Wigan Athletic 12th Man - 20/12/12

This weeks Wigan Evening Post 12th Man feature has two contributions from Vital Latics:

Now Is That Time

The toll of defensive short comings finally caught up with us on Saturday at Norwich, in fairness we should have been dead and buried by half-time, the fact that we were still in with a shout is more down to the Canaries poor performance in front of goal than anything else.

Shaun Maloney made a massive difference when he came on for the second period, his link up play with Kone was great and his goal was a stunner. Pity we couldn't maintain any momentum and succumbed again just a few minutes later

It's easy to point the finger at individuals, but when you sit down and reflect on the past few weeks it is obvious that having to carry a makeshift defence for so long has placed a heavy burden on the rest of the team. Ramis and Caldwell are massive players for the club, add to them the fact that, possibly last seasons best defender, Antolin Alcaraz hasn't played a league game since the win at Southampton on the 25th August then you start to put it all in perspective.

We are in a desperate situation, now we learn that Adrian Lopez has a hamstring problem and James McCarthy is suffering from what is termed 'a serious' ankle injury, it is starting to look very bleak indeed.

The Latics are an odd entity though, we find massive strength in adversity as shown many times over the past few seasons, especially the last one, four big, tough games coming up, a battered and bruised squad, this is just the sort of challenge that gets the the club up and raring to go

Arsenal had a great result at Reading, they will be coming to the DW Stadium on Saturday all cock-a-hoop, a dishevelled Latics, despondent, there for the slaughter, think again, we will win, we will win in style and pull ourselves out of the bottom three, this club responds when the chips are down and produces the results when it needs to, now is that time

Barry Worthington


It's Never Easy Being A Latic

It's clear that our season of relative safety is not going to happen easily. As has always been the case during the 5 years I've been following Latics, just as you expect the team to kick onto the next level, something crops up that seems to prevent it. It's been individual errors, refereeing decisions and now injuries. The one constant being a belief that we can survive and get better every year. We have just about managed that despite the fact that, as ever, we need to run faster just to stand still in this division.

I've seen supporters asking why we can't seem to play like we did at the end of last season. Part of the reason is that we've simply not got the same team. Victor Moses has gone, the back three are all missing and we have the second choice right wing back. That's half the team. What makes things worse is that the demanding Christmas fixture list is upon us, and the already stretched thin squad will be tested even further over the next few weeks. The arrival of Roger Espinoza will help.

I am hopeful that with one or two players returning and the ever reliable Dave Jones fitting in wherever he is needed we can come through the situation, pick up a good few points over the Christmas period and eventually find ourselves in that comfortable situation of not being in danger of relegation come the end of the season.

Paul Thorp

This weeks PWU podcast is now available for download, in the studio are Barry, Dan, Greg, Rob, Paul and Gareth. This week there is some confusion over the missing fans? Talk centres on Norwich, Arsenal (5:40) and Everton (19:40).

There is whisky flowing and mince pies being scoffed, there is also a special surprise at the end, the surprise is that it didn't make the editors cut, but all will be revealed in the next edition which is a Christmas Special...ooooh

You can download the podcast from itunes, or via our hosting site www.buzzsprout.com, or listen by clicking play on the embedded player below

Feedback as always welcome or if you want to get involved in future episodes please email wigan@vitalfootball.co.uk




















Latics and Proud



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