Wigan Athletic Preview

[RevidgeBlue]

Just read some Opta stats and player ratings.. It doesn't match the experiences of those on here who watched the game.

Those ratings are way out imo tchocky.

In fact I have just given the following ratings to a chap from the Observer who will be printing my views tomorrow

Friedel 6

Emerton 2

Samba 3

Nelsen 3

Warnock 2

Reid 4

Savage 4

Bentley 3

Pedersen 2

McCarthy 3

Santa Cruz 9

Guess I won't be on anyone's christmas card list.

[philipl]

Santa luvs ya Rev

PS Newc just won it at Fulham with a penalty which is also utter nonsense.

[artemorethanlabore]

Just saying: Pedersen did earn himself a penalty in the first half that wasn't given.

[thenodrog]

Disappointing result and by the sounds of it we never got into gear at the start but here aren't half some cry babies on here. Every year throws up good and bad spells in any season. At the moment we are in the depths of a slump. But imo punching above our weight in the first quarter of the season has simply raised expectations to a false level.

Having said all that in the final analysis a missed penalty and a dodgy sending off just as we had clawed our way back into the match cost us dear. I must say (and I guess it's easy to say now) that since the Bolton match I have never considered Benni McCarthy as a 'natural' penalty taker. My heart is always in my mouth when he's on his run up.

[Cocker]

So annoyed at this today, I thought that we would have destroyed them - not being cocky by saying that but :-

Bentley and Nelson should have been fresh after their little rest out.

Sav had a point to prove

Reid back and ready for it - according to the man himself.

Oh, well. A mid table season and a cup win will do for us I guess - Yes, we will beat Arsenal - chin up boys it might never happen - come on the Rovers.

(Well someone has to try and look on the bright side)

[philipl]

Just seen the goals and penalty action.

Call that defending Rovers? Woeful from midfield backwards.

No way in a million years was that a penalty.

Ditto the sending off of Emo (was it a straight red?- looked like it as clatterberk had both cards out but only showed red).

BUT

Santa- wow you are the real deal today.

[cn174]

Ditto the sending off of Emo (was it a straight red?- looked like it as clatterberk had both cards out but only showed red).

No it was 2 yellows

[Bing]

What's with Reidy and Sav in midfield. Both workhorses with not an ounce of class between them.

The game completely bypassed them. The defence looked to lump the ball long most of the time but when they did play it into midfield both Sav and Reid looked woefully short of ability on the ball when pressured and failed to control it and pass it in tight situations. Bentley did a decent job when he came inside and actually looked like he could make something happen when he had the ball at his feet.

Individual mistakes again from the defenders. Warnock made a couple of calamitous errors but Emerton was a much more guilty offender with his show of complete stupidity to earn a second yellow.

McCarthy didn't look interested and was shown up by his strike partner who feed on dross and scraps throughout the game but somehow managed to get himself three goals.

[Eddie]

So annoyed at this today, I thought that we would have destroyed them - not being cocky by saying that but :-

Bentley and Nelson should have been fresh after their little rest out.

Sav had a point to prove

Reid back and ready for it - according to the man himself.

Oh, well. A mid table season and a cup win will do for us I guess - Yes, we will beat Arsenal - chin up boys it might never happen - come on the Rovers.

(Well someone has to try and look on the bright side)

I sort of agree with you, but I think we then need to turn this into a rebuilding season. We have to say that we have Bentley, MGP, Santa Cruz, Benni, Samba, Warnock and Friedel as being good enough (well, usually at least) and the rest are question marks or positions that need to be filled. We need to do the work in January and then set everything up for next year. We can't afford to "waste" seasons.

[Wolverine]

Just got back.

Quite simply the worst attempt at football I have ever seen by Blackburn.

I have defended some players in the past, but today is an eye-opener and I fear the bubble has burst. We are a mediocre team. Even so, a mediocre team scoring three goals should be able to overcome a below par Wigan side. Letting in five goals with the players we have is inexcusable and the first half performance is totally unforgivable.

Now, the referee seemed to be quite poor as well, as my wife pointed out, but even so...

Friedel: Tried rallying the troops to no avail. While the five goals weren't his fault he will know right now he could have done much better today.

Emerton: Getting into the position where a red card is the only obvious course of actrion a ref will take is idiotic, especially when chasing a game. Fine him a weeks wages and offer all the fans who went today a refund by way of apology for serving up that dross. Other than that, had a spectacularly poor game.

Warnock: A complete and utter lack of ability to concentrate is seriously undermining this lads chance of improving. He spent too much of the game sprinting after the most recent player to get past him. Really needs to wake up and quick.

Samba: Had a shocker today. Have the rest of the Prem found him out? Terrible under pressure and really needs to work on that.

Nelsen: I saw him raise his hand for offside too many times today. Playing the offside game is very dangerous and can lead to poor teams scoring five times. Which they did. Well below par.

Bentley: Tried and tried but nothing came off. The much publicised 'rest' has not done him the good we all hoped. Battled away but nothing was ever going to go right for him today.

Gamst: I saw today exactly what the cynics are getting at. Terrible off the ball, shocking on it and didn't look like he knew what was going on. To be fair, neither did anyone else watching him.

Reid: Not ready for this sort of game. Like Bentley, tried but hasn't regained enough skill to do anything meaningful with the ball when denied space and time.

Savage: For the first time ever, he really ###### me off today. Went missing for the whole game then, after Roque's third goal brought us level, he motioned to the fans to get behind the team. Had the team shown a bit of effort, perhaps the fans would.

McCarthy: Sell him. I am sad to finally say that but he has no interest whatsoever so please get rid and get Roberts in. Awful penalty attempt - any one of us could have done better. Never in any space and did less running that James May. He couldn't care less.

Roque Santa Cruz: I am ashamed to say I didn't react to his first goal, purely because I was so angry with the team and I didn't feel we deserved it. On reflection, I saw him playing in defence (making one or two key clearances), in midfield and of course scoring three goals up front which would have been enough to win had any of the other players bothered turning up. Man of the match by a long, long, long way. The rest of the team need to take a look at his approach to the game today.

Today has been a total waste of time, effort and money as only one player was fit to wear the shirt today. The primadona's need bollocking and letting go. It is difficult to see what we can do from now. The relegation places are not far below us, certainly a lot closer than the respectable top positions we were dreaming of only a month or so ago.

This is where, with so many difficult games coming up, the players need to stand up and be counted. Show us you care as much as we do.

[des]

I have not watch the match yet, but from what I have read on here is the midfield factor again.

forwards win matches, the defence can stop you losing, but the midfield make the foundations for the whole team, have a weak midfield and any team will fund it hard going, you can have the best forwards and the best defenders, but if you no midfield, you are lost.

In jan it should be the time to rebuild the midfield, however it all depends upon two factors

how much will MH have.

who will be willing to move to us.

roll on tuesday lets get over this match.

[Roar of the Rover]

Whenever the oppositon score our heads drop and we don't concentrate, just like Today, we conceded 2 goals in as many minutes, we did this at Old Trafford and againts Larissa! Our defending as a team hasn't been good enough all season. I personally think Nelsen hasn't been the same since he's been back from injury, not judging by his performance Today. We've got good defenders but we need them to defend as a unit.

[Guest Kamy100]

Just got back and today's performance was extremely disappointing and dis-heartening. I don't know what has happened since the Fulham game we look edgy at the back, when that happens it spreads throughout the team. Today the defence was all over the place and could not cope with Heskey. To make things worse the midfield was static and did not track back which further exposed the defence.

I am probably Benni Mc's biggest fan but after today it has become clear that he is no longer interested. Not only is that dis-respectful to the team and fans it is also un-professional, this combined with the murmurings from Roberts and Mokoena has to start to undermine the team spirit, it is time to get rid of players who do not want to play for the club.

I am still hopeful that we will turn this mini slump around, we have superb manager who has shown time and again that he knows what is required to be successful at this level so he WILL turn it around. Keep the faith.

Oh before I forget Santa was AWESOME all game. He worked hard, helped the defence out and still managed to score a hat-trick. A world class performance from a world class player.

[Alan75]

Nelsen looked slow

I hate it when I'm proved right .......in circumstances like today.

[Gav]

How many times do we go away to teams struggling and end up losing? It happens season after season, to quote Chris Kamara....UNBELIVEABLE.

Fighting in the away end also, Ribblesdale?????

[Mike Graham]

absolute utter garbage

pederson: sack the nurd

savage: went missing for 90 minutes

warnock: slow

nelson: one very slow utter tosser

benni: drown the rat; this bloke should be shot

reidy: half decent game

emerton: should be on "Only Fools and Horses"

samba: found out at long last; completely c**ps himself under pressure

can't be bothered to comment on the rest except to say that Sparky seems devoid of ideas to motivate a squad with ziltch confidence

[Mozzer]

seems something isnt right in the camp..ie savage, mokoena, mcarthy and roberts, and i think thats affecting the team spirit...

if we can get to january with 6 prem points out of chelsea, man city, derby and sunderland(2nd jan) i would be happy with the start of the season..we need to buy in january, and i hope this makes hughes realise that he does aswell..

[1864roverite]

seems something isnt right in the camp..ie savage, mokoena, mcarthy and roberts, and i think thats affecting the team spirit...

if we can get to january with 6 prem points out of chelsea, man city, derby and sunderland(2nd jan) i would be happy with the start of the season..we need to buy in january, and i hope this makes hughes realise that he does aswell..

there are rumours coming from within the walls that there was a bust up at half time with 2 players likely to face internal disciplinary action, I wonder if Nicko can do some digging !

information is from a wigan fan who sits in the directors area and it would apear that it involved a bit of a slagging match resulting in a heated exchange !

My guess is that its RS v BM

[andrew92]

I have not watch the match yet, but from what I have read on here is the midfield factor again.

defence was worse but i do suppose it all came from the centre where are midfield was a HUGE big hole

[rover6]

I didn't see the game but I really think that Gamst's abysmal form is really making things very difficult for Warnock. Was that the case in today's game? In previous matches, Warnock has had to play virtually wing-back to cover up the ghost like performance of Gamst - and that contributes to the headless chicken act that Warnock sometimes goes in for.

Samba's form is going from bad to worse. Hopefully, it's only a blip. But we rely on that man SO much. When he's off the pace, we're in massive trouble.

It's bad news for us that Roberts is on his way because the guy has shown that he is capable of being a useful forward and with McCarthy's head in the clouds, we could do with him.

Finally, nice to see Olsson on the bench and let's hope that he's on the pitch instead of Gamst next game. Or Peter/Treacy...

[Paul Mellelieu]

A combination of factors led to the worst 45 minutes of play from the boys I can remember seeing for some time. I think R/B has covered most of the points, although unfair on Bentley I think. He did Ok second half.

The players looked very tired, Samba in particular. Gamst's worst display: I think he needs to see a psychologist, and McCarthy should be dropped.

Hughes has a lot of work to turn this 'round. 14 point to safety!

Just seen our resident expert giving advice on another game he hasn't seen (have you seen any actually?)

Take from me Warnock's poor clearance which led to Wigan's fourth had noting to do with Gamst, he just had a shocking game.

[philipl]

When the pie-eaters are reflecting on their Premiership relegation season they will see yesterday (and hopefully not their game at Ewood) as their finest hour.

But the reality is Wigan were there for a hammering again and only exceptionally inept defending gifted them this game.

Certainly Hughes has to take a portion of the blame-

MGP has just utterly lost all he had by way of confidence and ability. The EPL is an incredibly tough, extremely heavily analysed league and every one of the other 19 clubs has a how to neutralise MGP dossier. Morten sadly doiesn't have the savvy or confidence to sort it. He needs to be dropped now and left out until he is as ready as he was to impact the way he did at Cardiff away in the FA Cup in Hughes' first season with us.

Sav has lost it- if headless chicken doesn't work against Wigan, who will work against? I know the Axe was criticised against West Ham but sav played half that game and he played all this game as well.

Reid needed bringing back into a game where the rest of his colleagues hadn't completely screwed up so exhonerated so far as I am concerned.

Samba- is he being found out? We are in deep trouble if he is. Needs urgent one and one work to get him back to doing the basics.

Nelsen- phenomenal player before the injury and op but tragically that critical few percentage off it now which even a Wigan side was able to exploit

Warnock- lost the game for us. Was having a poor one but turned it into a stinker with the killer ball for their fourth.

Emo- dumb but unlucky especially as Agohowar didn't walk later

Put that lot together and how on earth can a luxury player like Benni McCarthy prosper. Moans and groans here about his attitude etc but this is one of the most silky skilful players I have ever seen in the famous halved shirts. If the rest were doing their jobs, Benni would be poaching away and giving us those never ever to be forgotten moments when he makes ordinary players look complete nonces. Playing in that shambles of a Rovers side, the guy doesn't stand a chance.

Step forward Roque Santa Cruz. Why am I not suicidally depressed? That was a great hattrick but goal number one has to be contender for Rovers' goal of the season. Utterly sensational stuff from the big man.

Sparky generated a phenomenal positive team spirit at Ewood. It seems that the incredible positive vibe he generated amongst the lads is just as capable of collectively working in reverse. Boy has he got a job to do ahead of Arsenal and Chelsea.

[ihateburnley]

Benni did (Please don't use that word again) ALL today he's a complete and utter ###### knob jockey.

Pedersen - what the hell is up with this lad? Sell, sell, sell.

Nelsen and Samba looked very tired.

When is Bentley going to get involved in games?

Emerton's decision-making is shocking to say the least.

I CAN HONESTLY SAY I CAN'T REMEMBER US PLAYING AS BADLY SINCE WE RETURNED TO THE PREMIERSHIP.

On a positive note:

Cruz - some excellent play from the big man. A class act let down by some lazy ###### tossers.

Warnock - feel he has been harshly criticised on here. At least he showed some determination to get stuck in.

Savage - didnt stop running and I suppose you can 'see warnock'.

[Eddie]

Warnock was totally at fault for their 4th goal. He deserves no praise. You can undo 90 minutes of good work in a second, he wasn't that fantastic for the rest of the game anyway.

[G Somerset Rover]

My God these highlights on Football First are making it even worse. This has to be the most shambolic defending that I have seen from Rovers in years!!