[Archived] Wigan Athletic v Blackburn Rovers-Match Preview

[Ozz]

What the Hell was the Wigan goalie doing on that Rovers 2nd goal? He made the ball look like a buttered pig .

[JAL]

MOTD 2 just given the Rovers fans a couple of seconds of chanting Kean out at the DW.

Oh dear, though A.Marriner should have given Wigan a penalty, and then had his back turned on a corner that broke the laws of the game regarding corner kick taking.

Which sadly means through Marriners mistakes we will have to endure the scottish plantpot for yet another nail in the coffin game at the Brittania.

[rovgers]

It's called a mohawk for a start. I should know, I have one. A big red one.

Actually you're both right but the Mohican is the usual british term for it and Mohawk the American.

[rovermagic]

I think there are other areas to look at before we start changing goal keeper. Robinson regularly prevents score lines from being a lot worse than they could/should be.

Robinson has put on weight again. But there are a lot worse platters at Rovers than he. Looking at MOTD, Swansea, Norwich, QPR looked better than us.

[Brfcrule1]

Several things that occur to me after yesterday's performance:

1. Coco constantly says they have to go on the training ground to correct their mistakes but what do they do during the week?

2. One thing that makes me really mad going forward we create a lot of chances and look ok but is it me or does anyone else feel when defending the lads look like they can't be bothered they are labouring round the pitch showing no desire to close the man down a typical example when Gomez was allowed to travel with the ball defenders backing off shot goes past the post it seems they practice attacking during the week but not defending does anyone feel the same?.

3. Is it me or does anyone else feel that Scott Dann is making far too many mistakes for a centre half even when Chris Samba is his partner at the back? he was clearly at fault for yesterday's Caldwell header views?.

For me during this awful run there are more questions than answers and one of the main questions is what do they practice on during the week?. Thoughts anyone?

[rebelmswar]

Robinson has put on weight again. But there are a lot worse platters at Rovers than he. Looking at MOTD, Swansea, Norwich, QPR looked better than us.

Who else uses a platter instead of a plate? Disgusting behavior for professionals.

[Mattyblue]

Serious question in a year of Kean have we ever not been 'excellent' or have we ever 'played poorly' or 'deserved nothing'?

We really must be a bad outfit if we are consistently excellent yet still have won 3 matches in 27 games.

[Stuart]

I think his psychology is part of the problem, Matty.

No fault placed on the players so they take no responsibility.

I understand why he does it but he does it too often.

[EWOODACE1]

Several things that occur to me after yesterday's performance:

1. Coco constantly says they have to go on the training ground to correct their mistakes but what do they do during the week?

2. One thing that makes me really mad going forward we create a lot of chances and look ok but is it me or does anyone else feel when defending the lads look like they can't be bothered they are labouring round the pitch showing no desire to close the man down a typical example when Gomez was allowed to travel with the ball defenders backing off shot goes past the post it seems they practice attacking during the week but not defending does anyone feel the same?.

3. Is it me or does anyone else feel that Scott Dann is making far too many mistakes for a centre half even when Chris Samba is his partner at the back? he was clearly at fault for yesterday's Caldwell header views?.

For me during this awful run there are more questions than answers and one of the main questions is what do they practice on during the week?. Thoughts anyone?

im quite suprised how poor he has been for us. i thought he was brilliant at brum

[Parsonblue]

im quite suprised how poor he has been for us. i thought he was brilliant at brum

I totally agree. I fear it may be a case of Dann and Roger Johnson being a good partnership at Brum but separately the two individuals aren't as good. For me he would be behind Samba, Givet and Nelsen and how we've paid £7.5 million for a fourth choice centre-back is beyond belief.

[Ricky]

Another of our £7m'ish jinxt players??

We seem to have a bit of a record of those, Davies, Ferguson, Grabbi, even cole to a lesser extent as we lost all the money by letting him go on a free.

[T4E]

Say what you will about Dunny's performance, attitude, preparation etc, but I can confirm, he sure as hell aint fat. Out in Pune we discussed his view of the fans and anonymous keyboard warriors in general. He said it wound him up that people called him fat, then he whipped off his shirt ... and my god ... he is RIPPED ! Serious, not an ounce of fat on him. He did mentioned the fact he has a fat arse, which makes him look fat, but I have first hand experience (as somebody who's berated him for looking like he spent more time in Leavers the the gym) that's he's not fat!

Gay.

[AggyBlue]

There was no closing down at Wigan, we stood off them and gave them time on the ball, this must have been in the gameplan.

Any Premier League club, given time on the ball will create plenty of chances against us.

Our fullbacks didn't have much help again, we keep playing wide midfielders that don't track back enough to help out.

[cn174]

There was no closing down at Wigan, we stood off them and gave them time on the ball, this must have been in the gameplan.

Any Premier League club, given time on the ball will create plenty of chances against us.

Our fullbacks didn't have much help again, we keep playing wide midfielders that don't track back enough to help out.

Agreed, we were wide open most of the game. There was a shot in the first half when Gomez had the ball, noone tackled, noone tackled until he shot from about 25 yards and it went about a foot wide. Robbo went bezerk at the defence but they'd all run off. Now these aren't good tactics against the likes of Wigan, they certainly arent against better teams who would punish us even more.

There's not a tackle in our midfield! Nzonzi is supposed to be our tackling midfielder, but he barely is.

As for that 2nd goal, Caldwell didn't even have to move to get that header! Schoolboy stuff.

[arbitro]

Agreed, we were wide open most of the game. There was a shot in the first half when Gomez had the ball, noone tackled, noone tackled until he shot from about 25 yards and it went about a foot wide. Robbo went bezerk at the defence but they'd all run off. Now these aren't good tactics against the likes of Wigan, they certainly arent against better teams who would punish us even more.

There's not a tackle in our midfield! Nzonzi is supposed to be our tackling midfielder, but he barely is.

As for that 2nd goal, Caldwell didn't even have to move to get that header! Schoolboy stuff.

Absolutely right about Robbo blowing a fuse at N'Zonzi and Pedersen. At that time I was looking at the imposter and he did absolutely nothing. Souness, Hughes or Allardyce (or the vast majority of managers at any level) would have gone ape at such inept defending. He is so far out of his depth it's embarrassing.

I heard the imposter interviewed after and he said Dann got blocked for their second goal. Well I watched it several times with this in mind and didn't see anything untowards.

[BuckyRover]

Another of our £7m'ish jinxt players??

We seem to have a bit of a record of those, Davies, Ferguson, Grabbi, even cole to a lesser extent as we lost all the money by letting him go on a free.

He was bloody good in that first season up. His goals were arguably what kept us up so I don't think it was a waste at all.

[Al]

It's called a mohawk for a start. I should know, I have one. A big red one.

You are no longer my friend after that remark.

Stop feeding the pillock. He's taking the Mick and you are rising to the bait.

[Gav]

There was no closing down at Wigan, we stood off them and gave them time on the ball, this must have been in the gameplan.

Any Premier League club, given time on the ball will create plenty of chances against us.

Our fullbacks didn't have much help again, we keep playing wide midfielders that don't track back enough to help out.

Been an issue since Kean took charge, and still the fullbacks are being exposed and the wide men don't track back

Caldwells header at the weekend was school boy stuff, pathetic.

[LeChuck]

Our fullbacks didn't have much help again, we keep playing wide midfielders that don't track back enough to help out.

That's a bit unfair on Hoilett, I thought he was quite disciplined for this one. This will always appear to be a bigger issue than it really is when Givet and Salgado are playing full back because neither are agile enough to cope with wingers.

It hadn't been an issue with Olsson and Lowe there. Hopefully both will return to those positions for the next game, with Givet playing instead of Hanley in the centre.

[rog of the rovers]

My biggest problem with the match, was after weeks of improvement (QPR away could have gone either way, Spurs got away with it, the crazy late penalty against Norwich, the missed chances against Chelsea) we go and put in a performance, which for 50 minutes was absolute dross.

[savage8]

Caldwells header at the weekend was school boy stuff, pathetic.

What I couldn't understand is why we had 3 men standing on the half way line when they took the corner!!! I commented on this when the ball had just been kicked...5 seconds later they score.

That is obviously a manager's call.

It meant that Wigan had 2/3 players free in the box, one of which scored with a free header, because we didn't have a man on the post.

Awful defensive set up.

[TugaysMarlboro]

Disgusted that Kean ushered the players down the tunnel and instructed them not to come and applaud the fans for their support. The players really wanted to show their appreciation.

That's not a rumour, that's from as close to the horses mouth as possible.

[Guest Wen Y Hu]

Parsonblue's match report is now published to the front page here.

[martmitch]

venkys would actually go up a level in my estimation if this were to be true (thats 0 right now)

p.r.a.y.i.n.g

[Exiled in Toronto]

I agree with the point earlier that we only seem to have a wide players tracking back problem when we have fullbacks who can't cope with their man, which is every time Salgado and Givet play there. Also Robbo seems to have been replaced by a resurrected John Barton. Cool penalty by Yak, but the fact is none of Kean's signings are contributed.