Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - 'Let Latics gel...'

Sean Livesey:

Searching for consistency, I think that fairly describes the last seven days.

​At home, we seem to have cracked it; two great home performances in the league have led to six goals and six points.

Away from home? Still a work in progress, clearly.

That search for consistency has been hampered by an endless list of niggling injuries alongside illness and suspension.

Once we have a fully fit squad, then hopefully we can see a bit more of that consistency.

Luton was always going to be a difficult proposition, a Premier League side two seasons ago. But did we show them too much respect? Possibly. We need to have a bit more bravery in games like that; the same can be said for Leyton Orient earlier this month.

Our away form has gone from being one of the strongest eighteen months ago to one of the weakest in the league across both the latter part of Shaun Maloney's and Ryan Lowe's reign.

Arresting that and replicating home form on the road will have a big say in what type of season we have this year.

All this being said, we are still only four games into the season, but with the games coming thick and fast over the next few weeks, it's time for us to start putting a run together.

That search for consistency again.

Martin Lally:

Some famous guy on the telly once said, ‘It’s a funny old game’, and I have to admit that coming into The Brick against Peterborough, I was worried about what type of performance we would put on.

I’m also one of those fans who can’t help but strategically project where the next points after these may come, and with a tough run of fixtures approaching and no requirement to be a statistical mathematician, it puts more on the games you feel you should win, even this early in the season.

Darren Ferguson was up to his old tricks again. I cast my mind back to January when he had almost broken the souls of his players with some harsh, but probably fair comments, then claimed a 1-0 win over us. Let’s be honest, though, that last outing was all about the transfer that day of our best player (Thelo Aasgaard) and less about their abilities to respond.

Truth is, despite the efforts of their number ten Abraham Odoh, who looked filthy good in the first half and another Ferguson mannequin masterclass, I don’t think we were ever threatened apart from a few set pieces and scrambles towards the end.

I’m not going to get dragged in, but a clearer penalty you will never see……

Fraser Murray looks like a great find more and more each week. Both in defence and attack, he edged the man-of-the-match for me. I saw a differing view on Jason Kerr, but it was only positive for me as he dealt with their centre forward with ease, and Morgan Fox is a great addition in terms of leadership and standards, just needs a bit more fitness.

Ryan Trevitt is some player, though. If he stays fit all season, as previously stated, that calmness and composure is something we have lacked.

I find myself perplexed to hear this week some of the ‘respected’ fanbase being critical of Dara Costelloe - I wonder what games you’re watching two games in? Let Latics gel, they say….

In the end, if you're honest, a long season is ahead for Peterborough and we once again at Saturday tea time look like potential top ten candidates.

Onto Tuesday, and on paper, a really tough fixture. Despite the great record at the Kenny, no one will find it easy. A solo trip also due to distance and work……

There’s something about Luton, this actually only being my second visit, but a ground full of character made through many years. The famous away entrance, the narrow side streets that can probably tell a few tales and then how close to the players the fans are. Hard to believe that 24 months ago it was hosting England’s elite, but I bet Luton fans will be sad in the end to say goodbye to one of football’s treasures… also has other names.

Upon team news time, it seemed like a backwards step to see just one striker on the field and three on the bench. Felt a bit like we had come to frustrate. Although we didn’t start well, the gameplan was soon effective, and the extra man in midfield was helping us outplay a team that had been backed by many to cruise this league.

The truth is, I didn’t rate them one bit and despite the first ten minutes and five minutes towards the end, I honestly believe that is a game we will look back on with regret that we didn’t take more from it and perhaps Lowe will maybe have a reflection that we should have gone more positive and backed ourselves.

The away end was a great place to be, and I wonder if the cap got back to the Luton side? If you know, you know…..

Sadly, once again, the goal was of our own making, but there is more than enough there for me, and if they are top six, then so are we.

Work steals Saturday from me, but I will be listening in and supporting the boys from London, my first miss of the season.

Stay positive, Tics!!!

George Arkwright:

Luton. Tuesday night. In hindsight, we’d lost this game by 6:46pm. I think it’s a testament to Lowe’s cult of personality that I still had a glimmer of hope that he’d pulled off a masterstroke of tactical nous as I gazed upon a frankly baffling selection of players. It harkened back to the deepest pits of the Maloney residency, where he would release a teamsheet that left you scratching your head and wondering, outside of the defence, who would be playing where.

What makes it even more frustrating is that we are only four games into the season with a pretty much new-look squad; now is not the time to be rotating, but instead establishing our starting 11 and giving time to ‘let Latics gel’. Instead, our most potent attacking outlets were relegated to bench warming whilst we played an incredibly defensive formation with a number of players out of position. This showed almost immediately with the pointing of fingers from Luke Robinson to Jensen Weir for Luton’s opening goal; an unmarked second-phase ball into the box that should’ve been cut out by a player who frankly looked a bit lost all evening.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only time where it seemed our team were at a loss for where to be and who to mark. That is not to say that we were bad; we defended resolutely, and I don’t blame Weir or any of the other players for looking a bit out of sorts; they had no real attacking outlet, as Paul Mullin struck a frustrated and slightly unfit figure that was mostly adrift at the top of the pitch. Our players could not find a sweet ball in for him, and we did not deal well with a close man-mark from the Hatters; that’s really on Lowe. On the rare occasion we did manage to eek out a chance, it was usually the work of Trevitt, who in flashes looked every bit the quality that saw him loaned from the lofty heights of a Premier League squad; there’s definitely a player there.

It seemed as though we were forcing square pegs into round holes; playing long looping balls over the top that would’ve been perfect for Christian Saydee, but not so well suited for a 5ft 8in Mullin at the backend of his career.

Similarly, playing speculative balls from our wingbacks down the line to wide forwards that were never there to receive, resulting in a footrace between Callum Wright, Trevitt and their respective defenders that they rarely looked like winning.

Similarly, our midfield looked overrun; countless passes wasted due to a complete lack of attacking outlets; Luton’s defence was not stretched, and the game was crying out for changes to be made at half-time, namely Costelloe and Saydee. Instead, once again, we turned back the clock and brought on a second ‘striker’ in Maleace Asamoah Jr; another tactic from the Maloney banter era that categorically didn’t work. He succeeded in stretching their defence a little, but by this point Mullin was evidently done for the day and although Malace is tall, he is not the most physical presence and as such, we were seeing speculative balls played in over the top which were not being won by Asamoah or Mullin and not being chased down by their strike partner.

By the introduction of the aforementioned saviour duo on 72 minutes, the game felt like it was already essentially done; they had little time to find a rhythm and the best chance of the half fell to Mr Tickle on the stroke of full-time, who saw a fortuitous shot from the centre of the box whistle narrowly wide of the far post in what would’ve been the moment of the season so far. Alas, it was not to be.

I think it’s too early to question our set-up; after all, we are two wins to the good so far with a brand new team, but I do feel that if we’d started the game with the same line-up that so rightly humbled Peterborough at the weekend, we might’ve seen a different result. I am all for experimentation, and would always rather find a way to win than play ‘our way’ at the expense of three points, but it feels that there are lessons that need to be learned from last season; namely, ‘if you don’t score, you don’t win,’ and I’m not sure there are many goals to be gleaned from the ‘Lowe’ block.’

Matt Auffrey:

Another trip down south produced another performance where the lads failed to reward the travelling fans with a single point, let alone a single goal. Our 1-0 defeat at Luton on Tuesday was disappointing, if for no other reason than the side we faced hardly looked the part of a team that was playing Premier League football 15 months prior. The hosts were unremarkable for the better part of the evening. After scoring what Lowe later described as a ‘scruffy’ goal, the momentum quickly shifted as Latics were on the front foot and created a handful of legitimate scoring chances. The half-time break did us no favours as we failed to keep a strong grasp on the game after the restart. After surviving a few late Luton attempts on goal, our final opportunity to nab a result came in the dying moments of the match from a corner kick. Trevitt’s delivery was headed across the box by Will Aimson and fell into the feet of Sam Tickle - who just travelled the length of the pitch to become the most unlikely hero of the bunch. His last-ditch effort on goal flew just wide of the right post. Kenilworth Road was spared one of its greatest away goal celebrations in recent memory.

My main takeaway from Tuesday’s defeat was that the performance was a noticeable improvement from the dross that permeated the pitch at Leyton Orient. The good news is that we will only have to wait until Saturday to see if our trend of improved away performances continues to the point of generating a positive result at full-time. We travel to Rotherham this weekend - a place where we experienced victory on Boxing Day last season. The Millers will be eager to bounce back from a 3-0 defeat at Cardiff last Saturday, where they only manufactured a single shot over 90 minutes to go along with a measly 24% of possession.

Lowe made five changes to the starting XI for our midweek fixture, which did not include some of our best performers of the season so far, such as Fraser Murray, Tyrese Francois, Christian Saydee, and Joseph Hungbo. The fact that we produced an array of scoring chances with a relatively unproven group over the first 45 minutes was an encouraging development. However, we will need a better comprehensive performance over both halves if we hope to secure our first away points of the new campaign.

The gaffer is on the fast track to bringing winning football back to WN5 after delivering three wins over our first three home fixtures. This phenomenon will be tested to a further degree when Stockport visits the Brick twice within a five-day span next week for a midweek second-round EFL Cup tie followed by a league fixture on Saturday. Heading into Tuesday evening, off the back of our first away victory, would serve as a huge boost as we face our toughest home opponent of the young season.

Lowe has done a commendable job managing the squad through some early bouts of adversity. James Carragher and Isaac Mabaya have both suffered significant injuries, while a host of other expected contributors are still being nursed back to full fitness after missing this opening stretch of fixtures. We are not firing on all cylinders yet, but we are making satisfactory progress towards our goals. I’m confident that this Saturday will serve as another step in the right direction.