Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man

Mike Goodman:

First of all I need to hold my hands up and apologise to Paul Cook. I wanted a change of manager given the results and performances we had leading up to 2020, but he seems to have brought the old Wigan Athletic back which is what we’ve all been pining for. The last three games have been sensational, three wins, three clean sheets and out of the bottom three, all of which have been fully deserved. I think we all wanted Cook to get us playing as we used to and fingers crossed he’s cracked it! However, we’re not safe yet and this phenomenal run needs to continue, especially with the Luton game coming up this Saturday. Win that and we’re in such a strong position of ensuring we have a third consecutive season at this level, something we’ve never had before. We’re back to having square pegs in square holes, players playing in their best position and the arrival of Leon Balogun has almost transformed us. If we survive, I’d say making Leon a permanent signing is almost priority No.1 in the summer. He’s been phenomenal and has added experience and composure to our back four. I don’t want to take anything away from Kal Naismith though, as he has been fantastic as emergency centre half and I imagine he will continue to do so when needed. Special mention to Gary Roberts as well who had been brilliant since coming back into the starting XI. Luton offer a challenging test on Saturday, they have only drawn four games all season, which shows they are an attacking team, preferring to go for the win than settle for a point. It’ll be great to have Graeme Jones and Callum McManaman back at the DW but we’ll all be hoping they leave with no points come 5pm.

Statto:

Another great performance at West Brom and win under our belts ,out of the bottom three and upto the dizzy nose bleed height’s of 19th. Now this is where the real work begins, with our next three games real six-pointers and a different kind of pressure in that we could be considered favourites for each of them. Let’s embrace it and go into these games with a positive attitude – we can do this. We also welcome back Graeme Jones to the DW, but for once let’s hope he has a miserable afternoon. As always ‘Up the Tics’!

Sean Livesey:

Three matches : three wins, nine points, five goals, zero conceded. What a remarkable week for Paul Cook and his Wigan Athletic side. I asked last week had Latics managed to turn a corner in the fight against the drop, and I think it’s safe to say they definitely have. The fight now is to ensure we stay out of the relegation zone. It’s been a long time since we dropped into the bottom three, and we have to ensure we don’t find ourselves back there. Although results have had an upturn since the New Year, performances have been markedly improved since the middle of December. Latics could and should have beaten West Brom at the DW in December, if only Jamie Jones hadn’t needed to quench his thirst. Latics eventually got the win over West Brom they deserved at the Hawthorns. Latics have experience of beating the league leaders after their win over Leeds at Elland Road at the start of February but I don’t think in Latics wildest dreams would they have imagined a third win in a week could have been gained at West Brom. Once again Latics as they have been for a number of weeks were the better side, this wasn’t a smash and grab win like the aforementioned one at Elland Road last month, but one where Latics were the dominant side throughout. All of the stats pointed to Latics being the better team and indeed Slaven Bilic agreed, Latics could again have had another two goals if Gavin Massey and Jamal Lowe had managed to convert their chances in either half. Taking a look back at February and that total of 14 points from a possible 18 is a massive boost in the battle to beat the drop. At the start of the month it looked ominous at best for Cook and Latics, the turnaround in that time has been nothing short of miraculous.

So what can we put that turn around down to? Despite not getting results earlier in the season performances weren’t as bad as one would expect. What let us down, seemingly on a constant basis was a lack of firepower at one end of the pitch and a failure to convert chances to shooting ourselves in the foot regularly at the other end. As well as an improvement in results there has been a change in style in recent weeks, something Latics fans had been crying out for, for most of the season. Latics have returned to the possession-based football that served them so well during the League One title winning campaign in 2017/18 and the early part of the Championship last season. The defence in particular has been excellent since the turn of the year, Kal Naismith and Cedric Kipre formed an effective partnership at the heart of the defence earlier in the year before the signing of Leon Balogun from Brighton. Balogun has been an absolute revelation in central defence, and alongside the ever-improving Kipre the pair have formed a fantastic partnership at the back. On the other side Tom Pearce seems to have solidified his place at left-back while Antonee Robinson has been out of the side and Nathan Byrne is playing some of his best football in two seasons. That improvement has been transmitted through the rest of the side. Kieffer Moore, who looked for most of January that he would be leaving for Cardiff, has been involved in 10 of Latics last 15 goals, his contribution to the side can’t be underestimated and the Welsh No.9 is doing his chances of a starting spot at Euro 2020 no harm at all.

There’s 10 games left to go, 10 cup finals and, thanks to the performances of those in the bottom half of the table, we can’t rest on our laurels. Saturday’s opponents Luton have picked up recently. We know how dangerous Graeme Jones’ side can be after that awful defeat to Luton back at the start of December. Callum McManaman has been in and out of the Luton team and is struggling to establish himself in the starting XI, much like during his return to the DW last season. He’ll have a point to prove to both Jones and Cook on Saturday and, if he does get on the pitch, Latics will have to guard against what he can do. It will be good to see Jones’ return on Saturday – a bona fide Latics legend both as a player and assistant manager. A win on Saturday could do wonders for our survival bid, we’re not out of this yet.Not by any stretch, so let’s get another big win and see where it could take us.

Craig Wigan:

So what have we learnt so far in 2020? Paul Cook isn’t that bad after all, for a big man Kieffer Moore has great feet, and that football manager predictions made in December are 100 per cent accurate. A great win at the Hawthorns shows we can compete with the best of them, but we’ve been competing in most games all season in truth. The introduction of Leon Balogun has really instilled some steel in our backline, those fine margins are now going in our favour, and we’re keeping clean sheets rather than looking like a deer caught in the headlights towards the end of games. The vital game that changed it all for me happened on Saturday, Jan 4 2020: Brighton 0 Sheffield Wednesday 1. Stick with me on this one...that FA Cup third-round win for Wednesday meant our fixture with them was pushed back three days and, after a hectic schedule, we had 10 days after our loss at Swansea to take a step back, evaluate what was going wrong with the team and work on bringing the good feeling back. Time rarely afforded with a full squad. Since then a form guide of W5 D2 L1 shows that corner was turned. So now the relegation fight has turned into a full on battle, with three from eight due to fall and we play six of the other seven in our final 10 games.

The mentality, we must win those six-pointers, is crucial. If we start becoming a defensive, long-ball team again in trying to hold onto draws and just ‘not lose’ games, then I see us suffering the same fate as we saw in so many games at the start of the season. We are better than that, we’ve shown it recently. So I hope when we host Luton at home on Saturday, we show that and go for a win by a margin that shows how much better are – aiming for plenty goals as that goal difference may be crucial come the end of the season. In my opinion, we can win all our games in March – Luton, Stoke and Blackburn at home, and Huddersfield away. Do this, then we’ll surely be home and dry. Some will insanely dream of the play-offs, but I think I’ll be dreaming of an end-of-season where youth gets more of a chance, we see how they can perform around the first-team players and start plotting our new heroes for next season. Get Leon signed on a permanent deal, re-sign a relegated Nick Powell, and start next season with a settled squad, more mature at the level and really push on. But back on Planet Earth, I just hope the positivity stays around the club and we continue to do the simple things well and develop this young group of players. With a leader in form like Sammy Morsy at the moment, we can go anywhere.

Paul Middleton:

I’ll be honest, it was much easier to keep throwing insults at Paul Cook when we were bottom of the league, than it is to praise him now we’re not. But I’ll give it a go. Over the last four or five weeks, we’ve looked like a really decent team. Not like promotion candidates, despite the current promotion-lite form, but decent nonetheless. Personnel changes have been minimal but, tactically, Cook has finally realised he can do good things if he tries hard enough. For too long it all felt like the last days of Paul Jewell, with the fans hating him, and him hating the fans, but it’s all settled down nicely at just the right time. We’re by no means safe, but every win is another step towards being able to look up instead of down. The more teams we put behind us, the more has to happen every Saturday for us to get dragged back in. That is, of course, assuming we continue to pick up points. Let’s not forget, though, that we’ve been here before. Being a Latics fan is lots of things, from the sublime to the ridiculous, but it never reaches the depths of being routine. That means, basically, that we could make a total pig’s ear of it just as easily as we could finish in the top half. But, and I say this through mildly gritted teeth, I’m more optimistic that I’ve been for ages. For too long, Cook’s seemingly endless lack of will to actually manage the team he’s paid to manage rankled.

That’s why I’m not willing, myself, to let it go completely until we’ve seen out the next few weeks. Our remaining fixtures are, on paper, one of the easier run-ins in the division. Only Brentford and Fulham could be considered write-offs, in terms of not being too disappointed if we lose both. The rest are winnable, even without the great form we’re in. But, and we should never forget this, it’s Latics we’re talking about. We play Luton this weekend, a team in desperate straits and needing every point.

Knowing Latics, they’ll run us ragged and complete the double over us. But you know what? If that happens, I’m still not going to panic. I’ll be a bit jittery, but I won’t be admitting it’s the end. Like all Wiganers, my glass doesn’t even reach half full most of the time but, at the moment, it’s not as empty as it was. If that kind of upbeat attitude doesn’t guarantee us a 4-0 loss on Saturday, then why do we bother?