Wigan Athletic (H) - Monday Night Football (urgh..)

[CharlesBronson]

If we equal our first 23 games on the run in it'd be 70 points for the season. good enough for top 6?

[Blackpool_Rover]

8 hours ago, philipl said:

iFollow was not working in nearly all the second half and all the other feeds were hanging badly.

So yes I was watching... A little circle going round and round.

Nobody on here seemed to mention it though.

Because it was on normal TV in most countries. Was shown on the normal premier League channel here.

[Lancs Rover]

Dack is one of the most overrated players we've had for some time.

It looks like Tosin's excellent form is the reason for our recent run. A unique, irreplaceable player in the squad.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Tabula Rasa

[AllRoverAsia]

8 hours ago, philipl said:

iFollow was not working in nearly all the second half and all the other feeds were hanging badly.

So yes I was watching... A little circle going round and round.

Nobody on here seemed to mention it though.

You got lucky and missed nothing good, except a top show by Walton.

[JBiz]

4 minutes ago, Tabula Rasa said:

Dack is one of the most overrated players we've had for some time.

Over 40 goals and 20 assists in just over 100 games?

Remind me who else we’ve had with that level of impact since pre 2010?

Will be a bitter loss but I genuinely feel Holtby is a perfect replacement.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Harry The Bass

[andyroversmad]

43 minutes ago, CharlesBronson said:

If we equal our first 23 games on the run in it'd be 70 points for the season. good enough for top 6?

Last season Derby finished 6th with 74 points

[Lancs Rover]

Just now, Harry The Bass said:

Over 40 goals and 20 assists in just over 100 games?

Remind me who else we’ve had with that level of impact since pre 2010?

Will be a bitter loss but I genuinely feel Holtby is a perfect replacement.

Can be impressive. Rarely for a full game. Greedy at times in front of goal which is just what we need.

Has far too many mediocre games. Doesn't make the difference in matches his ability warrants.

Agree totally about Holtby. 

It's a team game for me so 'assisting' is redundant in my eyes. Just saying.

[JBiz]

Just now, Tabula Rasa said:

Can be impressive. Rarely for a full game. Greedy at times in front of goal which is just what we need.

Has far too many mediocre games. Doesn't make the difference in matches his ability warrants.

Agree totally about Holtby. 

It's a team game for me so 'assisting' is redundant in my eyes. Just saying.

Fair enough - I think if he was a step above, we would’ve lost him to a premier league club already, but out of all (including the likes of Rhodes) the players we’ve had since leaving the top flight - he has been the most impressive and had most impact in my opinion.

Big loss if it’s a long time.

[Ossydave]

Well on a plus note I don't think any of the other teams we play this festive period will be as anti football as that lot last night. We just can't play these teams can we?

What an absolute set of parasites their 'fans' have shown themselves to be as well regarding Dack, far more than a handful of them gloating about his injury, never seen anything like it. 

[MarkBRFC]

Hmmm.

Was gutted yesterday, a last minute pre Christmas deadline kept me at work past 6pm yesterday so didn't end up making the game, think I'll email the customer today with a huge thank you looks like they did me a favour!

It was all so predictable as others have said. We showed last night that we just can't handle the expectation levels, it's also twice in 31 days that we have been out played by the bottom side at Ewood, concerning.

I have a feeling that this could be the start of another Mowbray horror run unfortunately, whilst we did well at Bristol, I'm not sure we're good enough to play without Dack for any length of time. I just don't know who is going to score the goals, I've seen nothing to suggest that Rothwell can step up in that position, and I just don't see Holtby as that sort of player.

[Ossydave]

Just now, MarkBRFC said:

Hmmm.

Was gutted yesterday, a last minute pre Christmas deadline kept me at work past 6pm yesterday so didn't end up making the game, think I'll email the customer today with a huge thank you looks like they did me a favour!

It was all so predictable as others have said. We showed last night that we just can't handle the expectation levels, it's also twice in 31 days that we have been out played by the bottom side at Ewood, concerning.

I have a feeling that this could be the start of another Mowbray horror run unfortunately, whilst we did well at Bristol, I'm not sure we're good enough to play without Dack for any length of time. I just don't know who is going to score the goals, I've seen nothing to suggest that Rothwell can step up in that position, and I just don't see Holtby as that sort of player.

We weren't outplayed by them they just set up to frustrate us and frustrated we got! If the chance that hit the bar went in we would probably have put 2 or 3 past them, such is life though.

[MarkBRFC]

Just now, Ossydave said:

We weren't outplayed by them they just set up to frustrate us and frustrated we got! If the chance that hit the bar went in we would probably have put 2 or 3 past them, such is life though.

Or if the chance that the Wigan lad tamely put in Waltons arms went in we probably would have lost the game.

I thought they played much the better football than us in the first half, could have been two up before we even got one on target.

Even the second half it took two good saves from Walton to keep us in it before we did anything, and in injury time there was only going to be one side that was going to win, and it wasn't us.

 

[Pedro]

7 hours ago, Commondore said:

Well, the one positive thing is that our unbeaten run is intact, as that was dreadful all around. Even Walton, with his two good saves towards the end, looked shaky throughout the rest of the game.

While he didn't exactly turn the game around, I feel Holtby showed that he needs to be in the team when fit as he's our best passer and decision-maker in the final third as well as offering effective solutions further down the field.  

I thought Walton was really good. Some of those backpasses he dealt with were absolutely needless and terrible and his saves and decision making were ?

His entire defence was poor. I don't know what was more ridiculous, their distribution or the fact that the somehow ragged a clean sheet. I would personally make them sit through end to end re-runs of their performances on Christmas day. They were abysmal and should be ashamed of that passing out from the back.

[Mashed Potatoes]

We are a bit like Manchester United in that we struggle to break down teams who are set up to defend. A disappointing result but at the half way stage of the season we are in the fight for the play offs and I think back in August pretty well all of us would have taken that.

[Ricky]

The commentator mentioned that Williams was back after missing 6 games with injury. That’ll be the 6 good games we’ve had without him near the starting 11. Need Tosin back for the Birmingham game.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

8 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Downing isn't a winger at this point in his career - he's made a very useful left back at this level though.

To me, all of our front 4 today want to play through the middle - with Rothwell really wanting to play CM. Square pegs, round holes - reminds me of the Bowyer years where he bought good players, but not players for his system. 

To be fair on Downing,  he's got more pace left in his legs than Conway ever had.  Could still do a job on the wing if needed.  

Time to start putting Chapman on the bench.

[Stuart]

8 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

Wigan used to be in Lancashire and many of them still think they should be.  It's a bone of contention when the county lines were redrawn.. 

Wigan is still in Lancashire*. As are Liverpool and Manchester.

Unless you also believe that Backburn isn’t in Lancashire either.  
 

*doesn’t make their fans any less scrote-like (oh the shit I was given for calling Wigan fans scrotes  )

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

7 minutes ago, Ricky said:

The commentator mentioned that Williams was back after missing 6 games with injury. That’ll be the 6 good games we’ve had without him near the starting 11. Need Tosin back for the Birmingham game.

Williams is a solid defender in an emergency but his passing is awful.  He just doesn't fit the style TM wants to play. 

Very interesting window coming up now.

[Pedro]

Just now, Stuart said:

Wigan is still in Lancashire*. As are Liverpool and Manchester.

Unless you also believe that Backburn isn’t in Lancashire either.  
 

*doesn’t make their fans any less scrote-like (oh the shit I was given for calling Wigan fans scrotes  )

A class-less, team, manager and support.  

[arbitro]

16 minutes ago, Pedro said:

I thought Walton was really good. Some of those backpasses he dealt with were absolutely needless and terrible and his saves and decision making were ?

His entire defence was poor. I don't know what was more ridiculous, their distribution or the fact that the somehow ragged a clean sheet. I would personally make them sit through end to end re-runs of their performances on Christmas day. They were abysmal and should be ashamed of that passing out from the back.

I agree but would extend the criticisms about poor passing to the whole team. Simple passes were often misplaced, over or under hit or the wrong weight. And that is almost the polar opposite of how well we passed it at Bristol. To offer a slight defence I thought the pitch was too dry but that is is no way excusing the overall quality which was poor.

[K-Hod]

I’ve seen a few people telling others to ‘grow up’, when there are as really no need for them, or the person they gave the instruction to, to do so. Personally, I can’t think of many things that make me cringe more tbh.

If you can’t be sound at Christmas, then it might be beyond you, eh?

[Bigdoggsteel]

2 hours ago, Doug said:

 

Tosin was injured 

[Pedro]

Just now, arbitro said:

I agree but would extend the criticisms about poor passing to the whole team. Simple passes were often misplaced, over or under hit or the wrong weight. And that is almost the polar opposite of how well we passed it at Bristol. To offer a slight defence I thought the pitch was too dry but that is is no way excusing the overall quality which was poor.

I agree. So wasteful and needless. On the counter, we have a terrible habit of passing simple balls behind players, rather than in front of them. We kill momentum. Yet when we do the simple thing of getting the ball in front of players and work our way to the opposition's box quickly, we score some lovely goals.

[joey_big_nose]

On Boxing day I think we would have dropped Dack and turned the whole side over like at Bristol City any way, so we won't really see if we miss Dack till the game after that.

Question is do we go 442 or stick with 4231. I personally would go 4231. Despite the team performing brilliantly Brereton was still a passenger last game. I just can't see the point.

Also I do agree we need a bit of width on the bench. Crying out for it last night. Why not give Chapman or JRC a go?

I think we can keep the run going as long as Tosin comes back.

 

 

[Pedro]

One thing that made me wince was a section of our own supporters chanting, "What's it like to win F### all?!"

...to the team that pipped us to the League One title and who are fairly recent FA Cup winners ??