The 12th Man column: Wigan Athletic's fate is still in their own hands ... for now

Martin Tarbuck:

Oliver Langford? We’d have been better off with Bonnie Langford reffing us in midweek.

So I uttered after the game, probably for the first time, since the last time we played them.

In a small sense, it was reassuring to see the fans take out their displeasure on the man with the whistle rather than the players or manager for a change.

Football, just the way it should be, with apologies to refs everywhere.

I wouldn’t do that job for a golden pie.

To be fair, dodgy ref decisions serve a great purpose in whipping up the crowd and indeed the players on what was a cold and dismal night and turned

Tuesday’s game into a thoroughly entertaining, feisty encounter.

If we were safely ensconced in mid-table, everyone would have gone home happy.

But we’re not.

We are staring down the barrel of yet another relegation unfortunately and, whereas I always been of the belief, particularly before last Saturday, we would go on a good run to pull ourselves up the table at some point, it’s now looking decidedly ropey.

Once you get further than three points away from safety, then you need more than one good result to get out of it, you need at least two, and even that depends on the teams above losing as well.

Am I disappointed? Of course I am,

I do think we put too much emphasis on words though.

Words said before the start of the season about kicking on, words from our owners about kicking and aiming for the Premier League, and more or less every reported word that comes out of Paul Cook’s mouth.

What is the difference between us and the other teams that came up last year from League One such as Luton, Barnsley and Charlton?

We survived last year for one, but that was at least partly due to the talents of Reece James and Nick Powell, who both went for free.

Sure, we spent between £8m and £12m over the summer, depending on how much the individual spouting it is exaggerating, but I’m pretty sure we lost £10m of talent when the two aforementioned names walked out the door to offset that.

I think it is time we (the club as well) admitted staying in the Championship is going to be a struggle, that we are in a relegation fight, and that perhaps we always were going to be, and always will for as long as we get the crowds we do.

Of course, money is put in but only put in to sustain the club not bankroll a charge to the top of the league.

There are exceptions, but sadly there is now a significant gulf between League One and the Championship, and there is another gulf between the bottom quarter of the Championship and the top quarter.

Sure “anyone can beat anyone on the day”, but generally the teams at the top remain at the top because they have more good days than bad, because they have better players, more money, bigger wage bills, a period of stability from which to build or expensive, long-term scouting models.

This quite rightfully implies there is more than one way to skin a cat, of course, but we never seem to have the time as a football club to stop and take stock and put planning in place.

Mainly because nobody, from fans to the boardroom, has ever had the patience to implement it.

Away from the first team it’s different, of course.

Witness the youth team under Gregor Rioch: he didn’t just magic up an exceptional bunch of under 18s from thin air, it took years of hard work, coaching and nurturing those young lads, both as individuals and as a unit, not only because he is very capable but because he was allowed to do so without the pressure that a first-team manager would face.

So if we can all accept patience is a commodity scarcely found in first-team football, then we need to get on with the job in hand, which is staying up.

It would be lovely to think Tuesday would spark a longer resurgence in the need to right the wrongs on the pitch throughout the club and in the stands.

And it would be lovely if those fans continually ranting about the manager could perhaps adapt a siege mentality in favour of the club instead of against it. Because, contrary to what many people say, being 22nd in the Championship isn’t the worst position we’ve ever been in.

It is arguably the top end of what we should be able to achieve, if we hadn’t been so spoilt over previous years.

I get we have always been known for punching above our weight but, from what I saw on Tuesday night and in many other games, we are putting up a fight, and you can see what it meant to the players (and manager) when they do win a game.

They haven’t given up, and nor should you.

I don’t buy this “I’m not going till Cook’s gone” stuff, often spouted by people ironically purporting to be lifelong fans.

I was here before Cook was and will still be here after.

I don’t want praise for it, and I fully expect I’ll get some stick for saying it from faceless internet individuals.

I didn’t particularly like watching the brand of football Joyce and Mackay put us through either, but I didn’t sit at home sulking via the red button.

I am hopefully preaching to the converted here when I say we have been exceptionally lucky as Latics fans, and even our lows are pretty high compared to many other North West clubs.

But moaning is an art form to Wiganers and it will never stop.

Of course, it’s louder than normal because we are in the bottom three but, let’s face it, the moaning was constant when Cook, and Gary Caldwell before him, won the League One title.

We only did it because they got lucky, the other teams were poor and we had more money than the rest of them.

Yet now we have less money than almost every other team, we are not allowed to use that as an excuse for our poor showing at Championship level?

Well, no we shouldn’t to be fair. Excuses are exactly that.

What we can do, though, is be completely supportive of the club for the rest of the season and they might just surprise us.

To be fair, the fans at the games are generally very supportive given our predicament, and long may it continue.

To return to my opening gambit, even social media was a reasonable place after Tuesday’s game, with all brickbats aimed at old Bonnie Langford rather than Coronavirus levels of toxicity aimed at the manager we have seen.

I know it won’t last but, trust me, you’re wasting your efforts and they’d be better utilised by supporting the team.

Picking fights with each other fans, snide comments or hurling abuse into the echo chamber of cyberspace solves nothing.

Let’s leave the post mortem till the end of the season. It’s only a game, and even when it’s terrible, I still love it.

Andrew Carey:

I started last week by praising Paul Cook for a bold but excellent tactical decision in setting up with a back five at Leeds.

We went into a derby full of momentum and optimism with a chance to really close the gap on those in front. Then the team sheet landed. We’ve struggled to score all season, and that line-up, particularly for a home game and in a derby, just invited pressure – and sure enough that’s what we got.

PNE were direct and clinical and while their goals looked good we made it so easy for them.

A couple of subs later and we looked more of a threat, but realistically we were never going to go and score three and the game was gone.

Tuesday offered a chance to rectify the poor set-up on the Saturday, and the line-up did just that.

Young Joe Gelhardt got a start to please many, Jamal Lowe was dropped as he’s had more than enough opportunities and not

delivered, Anthony Pilkington appeared from somewhere, and Antonee Robinson has disappeared.

That said we had a positive side and were facing another team who can’t find the net. Surely this game had 1-0 written all over it? Then the referee landed.

Now we’re all human and make mistakes, but where do I start with Oliver Langford? So many poor decisions, too many to list here.

The big plus was the way the 10 men fought and worked to secure the draw.

With Charlton getting a result at Nottingham Forest, and the games running out, it’s a tough ask. However, it’s by no means over.

With Hull and Charlton (forest result aside) in freefall it’s huge games to come against Luton, Huddersfield ,Stoke, Barnsley, Hull and Charlton which will decide our fate.

If we’re not cut a drift by April, it could be an eventful end to the season.

You know what they say – it’s the hope the kills you.

Statto

Lets start with Preston – Paul Cook got it all wrong.

The three at the back worked against Leeds, but we were playing a team with 11 goals away from home.

By the time we went more positive, we were 2-0 down and you can’t be giving teams a two-goal lead.

Now on to Middlesbrough, and we were more positive and in control until the referee went card crazy.

We all moan about the referee from time to time and, with the advent of VAR, the knock-on affect is the Premier League need more referees, thus they get promoted quicker.

I don’t know how many Championship games Oliver Langford had done before Tuesday, but he lost his head by not playing any advantage and going card happy.

The one criticism from Tuesday is we didn’t take enough long-range efforts at goal in the first half, and we saw to our cost what the wind could do to the ball.

Oh, and 11 yellow cards in a game and not one for Sam Morsy...is he going soft?

We now need to start winning games to have any hope, let’s carry on the positive play from Tuesday to the end of the season and see where it takes us.

Craig Wigan

Consistently inconsistent, that was the description of our club bandied about earlier this week, and it was certainly lived up to by the referee against Middlesbrough at least.

We’ve had many more people to blame for our poor position this season than just referees, but how he managed to turn a game against us in five second-half minutes was astonishing.

The only thing that did work in our favour is when we went behind, we still had 20-plus minutes to come back into the game, something we’ve been ill-afforded this season due to letting it slip right at the end.

I liked our line-up against Middlesbrough, a start for Joffy and Pilks gave us some quality in the final third we’ve been missing all year.

They may miss a lot of the all-round attributes of Gavin Massey and Jamal Lowe and sometimes may not be involved in the game as much, but when it comes to it they deliver.

Joffy’s through ball to Michael Jacobs that almost won a penalty, Joffy again setting up Kieffer Moore for what should’ve been a red card, and Pilks’ amazingly controlling that ball and laying it off to Nathan Byrne to deliver for the own goal.

These sorts of incidents are how you get what you deserve from a game, and I hope their selection continues because playing together – Joffy especially – will only lead to them getting better.

Last time I wrote anything was post the Sheffield Wednesday game, and I asked for Paul Cook, for once, to not field the same winning 11 in the next game against Leeds.

He didn’t, and we won again. Brilliant, he’s learning...I thought!

But to then play that same formation at home against Preston, who have been poor away all year, was car crash.

When we changed it in the second half everyone could see that. So will he learn his lesson again?

Each team we play needs their own game-plan, their own formation, regardless of the previous game and performance.

We got away with that in League One, but not here.

So with Cardiff up at the weekend and the games slowly winding down, it’s a game we can win and we must go for that.

Leeds was a certain type of performance, but if we attack Cardiff and are solid at the back, we have a chance.

I personally don’t mind having the three central midfielders as long as we have attacking quality in the final three attacking players, which I just don’t see from Lowe, Massey and Jacobs.

We very often see those three midfielders win the ball back high up the field, then it’s surrendered too easily in the final third by those attacking players.

I do struggle to understand why Joe Garner isn’t getting more minutes too.

Yes, Kieffer has been excellent, but he shows his frustration and tiredness towards the end of games.

Imagine a fresh Garner for the first half and fresh Moore for the second half... that would cause problems for a full 90 minutes!

What we have shown this season, though, is the fight is still there.

When our backs are against the wall, we stand up.

But with the form of the teams above us, we need to keep putting a run of wins together now.

I still look to Charlton away on the penultimate game of the season as huge.

If we can keep within two points of them by that game, giving us the opportunity to leapfrog them with a win, there may just be a chance.

But even if not, we goto League One, hopefully start playing more of the kids and re-create more great memories like we’ve had down there before.

The calls for the managers head seem to have died down a bit the last few weeks, and I actually hope Paul Cook stays if we do go down.

If we stay up, though, I think he should go and we should get someone who can push us on in this league.

If he pulls off the miraculous in the last few games, that may seem harsh.

But we can’t go through this every year, and I think the foundations of the squad are there for someone to do a lot better over 46 games.

I also think his management of youth, which the board say is so crucial to our club plan, has seen frustration in the crowd, and we are in danger of missing potentially a golden generation for our club at first-team level.

So four points adrift and Cardiff, Reading and Millwall on the horizon... it could be a huge couple of weeks for us.

But then after West Brom away, we have Luton, Stoke and Huddersfield.

Now is the time to hit form and not give the chance for formations, referees, team selections and injuries to be our excuse.

It’s football, it’s nerve wracking, it puts mileage on your clock, but isn’t the business end of the season exciting? I for one am excited to ride that rollercoaster.

Cameron Quince

When you’re at the bottom of the table, things for some reason don’t go your way.

Like the Chey Dunkley sending off and tackle on Kieffer Moore not being a sending off.

We can blame the referee all we like and, yes, Tuesday’s referee was probably the worst I’ve ever seen.

But we continued to play through it.

There’s absolutely no doubt that every single player out there showed the passion and fight needed to stay in this league.

Tuesday was a great result with 10 men against a possession controlling team like Middlesbrough.

That fight and passion is certainly translating into the results.

If we continue with this, there’s no doubt in my mind we’ll find a way to stay up.

We just need to keep going. In terms of players, Leon Balogun looked like solid addition, and hopefully he can continue that.

Cedric Kipre is developing more and more as the season continues, Gavin Massey seemed to show sparks of his good form last season, and Nathan Byrne is slowly but surely turning into Reece James – the past few games he’s been immense.

You cannot blame David Marshall for either goal conceded – a a deflection and the wind completely knocked him off track. On any other day, he would have saved both.

Kal Naismith was good, as always, never great but never bad, which is what you need from a player – consistency.

Moore does everything except score goals, if he had a goal threat we’d have a top top striker on our hands.

Pilks and Joffy showed us moments of class like they do, and we can’t expect Joffy to beat the world at the moment anyway, he’s 17!

So all in all a really positive outlook on the foreseeable games, the only way is up for us, let’s keep it going.