Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - 'From dominant to dreadful...an incredible contrast'

Matt Auffrey:

From dominant to dreadful, we have already seen an incredible contrast between our first two performances of the League One campaign.

Our first away day produced a toothless display for the traveling fans as a physical Leyton Orient side controlled the match from the onset and cruised to a comfortable 2-0 victory. Our back three, which was rock solid against Northampton, took an early hit when James Carragher was subbed off less than five minutes into the match with a leg injury.

In turn, an already out-of-position Steven Sessegnon would move from left centre-back to right centre-back and give us our first ‘facepalm’ moment of the season 13 minutes later, when he misdirected a relatively harmless cross into the back of his own net. When coupled with a sending off in the 86th minute, it would be fair to say the outing marked one of Sessegnon’s worst efforts in a Latics shirt.

However, Sessegnon wasn’t the only player who struggled on the pitch that day. Our collective performance exposed numerous cracks within our team - from our midfield that was outmuscled for much of the match to our strike partnerships that failed to produce a single shot on target over 90 minutes.

Ryan Lowe did not mince words when expressing his disappointment with our effort during his post-match interview. The good news for the gaffer is that reinforcements are waiting in the wings.

Two veteran presences in Will Aimson and Morgan Fox will be available to fortify our backline this weekend, while the midfield could be bolstered by the introductions of Matt Smith and Baba Adeeko.

The final two weeks of the summer transfer window could produce a few more surprise additions to the squad as well. While it would be nice to know what our strongest XI will look like by the end of August, what’s more important is who will line-up for Peterborough’s visit to the Brick on Saturday.

After suffering back-to-back defeats to teams who just dropped down into League One from the Championship, the Posh should see Latics as a much more beatable opponent. Darren Ferguson’s side is still coming to grips with losing some of the division’s best young attacking talent over the summer as Kwame Poku, Ricky Jade-Jones, and Malik Mothersille all departed for new horizons.

The trio scored a combined 32 league goals last campaign and leave big shoes to fill for a side that hasn’t featured a single player over the age of 25 through its first few league matches.

A win on Saturday could serve as a big confidence boost for Latics ahead of a tough stretch of matches featuring trips to Luton and Rotherham before returning home to take on promotion-chasing Stockport.

Our current league table position of 12th and goal difference of zero tells the story of a team that is neither running away with the title nor staking claim to be the worst side to ever grace the division. We are an improved team on paper with respect to last season, but have yet to truly gel and prove ourselves over an extended run of fixtures.

Lowe still has much to learn about this group as he aims to get them playing high-quality attacking football on a game-in game-out basis. Whether we look the part of a finished product or not on Saturday remains to be seen.

The attitude and the effort has to be better, though, and I am confident Ryan Lowe will have that message instilled in the lads' heads. Three points at full-time would be a great step in the right direction. Let’s have it!

Martin Lally:

They say that a week is a long time in football. For Wigan Athletic, it’s a roller coaster ride!

Leaving the Brick post-Northampton, it was hard to not get super excited that, if that level of performance was to become consistent, we would have a serious chance of competing at the correct end of the table this season.

Full of confidence, down to Leyton Orient we went, where it has to be said I would have been fantastically happy with a draw. But we never recovered from the loss of James Carragher in the early stages, where the disruption seemed to take us back six months immediately. I feel for Steven Sessegnon. On any other day, that passback goes anywhere else than the goal, but he just never recovered after it.

Ryan Lowe was super honest and it was great to see. But despite the hype for Orient, I felt it’s a game we could have easily won by playing less to their strengths and working the channels (more to our strengths). It certainly was a long trip back to Wigan!

And so to the third games in the space of 10 days, back at the Brick, and Carabao Cup progression past round one for the first time in five seasons - and only the second time in eight seasons.

Certainly a better performance than Saturday, and special mention to Ryan Trevitt, who seems to be the calm and composed midfield link we have been missing since Matt Smith went MIA last Christmas. There was certainly an array of talent sitting in the stand behind me that are yet to see the pitch in any capacity this season.

We certainly don’t get much luck, and it seems that may be the case with Isaac Mabaya, who may already have kicked his last ball for the Tics after what appeared to be an Achilles problem. Hopefully it's not as bad as we first thought, but it didn’t look good at all. That squad depth looks like it will be required!

I have to say I was a little annoyed at first with 'Wrexham's Paul Mullin' playing for Wigan, but against Notts County and the last 15 minutes at Orient showed how much of a great pro he is. He gave every last breath and looked like he really wanted to fight for the club, and I’ll take that every day. Mullin is a clever player and I for one have seen enough to hope he stays longer term.

Ticket secured for Luton (a) and Peterborough to come, my early evaluation is that when we are good we look dangerous, but that high possession all in attacking style can quickly turn to five or six opponents attacking three defenders if it breaks down, and better teams will pick us off.

I also worry about our physicality at times, but it’s early days. All told, a positive start, with some tough games ahead from now to the looming closer trip up the road to them. But it’s great that football is back!

Lowey:

My first 12th Man of the season will be a positive one as I don’t want to risk a telling off...if you know what I mean?

Northampton was good, maybe not as good as we first thought though? Two strikers playing together who looked like they could score. Wingers who went forward and put crosses in and also have a goal in them. Youthful energy in midfield and the usual dependability at the back.

Orient was bad and, yes, as bad as we thought. All of the above was missing (moves on quickly).

Notts County was probably a mix of both. Two strikers offering something different. The new midfielders showed a lot of promise but obviously tired. Are they better than what we have? Not sure yet. Makeshift defence did well. Doffs cap to Jenson Weir.

Two wins from three, progression in the Carabao Cup. I think most would have taken that start to the season. The fixtures for the next month or two aren’t easy, so expect much more of the same, but it'll be interesting watching the team develop and hopefully less Orients and more Northamptons to entertain us.

Mick Aspinall:

Well we’re three games into our season and, however steady we seem to have made the club as a whole, the footballing rollercoaster is well and truly off and running.

Full transparency, I have seen very little of the football thus far. I moved out of the country earlier in the year and, due to circumstances beyond my control, my broadband/TV options are limited. Sky Sports News and Latics TV have been my favoured combination, while I work towards a proper set-up.

My technical woes aside, there have of course been promising signs, showcased in the season opener against Northampton where it seemed like we had a ready made 'off the peg' Ryan Lowe team. Then came the Leyton Orient game, and this is where the rollercoaster metaphor kicks in.

I actually feel it’s like the reverse of what a rollercoaster actually is. Rollercoasters typically drag you up to the descent, and it’s the drop, the long slope downwards, that’s the most thrilling. I listened to the commentary on the game, and with that in mind, Orient was like being dragged up a never-ending slope, with only the sound of a clanking chain, and no panoramic view!

Tuesday against Notts County seemed like a decent performance, without being spectacular, and gave some decent minutes to new signings and Academy players. It was nice to see Paul Mullin getting off the mark too, although the injuries picked up by James Carragher on Saturday and Isaac Mabaya on Tuesday are cause for concern - especially the latter, who I think had the potential to be one of our great loan signings.

And so the Tics' rollercoaster is well and truly off and running, even if it’s a rollercoaster travelling in reverse, so you can’t actually see when the next turn, drop, or exciting twist is coming, and people still moan even during the calm periods.

The next segment of the ride is Peterborough at home this Saturday, and we all know, all outcomes are well and truly on the table. Last season's home game against them, if I remember correctly, was one of the few highlights of last season, so let’s hope for something similar, or even something that exceeds that performance.

When all’s said and done, this is still my favourite rollercoaster that I’ve ever ridden, and one I will continue to board year in year out. UTT! Stay classy!

Sean Livesey:

How would we assess the last two matches? Erm, shall we say room for improvement?

Leyton Orient was poor, there's no getting away from that. Latics never got going in the London sunshine, but I think the departure of James Carragher to injury early on did far more to unsettle us than Orient themselves.

Richie Wellens' side are a throwback to the days of old - they're strong and extremely physical. They'll bully a lot of teams this year and will pick up a number of points doing that. The disappointment is that we didn't better stand up to that and also didn't really string much together in the passage of play.

We've had a terrible recent record in London, so it's no surprise we didn't get anything from Brisbane Road. It's a good job the football is only part of the day, and an otherwise excellent day out in the capital would have been ruined if it was like that.

There was an opportunity of sorts to bounce back on Tuesday night against Notts County in the Coca Cola, Worthington, Milk, whatever-they're-calling-it-this-year Cup. It's fair to say we've not had the best of records in the aforementioned competition in recent history. In fact it makes for pretty abysmal reading. So nothing really matters apart from reaching the second round but it didn't make for good watching.

Ryan Lowe went strong in his line-up selections, but it's as clear as day that we're having a mini injury crisis at the moment. Off the top of my head we're missing Matt Smith, Baba Adeeko, James Carragher, Jonny Smith, Callum Mcmanaman, Chris Sze, K'marni Miller, and now we can add Isaac Mabaya to that list. Any of those lads would be a miss, but to be missing eight of them...it's almost a full side.

Ironically certain sections said injuries were a thing of the past after the Northampton game and were solely linked to Shaun Maloney. Rather than just being one of those unfortunate parts of football that happen.

It's only two years ago we had one of best seasons for injuries in the club's history in 23/24, and it was no surprise that we spent the first half of that season fighting for a play-off spot before injuries bit.

It's uncertain the extent of Mabaya's injury, but it looks a bad one for the young lad. His reaction - and that of both Wigan and Notts County's medical teams - said the same. It's such a shame as he's looked decent when he's featured, and clearly Lowe had big plans for the man from Liverpool.

With all of those lads out and the defence looking paper thin at the moment, I'm sure we can expect moves in the transfer market over the next couple of weeks. The return of Will Aimson on Saturday after a three-game suspension can't come soon enough and I would expect a defence of Aimson, Jason Kerr and either Steven Sessegnon or Jon Mellish on Saturday against Peterborough.

We could do with a win, but we're going to have to be a lot better than the last two matches to make sure of that. At least Paul Mullin is off the mark now...let's see if he can build on that on Saturday!