start it.

It would take a loony to deny that the task of survival is going to be extremely difficult, and all that I know acknowledge this to various degrees, nobody`s in denial. With the enormity of the task comes the enormity of achievement. I`ll be giving it everything on Saturday, hopefully so will everyone else associated with the club, and we can together start another great escape.

Paul Thorp

















Latics and Proud



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