[Archived] Wigan Vs Blackburn Rovers

[slough_rover]

Wigan Vs Blackburn Rovers Sat 5th February

Another Lancashire derby and another winnable game looms for Steve Keane and his troops in blue and white. Our away record is hardly the envy of our fellow competitors but then again barring Arsenal does anyone have an away record to crow about?

We are coming up against the team with the worst home record this season in the EPL and I have a strong feeling that we will continue the Latics home woes and continue in our aim of solidifying a top ten position this season. Would we have won this game with Sam in charge? To be honest I don’t care and we should continue giving Kean our total support, regardless of our views on Venkys. I know I have seen enough from Kean this season to merit his role as manager even though he is represented by the supposed Devil himself if you were to listen to some posters on this forum.

So how do we fare against our local rivals? Pretty good on the whole with 7 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in Premier league outings. To give some credit to Wigan they haven’t lost to us since 2006 at home, but hey if we’re not going to beat them at their patch now then God knows when we will.

So who should we watch out from our opponents? Well to be fair it is pretty hard to look beyond the pairing of Rodallega and N'Zogbia. Both players have been linked with moves away from Wigan and most notably the latter being linked with us on several occasions. Both players possess good technical ability and N’Zogbia was a real handful the last time we met at Ewood. However, beyond these two you get the feeling that Wigan really lack some real quality and cutting edge. Franco seems to have stayed the same player he was with us (thank God we didn’t purchase him!) and Moses hasn’t delivered what was expected. By no means will Wigan be a pushover but you would think we should prove too much for them.

The next point of discussion is formation and the way we set ourselves for the game. Historically most teams set themselves out 4-5-1 away from home, but I really think Wigan are there for the taking so would love to see Kean adopt a 4-4-2 formation and really go for the jugular. I don’t see how Wigan will be able to cope with the pace of Olsson and Hoilett, coupled with our strike force. I know a lot of people will like to see Kalinic given a run but with his profound ability to fall over I would prefer to see either Mame or even Roberts given the nod ahead of him for this game. These are the two possible line-ups we may see on the day fitness permitted:

OPTION A (Yes Please Kean!)

Robinson

Salgado Samba Nelsen Givet

Hoilett Jones Dunn Olsson

RSC Mame

OPTION B

Robinson

Salgado Samba Nelsen Givet

Jones Nzonzi

Hoilett Dunn Olsson

RSC

Most people will probably predict a score draw but I am going to back our boys to get a 1-2 win with us surviving a nervy last 10 minutes or so!

P.S this is my first preview so please be gentle.

P.P.S Was Mohamed Diame right when he stated “It is rare to see truly beautiful girls when you go out during the day”, when commenting on Wigan. Mods please add a poll if you think its worthwhile!

[braddock]

I'm optimistic, and agree with the 1-2 prediction. A point wouldn't be terrible but they are there for the taking and confidence appears high. It's also nice to be going to away games again, an activity I suspended under previous management.

[cruz]

Got my tickets. First away trip since 15/9/2002 at Maine Road

[Tom]

Got to say a draw would be a good result, they will be fighting for their lives and they will target it as a winnable game.

A win would be fantastic but after a couple of good wins recently we are looking on course for survival and a point would be handy and stop a bottom 3 side advancing on us.

[colin]

P.S this is my first preview so please be gentle.

OK old bean, but you've come too soon. (Insert sexual innendo here.) In fact you've jumped the queue for the previews which is an awfully dastardly thing to do. The Tottenham Hotspur game will be up tomorrow.

In the meanwhile I suggest you get your old service revolver, retire to the conservatory with a bottle of whisky & do the honourable thing.

Great preview BTW.

[Steve Moss]

I watched Wigan v. Aston Villa today. To me, Wigan looked young. They had a hard time keeping possession, mistimed or misweighted the ball, and did not seem terribly aggressive in the attack. Defensively, they seemed competent, but they can be broken.

A positive result is a real possibility. A win puts us 6 points from safety.

Why am I not feeling as desperately scared with Kean's matches as I was with Sam's?

[slough_rover]

OK old bean, but you've come too soon. (Insert sexual innendo here.) In fact you've jumped the queue for the previews which is an awfully dastardly thing to do. The Tottenham Hotspur game will be up tomorrow.

In the meanwhile I suggest you get your old service revolver, retire to the conservatory with a bottle of whisky & do the honourable thing.

Great preview BTW.

Thanks mate. Normally I would have waited until after the Spurs preview had gone up but I may not be around the next few days so played it safe.

I thought dousing yourself in spirits and contemplating your life was regular practice pre-breakfast in Blackburn regardless.

[philipl]

Nice preview.

Wigan will be there for the beating. They have twice caught as at bad moments in recent seasons and now its our turn to catch them at a bad one.

[Ben-2000]

Having seen us against Liverpool and the Baggies (twice) we should go into this game with absolutely nothing to fear. If we play like we know we can I can only see it going one way...

3-0

RSC

Junior

Kalinic

[Seggie]

A positive result is a real possibility. A win puts us 6 points from safety.

12 points maximum from safty if we win, WHam and Wolves both lose.

Think this is one there for the taking. 2-0 Rovers.

Just had to punch myself in the face for daring to consider the following:

How good would it be to consolidate 7th place with a win

Sunderland are catchable

Maybe we could even beat Spurs: We could catch them as well

[Steve Moss]

Just had to punch myself in the face for daring to consider the following:

How good would it be to consolidate 7th place with a win

Sunderland are catchable

Maybe we could even beat Spurs: We could catch them as well

Best thing about Venkys is that they've given us hope again, at least short term. But let's see how the transfer tally looks in a few more days before we let short term dreams turn into long term ambitions.

[Gally]

I know you can't really say this for away games in the prem these days but I'd be very disapointed if we didn't win this.

Wigan, IMO are abysmal at the moment, and defensively are there for the taking. Even Gary Caldwell should be suspended for this game, which leaves S. Caldwell and Alcaraz at the back, which for me would be little better than average in a Championship team.

Only N'Zogbia worries me from there team, and given Roque's lethal record against them I'm going for 1-3 Rovers

[Montfort]

My son and brother are going to watch this. They have not seen an away win in years. The luck of the draw I suppose. However, I think their chances of recording a win on their travels is a good as anything for this one. Rovers to win 2 nil.

[Kie_BRFC]

Rovers SHOULD win this. I am very positive we are in good form where as Wigan not so good.

I would maybe start with the same team as the Westbrom game but if I was to make a change if Nelsen is fit I would drop Pedersen and put Olsson in LM instead. Im going for a 0-2 win for the Rovers !!

[BuckyRover]

Sunderland fixtures:

Chelsea H

Stoke A

Spurs H

Everton A

Arsenal A

Not easy games for them coming up.

[EnglishChris]

I'd like to see us win but since I've yet to see us win an away game I'll go for a 1-1 draw.

[Daremz]

It's going to be a goal bonanza. 3-4 Rovers.

[joey_big_nose]

OPTION A (Yes Please Kean!)

Robinson

Salgado Samba Nelsen Givet

Hoilett Jones Dunn Olsson

RSC Mame

OPTION B

Robinson

Salgado Samba Nelsen Givet

Jones Nzonzi

Hoilett Dunn Olsson

RSC

Most people will probably predict a score draw but I am going to back our boys to get a 1-2 win with us surviving a nervy last 10 minutes or so!

P.S this is my first preview so please be gentle.

P.P.S Was Mohamed Diame right when he stated "It is rare to see truly beautiful girls when you go out during the day", when commenting on Wigan. Mods please add a poll if you think its worthwhile!

I can't see Pedders being dropped. Back to his good old 'great one week poor the next' Gamst, but he is a key player for us nonetheless. Even when playing poorly he gives us the edge at set pieces.

Nzonzi would make way in the 4231, maybe Olsson to retain the LB in a 442 and Pedersen on the left.

[mhead]

This match is truly the 'big one'. Win it and with 6,000 Rovers Supporters we start to look up the league table and the 40 points then 45 points will start to maintain our top 8 position. Lose it or even draw and we will have to keep looking down the table as other teams have their wins and leapfrog us for a while.

So the 6,000 fans round the ground are very important.Barmy Army.

[EnglishChris]

Isn't our allocation for this fixture only 4490 tickets? were are you getting 6000 from?

[rover_groo]

I'd go for option A.

I think we have to start Roberts, as he has a decent record of scoring against his.former teams, especially either Wigan/WBA. Rovers are picking up the pace fairly well and think that as long as we're not over confident then we can take this!!

1-2 Rovers.

Olsson, Roberts.

[JAL]

If Charles N'Zogbia plays for Wigan this will be one very hard game for Rovers to win.

Would think Rovers might lose this even if it does help out an old ex Rover, because after all it would be far better for us all to be playing Wigan Athletic again next year. So please folks dont build your hopes up too much on this game.

[Blackburn Ravers]

If Charles N'Zogbia plays for Wigan this will be one very hard game for Rovers to win.

Would think Rovers might lose this even if it does help out an old ex Rover, because after all it would be far better for us all to be playing Wigan Athletic again next year. So please folks dont build your hopes up too much on this game.

god forbid we might think we can beat wigan,

[cn174]

We've lost both times I've gone to the JJB. Shall I make it third time lucky or stay well away?

Well it's the DW now, so you should be right!

[ianb]

how many tickets have we sold?