Wigan Athletic - The 12th Man

This weeks Wigan Evening Post's 12th Man feature had two contributions from Vital Latics:

Contrasting Styles

Saturdays draw with Stoke was a very enjoyable game, the Latics passing style was contrasted by the typical Stoke way, robust challenges, direct, percentage football, although Tony Pulis does make 'his way' effective I know which team I'd prefer to watch week in week out.

At times during the game the Latics looked like a well oiled machine with slick interchanges. Long periods of possession had Stoke chasing shadows, but once possession was lost the midfield pairing of McCarthy and McArthur worked tigerishly to get the ball back and start us off again. Fascinating and a pleasure to watch.

Although I felt that the Latics shaded the game, on reflection with chances created the draw was probably the fair result, Ali's save from Charlie Adam's free kick in the final moments was simply breathtaking and ensured a point was in the bag

One disappointment for me though was our lack of width, especially down the right, with Moses leaving we look to have lost that burst of explosive pace and Boyce appeared quite stranded at times with no outlet in front of him, couple this with Beausejour leaving the game injured after just 28 minutes and suddenly we became very narrow.

I am surprised that we didn't bring in a replacement for Moses before the window shut, the management team have known all summer that he'd be on his way and not to have identified an obtainable target lined up, for me is a mistake.

Finishing on a good note, Kone and Di Santo look to have gelled, they play together well and their combination play for our second goal was excellent, Di Santo is looking class, five goals in his last eight Premier League starts shows that he is a striker in form, getting him to sign his new deal must be a priority

Barry Worthington



Fortnight Off Is Far From Ideal

Having missed the start of the season due to family commitments, Saturday was my first game. It's good to be back, but that enjoyment is tainted by the fact that we are about to go into an international break. The timing of which is far from ideal, as it's disruptive just as we're all getting back into the swing of things. The good side though is that it provides time, in which we hope Jean Beausejour can regain fitness and be available for the visit to Old Trafford.

Stoke was a tale of two styles which ultimately ended up equal on the day. The start to the season is also the tale of two Wigans, the team that can retain the ball, control games, as well as the team that is a bit asleep and allows the odd easy goal to be scored against us. The difference this season is that there is much more of the former and not too much of the latter. Even though the opposition has been different, the starts to the season has been similar to last season, in that we have a few points, look ok, and basically hope to kick on.

This time even though the upcoming fixtures don't look overly inviting, we won't lose the next 8 games. We now look at the division, not hoping to pick points from certain games to make up 40 points, we now look at this division and know we can turn over anybody if we play well. This is irrespective of who they are and how they play. We don't go to Old Trafford hoping they have a bad day, we go knowing we can make them have a bad day.

Paul Thorp




















Latics and Proud



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