Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - ‘After 50 games, this team still feels like it’s as much of a mystery as it was six months ago...’

Matt Auffrey:

We’ve played 50 competitive matches so far this season. Yet, this team still feels like it’s as much of a mystery as it was six months ago. Several notable trends have emerged over the course of the campaign, with the most prominent one being inconsistent performances over extended stretches. We’ve had 19 matches across all competitions so far in 2024. We’ve only produced the same result over consecutive matches on two occasions since the start of the calendar year. We beat Reading and Wycombe over a four-day span in January, then lost to Exeter and Oxford over a four-day span in February. Results for back-to-back matches have differed on every other occasion over the past three months. Last weekend’s matches against Burton and Cambridge gave us two underwhelming results - a 1-1 home draw and a 3-1 away defeat. The disappointing performances only added to the narrative that we fare much better going up against the teams at the top of the league table versus the teams at the bottom. We’ve earned 17 points from 10 matches against teams that are currently in the top six places for an impressive 1.7 points-per-game average. On the other hand, we’ve only taken 13 points from 11 matches against teams that are currently in the bottom 6 places for a 1.18 points-per-game return. There are many theories as to why this trend has come to being. With the season winding down over the coming weeks and our league status in a secure place, I’d rather focus my attention and energy on how to improve the squad going forward versus directing blame towards the culprits of this season’s shortcomings. Last weekend gave us an honest glimpse as to what a team ‘on the beach’ looks like. The collective effort for both matches was satisfactory, but we lacked the cutting edge in key moments that ultimately turned the tide against us. Credit to Shaun Maloney for giving 19 different players the opportunity to start either match, when many of those players will not be a part of next year's squad. Some individuals fully seized the opportunity, while others contributed very little. The squad is large enough and healthy enough that we should hopefully have no problem putting out a motivated team for these last five matches. This weekend brings the penultimate home fixture of the campaign with Port Vale coming to the DW. They are desperately trying to escape their way out of the relegation places - just like our last two opponents (Burton and Cambridge) - and will certainly not roll over for us. After failing to capitalise against vulnerable teams in the bottom six on consecutive occasions, hopefully the ‘third time's a charm’ on Saturday. We are certainly due for a convincing victory, and I’m confident Maloney will have the lads ready to go from the first kick. We’ve been disappointed only to bounce right back more times than we can remember this season. Let’s give this group the benefit of the doubt that they can find their groove again this weekend.

George Weah's cousin:

Life is far too short to moan about team selection for a dead rubber, as it was on Monday. Especially when Shaun Maloney is picking from a squad of which half will be off in summer. People moan about Mike Danson not giving Maloney a solid plan/budget for next season, but then when it gets to 2pm on matchday, it’s back to being Maloney’s fault...that team selection is probably often based on which players can be bothered that week. The squad is made up of lads that don’t want to be here, lads the manager doesn’t want, lads that want to stay but don’t justify their over inflated wages from Mal Brannigan, and kids. There is no 'Best XI' because there’s still a ton going on off the pitch which people don’t factor in. I personally think the manager will walk/be sacked well before Christmas. But people will expect us to go and get a winner or the next big thing at this level, because that’s what we’ve done before. And the owner isn’t here to fund those sorts of moves. If next season’s squad will be built on a budget that’s significantly smaller than this season, a promotion push looks very unlikely. And I'm just not sure the fanbase has the patience for it. We're used to walking this league, and I don’t yet think we’ve adjusted to that not being the case. Even if Danson had spent 17billion covering the debts, he’d only ever be judged on what he spends going forward, and I’m not sure some are ready for what that is. We’re a totally different club now to previous League One seasons, and it just won’t be accepted by a large section. I genuinely believe for all the fall out on here week after week, Maloney - in the nicest possible terms - is totally irrelevant to the situation. He’ll go sooner or later, and it’s only when the next manager has to work under the same tight budget that the penny will drop about where the club is. They won’t sack him in summer, but a comfortable mid-table season - despite having started on minus eight - isn’t good enough for some. Next year’s squad is highly likely to be weaker, and people aren’t ready for that. People assume this was the transition year. There’s a lot more transition to come. I suspect all of Humphrys/Kerr/Jones will be off, and there's a good chance Tickle/Hughes go as well. If we lose those, and work on a significantly reduced budget, it’ll take an incredible summer of recruitment to be stronger. People are assuming money coming in will be spent on transfers, and the big wages being binned off will be spent elsewhere. But I don’t see that being the case. The club wants to rely on the Academy and smart, which means data-led cheap recruitment. It’s going to take time. If they think the club can cope as it is in League One, they’ll have the patience to wait for it to bear fruit. The fanbase won’t, though, and that’s where it may very well get toxic.

Ed Bazeley:

Obtaining just one point out of six over Easter is naturally disappointing for any side, regardless of where they sit in the league table. But given Latics have already secured safety, and cannot land a play-off spot, our poor showing on the Bank Holiday weekend was tolerable, albeit a bit irritating. Ideally, as fans, we would like to see our side pick up a win and a draw in consecutive games against relegation-threatened sides. Against Burton Albion on good Friday, we really should have capitalised on Max Crocombe's questionable goalkeeping on more than one occasion. From the stands, I counted three crosses he came to claim but missed. The fact it took Sam Hughes to turn the ball into his own empty net - again after Crocombe missed the ball - summed up Latics' lack of creativity. Burton's equaliser was too easy from a Latics point of view as well, and a 1-1 draw was a fair result when, prior to their equaliser, the visitors were there for the taking. Easter Monday didn't bring any better fortune for Latics as we fell to a 3-1 defeat at Cambridge, whose win lifts them six points clear of the relegation zone. The Easter period was indicative of where Latics are in the league table and, at this stage of the season, we simply do not need the points as much as our opponents. In years gone by, Wigan have been in that same precarious position as Burton and Cambridge. And as a side near the bottom, you target games against mid-table opposition as the ones you must win. Cambridge and Burton were always going to give it their all against us whereas, in many ways, Latics are already on the beach. Saturday's clash with Port Vale - who sit in the relegation zone - will be another stern test against a side who are scrapping for their lives. But it is important that Latics do not let an overall positive season completely fizzle out.

Tony Moon:

We’re on the beach, we’re playing in t’ sand, no relegation worries, eeee, in’t it just grand. The points are in t’ bag, our position’s secure, though it’s got to be said that we’re playing like manure. We could be doing better, aye, of that there’s no doubt, but does that really justify 'Maloney out!'? (Normally written in capitals … just like yon Trump … with a similar logic that talks through its rump). From where t’ season started then most would ha’ been happy wi’ a mid-table finish (even though bits were *think of your own rhyme here). We did 'them men' twice, and shared t’ spoils wi’ the Lashers, but a loss down at Cambridge brings out all the bashers. It just beggars belief that despite all th’ upheaval, they’d happily sack t’ manager, that’s not daft, it’s just evil. He convinces the owner to give it a rub, to pay off the debts and invest in the club. And what thanks does he get? Some folk want him sacked, cos we’re not top o’ t’ league! I reckon they’re cracked. Now to be fair we’re all hoping next season will bring, just a touch more experience that helps us to sing. Because when we’re on song, then our tune is just fine, but when sung far too slowly, it turns into a whine … just like some o’ t’ fans who refuse to concede, that this season was all about sowing the seed. The seed for the future, that we get to watch grow, so enough talk of sacking … cos you reap what you sow.

Sean Livesey:

Ahhh Wigan. I foolishly thought last month's financial results may have provided some much needed context to a club still reeling from two financial disasters in as many years. Clearly I was wrong. The (internet) fanbase reverted to type on Monday evening as we were 'DUN WI' Maloney, and Danson would be seeing 'THI NOOOO MOOOR'. Let's get it right, Cambridge on the pitch was awful. After hoping for a reaction from the Burton match, we didn't get anything of the type. From the first minute, we looked lethargic and frankly not that interested. Now anyone who's watched football before will realise that nine times out of 10 in a season like this, where ours is all but finished, this kind of thing can happen. Footballers psyche's are a complicated thing. Safety was all-but secured against Blackpool. Yes, you want to finish the season as strongly as possible, but half of that squad (whether right or wrong) know they won't be here next season, and for now it looks like they're playing as such. We as a club are strangers to this, certainly over the last two decades. There's only one season that really sticks in my mind where we had nothing to play for. If you think this season has fallen off a cliff, may I point you in the direction of one Steve Bruce and his final few months at the club in 2008/09 before he left to join Sunderland and their North East branch of Harrods. Latics won only three games in that second half of the season. We went on winless runs of eight and seven matches respectively, and we still finished 11th. This season we've done the hard yards and, despite the poor losses, we will most likely finish around 11th or 12th in the division. In a season where we've had the world against us, is it really that bad ? Really? It's clear the lads need the season to end as much as we do. In my eyes, it's a season of job done for Shaun Maloney and the club. He was set a target of survival, and he achieved it with over a month spare. Does he deserve the daft abuse from the usual suspects who only appear when we lose? No, of course he doesn't. But this is the tale of modern-day football. It looks like we'll be playing Stockport in League One next season. I mention County, as a month or so ago I was listening to post-match on Radio Manchester, and they had a Stockport fan call in, adamant Dave Challionor should be sacked because they had lost a game. This shows that a large section of football supporters don't actually have any idea how the game works.