Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - 'One bad week does not make us a bad team...'

Ron Morgan:

Wigan Athletic have had a mixed bag of results to the start of the new season. There was optimism at the start that this could be the start of something special. However, after what happened at Bolton last Saturday, it has put more of a damp squib on Latics, just as the rain did.

I have not seen a performance like that since Kolo Toure was the manager. There were some bad results under Shaun Maloney, but nothing like we witnessed on that rain-sodden afternoon. Ryan Lowe, in his post-match interview, acknowledged that this was not a good performance and the players, in their heart of hearts, must realise this. They let the fans down.

Bolton scored four goals at home in a league match, in fifty minutes of play, something Latics have failed to do since March 19, 2022, when they beat Morecambe 4-1. Since then, by the time Cardiff City arrive, 76 games have gone by over 1,289 days, during which Latics have failed to score four goals at home in a league match. It is not often that they have scored three goals during this long spell. Check those stats, if no one believes this.

In short, the performance last Saturday was unacceptable, and the loyal 3,500 fans who made the short trip, plus those who watched it on TV, know this. However, it is not all gloom and doom. There have been positives for Latics, and I am inclined to put this down as a ‘bad day at the office’ that won't happen again this season. We move on to the next match.

At the time of writing, before the Wycombe cup match, there is the possibility that if they win, there could be a money-spinning tie against a Premier League club as a reward. Then the arrival of high-flying Cardiff City, theirs would be a good scalp to take. And why not? Latics’ home form is probably the best in League One. It is their away form that has left them down so far this season. Get Latics winning from home, there is every chance that they not only manage a top ten finish, but even make it to the play-offs? Come on you Latics!

Matt Auffrey:

I wish I could say that I forewarned this column’s readers about the massive challenges that lay ahead of us last weekend. The truth is that I completely missed the mark with my prediction. Outscoring Bolton 10-0 over our past three visits to the Toughsheet, coupled with our recent dominant showing against Doncaster, gave me every reason to believe that we’d enter derby day on the front foot.

However, I not only underestimated how the absences of Jason Kerr and Christian Saydee would impact leadership, energy, and physicality in our team, but also overlooked how much Bolton’s squad had changed since our last victory on their pitch.

While Ryan Lowe’s starting XI featured five players who also starred in last season’s 2-0 triumph in Horwich, Steven Schumacher’s starting line-up only featured one holdover from that same game - the ever-so-familiar George Johnston. We faced a completely different side that was largely free of burden with respect to their performances in this rivalry.

The hosts came out playing attacking, fearless football. Latics, on the other hand, brought a dull kitchen knife to a gun fight featuring military-grade artillery. 50 minutes and four goals later, we had done everything to concede the match except raise the white flag itself. A 54th-minute belter by Paul Mullin sparked a brief resurgence. However, our weak flame would be extinguished by the hour mark. The full-time whistle relayed a message that could not have been clearer to all match viewers: the tides had turned for good. Bolton officially had the upper hand in the rivalry.

Lowe made five changes for Tuesday night’s third-round Carabao Cup tie against Wycombe, but the performance was just as lethargic as the one we had witnessed three days earlier. Latics would go on to limp out of their first cup competition of the season. A prime opportunity for redemption was wasted.

Our punishment will be entering Saturday’s fixture against high-flying Cardiff with far more questions about the state of our squad than we had just one week ago. Cardiff suffered their first defeat of the season last Saturday and responded by beating Premier League opposition Burnley away from home to advance to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup. By all accounts, they are a side that can easily dismantle us if we show up in any way similar to how we took the pitch against Bolton and Wycombe.

Lowe has suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time in his Latics career. How he gets the lads to respond this Saturday will say a lot about his approach to handling adversity. The return of Saydee from suspension could prove to be invaluable, but he alone is not responsible for carrying the weight of an entire squad against a tough opponent. Lowe will need to instil confidence in every player who sees action, regardless of how they’ve performed over the past two matches. We are not even 20 per cent of the way through the league campaign and only find ourselves four points off the play-offs.

We’ve shown plenty of promise through this early part of the season. One bad week does not make us a bad team. Let’s continue to support this group in a positive manner, and a pleasant surprise could very well emerge from the shadows this weekend.

Billy Haggerty:

From a sun-soaked Skiathos, my usual drivel is a tad tinged with a few pints of Mythos sunk by an idyllic Greek taverna… the Thessaloniki Beach Bar.

Well, the so-called 'big display' from the Bolton debacle didn't seem to materialise, given the depressing reports on FB, X & Vital Forum etc. Apparently, we were due a reaction from the abject and dismal display that was served up last Saturday; the less said about that, the better, as I'm just getting over the capitulation and the flashbacks of gifted goals.

I had serious high hopes of the team/squad that had been assembled during the close season and the transfer window, so much so that I had us as play-off potentials and after the Doncaster game that sort of reinforced it for me… Fast forward two weeks, and I think I need to re-evaluate my hopes. Yes, we're less than a quarter of the way into the season, but it shows you that two or three good games don't define the season, and similarly two or three bad games don't either, so I'll just need to sit on the fence a bit longer before thinking what's possible with our current crop of players.

It may be a blessing in disguise that I'll also miss the Cardiff game as I'll still be enjoying the Greek hospitality, the Greek Ouzo and the Greek beer, a damn sight better than the ale on offer at the Brick btw). So from a sun-swept Skiathos, I'll finish off my beer, get back on my sunbed and dream of a Latics win against Cardiff because after all 'it's all Greek to me'.

Martin Lally:

Well, that was a tough week to take. I could have been sacked, and it wouldn’t have been as bad, really.

In the same way that me and many have been complimentary about the squad that Ryan Lowe has built, it has been clear in this last week that a combination of suspension, injury and just not being at the races can change the whole dynamic very quickly.

I, for one, am never confident playing them up the road. They are an unpredictable team, but the problem has been more deeply rooted at Wigan than Saturday at 1415hrs after a high score loss, but was it a thumping really? It really wasn’t. The truth is, they were clinical on the day, aspects of their defending would worry me, but fair play, they took the chance and put us to the sword.

Once again we are the architects of our own disasters. Teams never rip us apart so much that you have to accept the defeat, but I guess that was a day to take our own medicine.

Full of hope on Tuesday night, we got straight back to it, but like a deflated bouncy castle, it was clear that the Saturday game had affected us more than we thought. They simply never got going, and the cracks of Christian Saydee, Jason Kerr, and James Carragher are now really starting to show. There are probably 13 or 14 players who could really propel this team forward, but some of the passengers are really starting to hinder the project.

Two games, two teams that at our best we would more than compete with, but as stated previously, it is the minimum requirement of any Wigan Athletic fan to demand 100 per cent effort and the rest will follow. Tragically, in these last two, we have fallen short of this, and hopefully Lowe will reinstall the program ahead of another Championship-ready visit from Cardiff City.

Okay, we probably would have let someone else win the Carabao in the end, as we wouldn’t want another giant upset, but it was a really great chance to invite another giant onto our path and give it a go.

At the Brick, it would have secured some more funding and more resources for the project, but it’s not to be, and we move forward to Saturday… A magical win and the week that was will be forgotten.

We have until January to lick our wounds, but I hope it’s hurt them as much as it’s hurt us, and we look for some retribution in the form of a result come the return leg.

After all, we probably would have drawn Grimsby away (congrats on the United win). We go again, Tics.

Alan Rogers:

I think the most important thing this week was not to try to summarise Saturday's performance until quite a while after the game had ended. Latics social media feeds went ballistic almost as soon as the first goal went in, so I tried my best to calm down and keep some sense of perspective. Even so, hours later, I had absolutely no idea where to start, and I was still furious. At the very simplest level, everything that has been right in recent home games was wrong on Saturday.

From past experience, we know not to get carried away when we see the green shoots of recovery poking through, but we still fall for it! I don't think there is such a thing as a typical Latics fan – we come in all different shapes and sizes, but there is one thing we all probably do have in common… Most of us dare to dream. But after Saturday, well, I think we can pack the dreams away for another season.

If we are being kind, we could say that injuries and suspension have affected team selection, and a knock-on consequence could be partly to blame for Saturday's result. But if we are being honest, everything was wrong - from the way Lowe set the team up, to individual performances - the players looked like strangers. I said last week that it was a great team performance against Doncaster, and it would be wrong to highlight individual performances. Equally, the performance against Bolton was pathetic, but I'm not going to destroy this or that player; I'll leave that to the experts on social media.

All we can hope for is that when the manager, staff and players realise what this result and performance actually means to the fans, they hang their heads in shame and try their very best to see that it never happens again. However, having said all that, after watching his post-match interview, I don't think Lowe really understands exactly how bad this result was. He made all the right noises, but his attitude and body language were at odds with his words. If that had been Maloney, he would have been both furious and bright red with embarrassment. But then again, Maloney never lost to Bolton, and Latics ran through his blood. I still don't think Lowe "gets us", and sadly, I don't think he ever will.

Moving on to Tuesday, and well, it was simply more of the same. That's about all I can say, really!

Finally, last week I commented on some remarks that Jason Taylor had made in the Daily Mail. Fair play to Jason, he replied to 12th man to explain what had actually happened. It seems that he did offer some comments to the Mail, but not necessarily the comments that they printed. Looks like it's a bit similar to that old Eric Morecombe/Andre Previn sketch - he may have said some of the words - but not necessarily in that order! In other words, the Mail were "extremely economic" with the facts. Who would have thought it!

Tony Moon:

To see the rainbow, you’ve got to have the rain… Well, it’s been pelting down – not literally – these last two matches, so here’s hoping for some proper Richard of York gave battle in vain come Saturday.

A wise man once said, ‘A week’s a long time in politics’, but it’s a lifetime in football (credit to Reuben 27 on Vital), but how long is it since the transfer window closed and everyone (well, OK, lots) were saying how well we’d done and how strong the squad looked? Only a few games later, half of them have been condemned to the midden (I can’t use the more commonly used colloquial term in this publication, but look it up), and the owner is being pilloried for not chucking his cash around like some third-tier Jim Radcliffe (God forbid). Ah, twas ever thus.

Thankfully, an extended cricket season meant I missed the game over at Horwich, but trying (ever so hard) to take the positives out of the Carabao Cup game. Ollie Cooper looks to be a decent signing (even though his naive challenge gifted them their first goal), and… and… and… OK, that’s it... just the one positive then. At least it allows us to concentrate on the league (til the FA Cup starts). As for the Carabao ... here's hoping that Wycombe draw Liverpool at Anfield.

Sean Livesey:

Can two defeats in a week be described as a crisis? No, of course they can’t. Can two defeats in a week be considered the end of Lowe’s honeymoon period? With the manner of the defeats, quite possibly.

It’s been a long time since I came away from the Reebok, Uni of Bol, Macron, Toughsheet or whatever else they’re calling it this month feeling like I did on Saturday.

The manager played down the defeat, as would anyone to protect his players and staff, but let’s not underestimate just how poor we were on Saturday afternoon. A Bolton side who hadn’t really pulled up any trees so far this season completely dismantled us and handed us our proverbial backsides on a plate.

In a way that defeat had been coming, our record over Bolton couldn’t last forever, and with the home record given up earlier this year, so it would pass that the away would end as well. The disappointing part was the manner in which it happened.

We couldn’t get a handle on Bolton’s wingers, and all over the pitch had a lack of energy, which is concerning so early in the season. Throw into the mix four individual mistakes and barely a glove laid on the opposition, and it’s no wonder we so meekly surrendered.

Bolton fans who will never tire of telling us that ‘it’s not a derby’ wouldn’t agree but it’s a match that matters to Wiganer’s and to see us so meekly surrender it reminded me of the worst days of Malky Mackay and Uwe Rosler (interestingly enough the last time we lost there was under Mackay), the manager would do well to remind the players just how much it means to us.

Ian Evatt spent five years playing it down as just another game, and each time they were roundly outclassed by a Wigan Athletic side often not considered at the same level as Bolton.

So, with that atmosphere roundly ringing in our ears, it was important that we bounced back against a Wycombe side who (checks notes) made 11 changes from their league match on Saturday. Yeah, well, that didn’t happen.

What many would expect to be a first-team line-up for Latics, or at least a line-up that featured numerous first-teamers, put in a performance so devoid of anything that it was a welcome respite when the referee blew for full-time.

Callum McManaman aside, there were very few on that pitch who deserved any credit on Tuesday night. Latics looked even worse than they did on Saturday and passed up a great opportunity to reach the last 16 of a competition that could have earned the club some serious money in the next round.

Regular readers will know I very rarely criticise individual players in this column, indeed many would put the words happy and clapper next to my usual contributions, but I’ll make an exception for one Maleace Asamoah JR. Shaun Maloney was called not fit to burn by elements of the fanbase for not using him after he put in a half-decent 45 minutes against Wrexham last season.

That’s all we’ve had in over 12 months of Asamoah wearing the Tree and Crown. 45 minutes. He played in the tepid defeat to Salford in the EFL trophy earlier this month, but could be forgiven due to being surrounded by academy lads who also struggled, but he showed exactly what he was about last night. Given an opportunity to make a name for himself or some sort of impression, and instead he walked around sulking for 45 minutes, showing less effort than I would wandering around Sainsbury’s.

It was no surprise to see McManaman replace him and actually show some fight and heart for the badge. If we’re looking to offload players in the New Year, I suspect Junior will be first out of the door.

Speaking of McManaman, it’s such a shame that his return came in the winter of his career because he really is a class above; he was one of the very few bright sparks in a night to forget.

All being said, it must be soul-destroying for the lads to come out to a stadium so empty and devoid of atmosphere as Tuesday night was. 2,077 hardy souls bothered that night for a game which potentially would have seen us earn a glamour tie in the next round. What more can the club do to get people through the door? A debate for another day.

Mick Aspinall:

Well, what a weekend to finally get over and see my first game of the season. I’ll get the Horwich plaudits out of the way by saying, no matter how poorly we performed, we were outplayed by a more determined, more passionate, and more clinical group of players. You sometimes hear people saying “ahh but (insert name of team) played really badly”, but that team still has to be put to the sword, and we well and truly were. As mentioned, this was my first chance to see this season’s Tics. I realised too late that flights were more expensive the later you leave them, so when looking to plan well in advance, this fixture stood out like a beacon. Over the last few fixtures at Horwich, we have been spoiled, and having attended the last couple, I was thinking “Well, why not?”. Now this wasn’t because I was overly confident. Horwich have been through a similar stock take and rebuild as ourselves, and despite their results not setting the world on fire, or cheering up some of their fans, I still thought they would be a tough team to get a result against.

I’m too old to get carried away with the media promotion in the run-up to the game, but I was looking forward to the atmosphere and being amongst thousands of like-minded Tics. It was a horrible day weather-wise, and perhaps that should have been an indication, but a couple of pre-game stouts allayed any early doubts. And then the game started!

There’s no way around it but to say we were awful! Horwich did to us what we’ve been doing to them for a number of recent fixtures. The early corners we got were just a false dawn, and we just got overrun in midfield. I say overrun, perhaps outcompeted, is more accurate. It’s fair to say that three of their goals came from our mistakes. However, one of those was an exceptional finish, and the others still needed to be put in the net, by a team that had scored few or no first-half goals all season! Again, not taking away from the opposition, they were by far the better team, but our lack of effort was disheartening to say the least. A consolation goal was something to take away, but to be fair, I think the score could have been worse.

I’ve seen some criticism on the old SM’s, stating that perhaps Ryan Lowe was wrong to treat this as just another game, and not the everything-on-the-line derby we expected. I have two issues with this: we don’t know exactly how the players were motivated before Saturday, and they could’ve just forgotten everything the manager said. Secondly, the starting lineup contained five players who have played their parts in these games previously, so they knew just how intense and frenetic these games are. To me, it’s not just a coaching issue.

A number of fans exited the ground a millisecond after the fourth goal went in. I’ve seen and heard comments for both sides and I will say that for those saying you should stay and support the team, well it was hammering down, it was horrendous to watch and there was the prospect of being held back by the police after the game, which at the time of the fourth goal, would not have been the memorable experience it was last December. Maybe more should’ve stayed and cheered the team on, but it’s an individual choice, and I, for one, couldn’t knock either side of the argument.

Social media has been the usual mix of misery and doom, and the comments by our fans are, at times, laughable. The fact that we have to remind people that this is our third squad rebuild in three years, and that it won’t go smoothly, and possibly even horrendously at times, is par for the course. That said, what is not acceptable is an apparent lack of effort by the team, and reasonable criticism should be part and parcel of the debate, but singling out players and calling them not good enough, already being in the managers back, and commenting that there should be more people there on a Tuesday night after spending a fortune and witnessing the horrors of Horwich.

On that point, it’s always been a bugbear of mine when people say, “these people should be at more games”! Nobody knows any other individual’s circumstances, and you are in danger of creating a picture that isn’t an attractive one, and may put people off. Anyway, I’m sure the SM critics are doing very well at those footy manager games, so maybe some of it’s fair!

So not the visit I was expecting, and a poor few days on the footballing front, but this is the Tics, and you know there are brighter days ahead, when we ourselves will brandish that sword, and put our opposition to it! Stay classy, Tics, and keep enjoying the bumpy ride!

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