Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - '...finally began to look like they actually knew each other...'

Alan Rogers:

I think most Latics fans were probably quite worried before the game at Sheffield Wednesday. Our last game against a team from the top end of the table ended very badly indeed. But, on paper at least, the team selected to play at Hillsborough seemed a lot more balanced than the side sent out against Stockport County.

And it all worked out very well! All credit to Gary Caldwell, he got it wrong against County, but sorted it out against Wednesday. Wigan were the better side throughout the 90 minutes, fighting for the ball, composed in defence, and finally began to look like they actually knew each other.

Of course, we didn't score, but we at least created some chances, which is something to build on. It was nice to see the likes of Sonny Perkins and Jon Mellish have good games - they've had a rough time from certain sections lately, so it was important to see them finish the game with smiles on their faces and applause from the travelling fans.

Following the game, Mellish was included in the League One Team Of The Week - so he must be doing something right. It wasn't all good news though. Apparently, Jensen Weir arrived home and had a shock when he discovered he still had Barry Bannan in his pocket (sorry about that!).

Anyway, a nice result (and a decent performance) against the top of the table makes everyone (well, mostly everyone) smile. Obviously, it's not perfect yet - but Saturday showed what we are capable of and hopefully provides a platform to build on for the rest of the season.

Short and sweet this week! Looking forward to the next match - which wasn't something we were saying after the Stockport game!

Matt Auffrey:

Last Saturday’s performance at Hillsborough was as satisfying as it could be without producing a win or a goal. We started the match composed, grew into the game as it progressed, and were undeniably the side more deserving of three points by full-time.

One week removed from getting demolished on our home pitch, we travelled to the top of the league, and outplayed them over 90 minutes. Charlie Gray and Jensen Weir were superb in the middle of the park, Jon Mellish looked like a brand new player at wing-back, and the rest of the team put in a full shift against an in-form side with lots of individual quality.

The post-match praises that came from Wednesday’s manager and various fans online only confirmed that we witnessed a top effort from Gary Caldwell’s men. The post-match analysis revealed we continued a trend of winning many key match stats (most notably xG) en route to a non-winning result.

While there should be an expectation from this point forward that the results will flip in our favour, I need to share a very obvious reminder - scoring goals is a prerequisite for winning matches. We’ve been shut out in four of six league matches thus far, and haven’t had a striker score for us in over a month.

The three goals we scored against MK Dons two weeks ago were a breath of fresh air, but they have since proven to be a one-off rather than a sign our attack had turned a corner for good.

The announcement of Scott Hogan’s short-term contract followed by his 20-minute debut off the bench provided a slight glimmer of hope, as the 34-year-old nearly broke the deadlock just before stoppage-time last Saturday.

While the experienced striker has scored nearly 70 career Championship goals, he is coming off a 2025/26 season where he played sparingly in League Two, producing only two goal contributions. If Hogan turns out to be the catalyst that turns us into a capable and consistent goal-scoring side, then I will happily eat crow.

In the meantime, I imagine we’ll need quite a few defensive performances like the one we put together against Wednesday if we’re going to work our way up the league table.

We’ll have to be equally competent in our defensive third this weekend to stop a Wycombe side that has scored six goals over their past two matches.

Two of those goals were scored by new ‘high profile’ signing Jayden Wareham, the former Exeter striker who was the top summer transfer target for many Latics fans not too long ago.

It would be very ‘Wigan’ to have Wareham punish Latics while facing his old gaffer for the first time, but I also expected an in-form Jamal Lowe to score multiple times last weekend.

Lowe ended up being a complete non-factor in front of goal, so hopefully that bodes well for us on Saturday. We saw how a full week of training with no midweek match helped improve our performance.

We should expect that another week on the training pitch will translate to winning football at the Brick on Saturday.

Our first away point and clean sheet last weekend was a good step in the right direction. Taking four points from consecutive matches would be a strong next step to take. One match at a time!

Truelatic4eva:

Last weekend's game at top-of-the-table Sheffield Wednesday was very encouraging. It's early days and, from what I saw, Wednesday were nothing special, we were the better team, and we should fear nobody in this league.

Once again, our lack of quality in the opposition penalty box cost us dear, and Mr Caldwell really needs to get a grip of this. Hopefully Scott Hogan can step up and score a few - if given the opportunity -.Wycombe on Saturday will be interesting...which Latics will turn up?

Another debacle like Stockport County will not be tolerated by the faithful. Nothing less than a repeat of the MK Dons game is what's needed to get us out of the bottom four and moving up the table.

I see our owner is being touted by Wigan Warriors fans as the 'owner of the year' in rugby league circles...what's the chances of him making it a double come next May? I'll put it somewhere between zero chance and no chance.

Tony Moon:

It was the roundabout the other week, and though we all wanted to be spun round faster, we came a cropper and we got thrown off. It was the swings on Saturday against Wednesday (one’s a day of the week, one’s a team, keep up) and we soared.

Well, okay, we didn’t quite soar (but we went very high), cos we can’t the hang of that little - but very important - job of finding the back of the net (only us can hit the post and follow it up with a glaring miss in front of an open goal).…

Yep, as good as he looks, even Reggie seems to have caught the Latics bug. I reckon they’re doing it on purpose you know...lengthening the odds for the post Christmas charge to the top. Lump on now lads ‘n’ lasses...you know it’s coming.

Sean Livesey:

'Night and Day'. No, not the infamous Oldham Street Manchester venue but the difference between the Wigan Athletic performances against Stockport and Sheffield Wednesday.

There was much trepidation heading over the Pennines after the previous Saturday, but all of that was dispelled by arguably the best performance of the season. Latics arrived at Hillsborough rock bottom of the league, with confidence both on and off the pitch shattered. One step forward and three back, in true Latics style.

Just as it seemed the season might ignite after the impressive win over MK Dons, Latics followed it up with a performance that never got going against the Hatters. Three goals down within the first 30 minutes, and as comprehensive a defeat as you could imagine.

So as Latics crossed the border, many in Yorkshire could be forgiven for thinking that top-of-the-league Owls might be on for an equally impressive result.

But Latics pulled out a fantastic performance to ensure a point returned to Lancashire, and a point really was the bare minimum of what we should have had.

As with every other performance this season - from Barnsley to Cambridge, Leyton Orient to Wimbledon - if we had taken the numerous chances we had created, we would have won.

There’s only the Stockport match and the mad first half at Cambridge that we have looked out of place this season. Every other match has felt like a win that slipped through our hands on account of not putting away our chances.

And our visit to table-topping Wednesday was no different, as Latics nullified their attacking threat and that of play-maker Barry Bannan, and once again created numerous chances. But once again we didn’t take those chances when presented.

The glaring lack of a goalscorer becomes more evident with each passing week, but there was some relief on that score ahead of kick-off as veteran Scott Hogan was announced on a short-term deal until January.

Depending on what side of the fence you sit on, you will either see that as a pragmatic move for a club wanting to stay within the financial guardrails (whether self-inflicted or at league level), or a sad indictment of where we are as a football club these days.

Hogan has scored goals regularly over his career and moved for some huge money in the past decade, and I can’t believe a goalscorer of his pedigree wouldn’t have converted at least one of the chances we’ve created in the opening month of the season.

Indeed, it looked written in the stars that he was going to score on his debut at Hillsborough, before Wednesday’s keeper made a brilliant save in stoppage-time.

But that wasn’t the best chance of the game - that fell to Reggie Walsh, who somehow managed to miss an open goal midway through the second half. It was the only slight sour note on an otherwise fantastic performance.

It does bode well that we are creating chances. But unless we start to convert them, those chances will mean nothing. Nevertheless, I’m confident from what I’ve seen that we will start getting the goals our performances deserve and the results that should follow.

Managerless Wycombe present the next challenge on Saturday. If we can nullify their expensive new striker Jayden Wareham - who Gary Caldwell should know all about, having signed him for Exeter City - we’ll have a great chance.

It’s time we follow up those performances with a win. Let’s hope Saturday starts that.