Would we have stayed up if...

A) We kept Daniel Stendel
B) Covid hadn't have happened?

 

Hard to say. Struber's results were obviously better than Stendel's this season, but then Struber wasn't shafted by the board like Stendel was. Would have been interesting to see results with Stendel if we'd kept even just one of Lindsay or Pinnock. Stendel was forced to sell his experience and just buy youth. Struber was given the chance to bring in some experience after the board saw what happened with Stendel.

Ultimately, I have huge respect for both.

 

A) probably not
B) dunno

I loved Stendel, but although I prefer him as a person, I think Struber may be the better manager. It's hard to judge because Stendel had his team ripped apart and doesn't seem to have been trusted to bring some more experienced players in. But I can also remember conceding a fair few chances in league one, but the opposition weren't good enough to take those chances. We look much more solid with Struber and also seem more organised throughout the team.

 

Struber got the results, some were more fortuitous than others but he got them nonetheless. I'm still not really a fan of his style or tactics, whether that will change with better personnel brought in we'l see.

 

Our ppg picked up under Struber particularly after Sollbauer arrived. However given the time line of events at Wigan we would have been relegated without Covid

 

Personally, I think that both were important. It is true that Stendel had his best players sold, and that they were replaced by lots of talented kids, but a good coach makes allowances, he changes the way his team plays and he allows for their inexperience. Stendel's promotion season was marked by the team allowing almost as many chances as they created. They were far too open, and he did not change the way the team played enough to take account of the added quality in the higher league, or our changed circumstances, particularly defensively.

The break caused by COVID was also important. It gave Struber time to think about his system and the way that it could be tweaked to make it work better, and it gave the defensive players the time to get to know each other and become a more solid unit. However, all of those things still left us a few points short of our target. Ultimately, the final brick in the wall was leaving out Cauley Woodrow. Woodrow is a good player, but he does not fit Struber's system. He cannot physically work hard enough in the press to turn the course of a game.

 

Not a chance we'd have stayed up with Stendel. As much I like the guy, he got found out. Whether or not we'd have stayed up without covid is debatable, but our form even before lockdown was pretty good.

 

We would not have won at QPR. I had tickets.

 

None of the above the reason we stayed up is because Wigan went into admin. Without that we were relegated regardless of manager.

 

With Pinnock at centre half?

 

Indeed but without Covid Wigan’s administration would have come after the season had ended, thus they would now be startling the new season in the championship with a 12 point deduction. So Covid did play its part in our salvation

 

A) Yes if they had backed him in the summer and given him the experience he was asking for and that Struber got in Solly. But no with the squad DS had at the end of the window.
B) No - Covid gave Struber the chance to have a sort of mid season break and work on things with the squad to work on the defence etc which ultimately got us enough points to stay up.

 

A think the break undoubtedly gave us time to regroup and go again for one last push, a think I’ll have to disagree with some on the DS scenario but that’s your opinion. Whilst some can say we were lucky Wigan were deducted 12 points if we’d been off a level playing field and them not having players who they couldn’t afford then we may well have finished in front of them anyhow!!

 

But would we have been in a position to be within 12 points without Struber?
Would they have gone into admin without Covid?

 

impossible to know. The only fact we have is that Wigan going into admin kept us up. Everything else is just conjecture

 

That's the point of the post, for people to share their opinions on what they think.

 

One of the big reasons we stayed up was buying Sollbauer, who was a big factor in improving the defensive players alongside him.

If Stendel had asked to sign Sollbauer at any stage of the season, the request would have been refused, so trying to compare their performance isn't straightforward for me.

The Covid break in the season was a huge positive factor for us, as it happened just as we were losing momentum after the Reading and Cardiff games, and it gave Struber time to prepare a team with many changes in it for QPR that ultimately made a big difference. Walton in goal was outstanding, but I can't see that he would have got a start if the season had just carried on, so I think the break was the more significant factor.

This is not to try and diminish Struber's achievement, but the opportunity to reset after two bad results, and essentially have a mini pre-season with a young group of players, was the reason that the starting XI vs QPR looked so radically different.

 

The request to sign Radlinger wasn’t refused.

 

Radlinger was 26 years old when he signed. Sollbauer was 29. That's quite a difference under our model.

 

Looking back at the season round up, it should have been.