First thing to say is don't panic. 45 games left and we can only improve. Second thing to say is that, regardless of formation and players being unfit etc, Wigan were too good for us and would always have won the game. That said, we made life easy for them by: Having no attacking strategy other than lumping the ball up towards O'Grady who was being tightly marked by one (and sometimes two) massive centre halves Playing a flat 4-4-2 which forced Mellis out of position onto the right wing and meant Golbourne played left midfield, thus playing to neither of their strengths Neither Perkins nor Dawson were able to get close enough to Watson and McCarthy in the Wigan midfield. With a midfield as strong as theirs it was bonkers not to play 3-5-2 (this would also have put Mellis back in the centre and Golborne at left wing back) Conceding two soft goals from set pieces (albeit one looked offside) M'voto, who played pretty well overall, losing his man for the fourth Jennings making the worst debut seen at Oakwell since Carl Regan. A stupid, unnecessary tackle which finished the game as a competition with half an hour left. All in all a very frustrating afternoon that after all of the optimism of the summer leaves us bottom of the league with a goal difference of minus four and plays into the hands of everyone who is tipping us for the drop. The sooner Etuhu and Digby are back in contention the better. Still, we won't be coming up against the likes of Wigan every week. Lets hope for a morale boost against Scunny on Tuesday, eh? Keep the faith.
I am getting sick of these pathetic, defeatest "Wigan are better than us" comments. People are talking about a team in OUR LEAGUE as though they are Man United. We should be able to play against any team in our league and give them a game, if you're going to start writing off teams on the same level as us as too good to beat then what on Earth is the point! Wigan aren't too good, we were just too lazy and didn't want it.
Wigan are a good side, there is no doubt about that however they are not world-beaters and they are in the same league as us for a reason. They may well go straight back up, I personally think they will, but however many points they pick up this season I doubt they will get an easier three points than they got yesterday especially in the second half.
