Wigan Athletic: The 12th Man - 'We owe this team just as much patience as we were willing to offer two months ago, when the prognosis for the season was a complete mystery...'

Matt Auffrey:

Our trip to Bristol didn’t deliver a positive result, but it did give us a reality check. We simply were not good enough in nearly every area of the pitch. There’s been plenty of blame to go around between the gaffer, various position groups, and individual players within those groups. The exclusion of an in-form Stephen Humphrys from the starting XI puzzled many fans. Shaun Maloney's revelation that Humphrys was left on the bench due to missing a team meeting earlier in the week sparked a fair bit of debate over the remainder of the weekend. Regardless of what effect that decision had on our performance, the responsibility lies on the entire squad to be better than what they were that day. The good news is one bad outing does not make a bad team. A return to the DW and a visit from top-of-the-league opposition should provide enough incentive for the lads to show up with purpose this Saturday. Portsmouth are unbeaten over their last 20 League One fixtures dating back to last March. For a club that is playing their seventh consecutive season in this division (despite possessing far greater ambitions), they’ve consistently given us challenges since we’ve started to face-off semi-regularly dating back to 2017. While last weekend’s loss certainly did its part to temper expectations for the foreseeable future, it’s critical Maloney and the lads demonstrate that disappointing performances will always be followed up by vastly improved efforts. There is too much quality in our team for us to regularly be second best against many other sides in this division. The battle for places in our starting XI, not to mention the matchday squad, should be more competitive than ever as we aim to bounce back. Yet, as the urge for an immediate turnaround lingers about the ground and within our fanbase, it’s important to remember this season is about establishing stability before anything else. We may fall victim to the odd beatdown as we, once again, find our footing in this division. There will be growing pains as we endure the inevitable trial and error of identifying a group of players who can lead the club to new heights under Maloney’s leadership. For all we know, winning 4-0 at Bolton and losing 4-1 at Bristol could be early symptoms of a team well on its way to finishing dead smack in the middle of the league table. We owe this team just as much patience as we were willing to offer two months ago, when the prognosis for the season was a complete mystery. The lads need our full support just as much as ever this weekend. Let’s stay positive and get the 'Believe' bus back on course for a long season ahead.

Alan Rogers:

I wrote last time that it had been a good week in Latics land. Well, that will teach me, I suppose. I mean, we should all really know better shouldn’t we? Nothing is ever straightforward. I think what probably upset most people last weekend was the manner of the defeat. All realists will have come to the conclusion we will lose a certain number of games this year - that’s simply inevitable as the team evolves - but the way in which most of the players reacted during the game was more than worrying. This is not the place to single out individuals in a team that is still coming together, but I’m sure Shaun Maloney will not have liked much of what he saw. I still firmly believe Shaun is the right man for the job and he will continue to build 'his' team. The only comment I will make, in my humble opinion, is we are desperately short of a Sam Morsy figure in midfield. Shaun hopefully knows his best team by now - or maybe he is still experimenting - but one of the few things that really worry me is the lack of a real fighter to sit in front of our defence. Anyway, not to worry...it’s only Portsmouth up next!

The other thing that really annoyed me at the weekend regarded Wigan Warriors winning the League Plate or Saucer or whatever it’s called. The Latics hierarchy quite rightly publicly congratulated the Warriors on their win, and hoped they would go on and do well during the rest of the season. Unfortunately, some Latics fans took offence to this, and soon we had a bit of a Twitter war going on. Other fans leapt to the club’s defence and told the 'moaners' they should grow up, and there were a few more full-blooded insults. Normally this kind of behaviour would wash over me but one or two comments really fired me up. Just to give some context to what I’m about to say next, my brother was a season ticket holder for both Latics and the Warriors. We have many shared blue and red friends, and only a couple of weeks ago a lot of us met up to remember him. Without boring you much with the details, the outcome of our discussion over a long Sunday with several pints is that none of us really care about what the other team is doing. Latics fans were quite happy to let the rugby get on with their lives, and vice versa. Bear in mind, we were a gang of men in our late fifties to late sixties. We were all quite happy for the clubs to build bridges but, for various reasons, we didn’t plan on getting involved. Then I saw a couple of comments last weekend that made me see red (quite ironic really)! Apparently, people like myself need to forget about the past and grow up. Anyway, just to give you some background once and for all, as to why some of us have a few chips on our shoulders, here we go. When I was at junior school in the late sixties, early seventies, we couldn’t even take a football into school for a kick about at playtime. Our headmaster and PE teacher were staunch Wigan rugby fans and hated anyone who even mentioned football. Obviously we didn’t have a school football team, the school rugby team came above everything else, and I know of several other Wigan schools in exactly the same position. Everything revolved around the world of rugby league, and more specifically Wigan rugby league. Moving to John Rigby didn’t help...still no football, but a different version of egg-chasing - rugby union! That’s a story for another day.

Anyway, skip forward to when I turned 18 and joined the Labour Party. I became fairly active and became a union rep at work. At the time, I supported the council in most things it did, but one thing that always infuriated me was the 'interaction' with the rugby club. I managed to get a peek behind the curtain and saw some of the unofficial 'Council Meetings' that took place in the new Whitbread Stand at Central Park, and the hospitality bestowed on certain people. Now obviously I’m not suggesting any wrong-doing, but we very rarely had this kind of interaction at Springfield Park. I fully understand why they needed to support the rugby club, as it was probably the most famous thing about the town at the time. But this support should not have been at the expense of the Latics. It was actually quite amusing when Dave Whelan took over and began to play them at their own game, proving to be a better businessman than all of them. I could continue to list many examples of what we perceived to be ill-justice during the seventies and eighties - and I haven’t even mentioned Maurice Lindsay yet - but it would sound even more like sour grapes so I’ll leave you with this thought. Anyone who thinks the 'bad blood' from certain, older fans is related to merely a few throwaway remarks from Mr Lindsay couldn’t be further from the truth. Anyway, I really do hope future generations continue to build a new relationship between the two clubs, and I totally agree we shouldn’t be living in the past. But Golda Meir famously said 'One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit into the present'. And anyone who tells me to grow up and forget about my past – well you can forget about it.

George Chilvers:

There aren't really many crumbs of comfort to be picked up from Saturday's performance. Everyone, including Shaun Maloney and Charlie Wyke, agreed it was certainly well below standard. This squad has become known for its fight, its work ethic, its teamwork, and all of those were sadly lacking. For the first time for this squad, it appeared to me - and this of course is purely my opinion - they weren't that bothered. We supporters arrived early before the team coach so were there to greet the team, and I was struck by the way they climbed off showing no emotion, no bounce, and failed to acknowledge the fans who had travelled a few hundred miles to see them with even a slight wave or smile. There was nothing, and this seemed the order of the day when they got onto the pitch. Technically, Bristol Rovers were no great shakes, or at least compared to Latics, but there seemed no fight, no desire, no-one was chasing a loose ball, no-one was busting a gut to track back. It was a real lacklustre performance and the scoreline reflected that. I do wonder if all the talk that we are aiming for a safe mid-table finish has seeped into the psyche of the team and, once the game started slipping away from us, they gave up the ghost. Certainly not what we've become used to, and things need to change. I can't explain why it was the case, but I certainly believe Shaun - even though he's a nice bloke - will have given them a right rollocking on Monday morning. If he didn't, then Graham Barrow would have had a few choice words. It doesn't help, of course, that we have Portsmouth - one of the top teams in the division - visiting the DW on Saturday, and I am in no mood to want to hear that damn bell clanging away. Hopefully this was a temporary blip, and a wake up call, and we can get back to good performances, even if they don't convert to wins. The performance was far below what is needed. The high point for many of us there was not only the performance of the only player in reality who seemed to be trying, Martial Godo, but also his mum and family, who were sitting right behind me and who lived every moment of the game with far more enthusiasm than I could muster. At one point he was fouled, and she leaped up shouting 'leave my son alone', and at the end of the game, as the players came to us, she ran up to him, covering him with hugs and kisses. He had the look of an eight-year-old who was being picked up by his mum at school in front of his mates...totally embarrassed. But she was right to be proud of him. He was one who tried, and he has a bright future - whether here or at Fulham.

Red Ned:

A heavy defeat at Bristol Rovers last week but there's no need for panic. We are a relatively young team and squad in the main, and hopefully the manager and players will learn a lot from that game. We were outthought and outfought all over the pitch, and they basically bullied us throughout. They cottoned onto Matt Smith and seemed to marshall him very well, cutting the play off from the back to the front of midfield. It seems vital that whoever plays in the spot behind the centre forward gets a bit more involved when this happens, and goes 'looking for the ball' a bit more. Another big test this weekend against league leaders Portsmouth, hopefully the team can grind out a result and go on another decent run that will build our points total towards safety. There were some hysterics on social media this week, saying the manager isn't up it, etc. Staying up and building the squad has to be the priority this season, and hopefully the people running the club are a bit more sensible and realistic than a small minority of our fanbase. Keep the faith!

Ed Bazeley:

Well Saturday’s result was an absolute shocker for Wigan Athletic and came at a very unwelcome time. Following the losses to Barnsley and Blackpool, it felt as though Shaun Maloney’s side had turned a corner with wins over Cambridge and the emphatic victory over Leicester Under-21s. Bristol Rovers looked like a winnable game for a Latics side who have produced positive performances this season over very highly rated third tier outfits such as Derby and Bolton. However, the game proved to be an absolute thrashing in favour of the West Country hosts. Latics were so off the pace in every single way. It was one of those performances where the wheels just completely fell off for Latics, and these things do happen sometimes in football. Even in our promotion winning 2021-22 League One campaign, there was that awful 3-0 loss at the hands of Sunderland. However, the major issue is that lately Latics have been performing like mid-table mediocrity. There have been some stellar performances, but there have also been some stinkers such as on Saturday. We may not be able to afford to merely pick up the kind of points tally a typical mid-table team would, because, with the eight-point deduction, that could result in us being thrown into the midst of a relegation dogfight. Although Wigan are back at fortress DW on Saturday, Portsmouth is absolutely not the fixture we need in order to bounce back. Pompey have been absolutely flying, hence why they sit pretty at the top of the table. John Mousinho’s side are the only unbeaten side left in the division, and only Barnsley have scored more goals than the Hampshire outfit this term. With former Accrington striker Colby Bishop at their disposal, Portsmouth have one of the division’s hotshots at their disposal. No one other than Devante Cole and Charlie Wyke has bettered Bishop’s tally of five goals. Having only conceded six goals so far too, Pompey have the joint best defence in the league. Football is, of course, won and lost in the boxes so, when you look at their statistics, it is fairly obvious as to why Portsmouth are top of the league. It will be a very tough task to defeat Mousinho’s side this weekend. If they keep their current run of form up then you could see them gaining automatic promotion. This makes next Tuesday’s trip to a lowly Burton Albion all the more crucial. Keep everything crossed, Tics. The scoreline on Saturday could make another grim reading if the lads are not on their 'A' game.

Charlie Keegan:

Well… last weekend did not go as any of us would have hoped. A 4-1 defeat at Bristol Rovers, a lethargic performance from many across the field, and Latics dropped back into the relegation zone. Gas Panic! While there are certainly calls for concern after the game, the warning signs have been there for a few weeks now. Latics have dropped off from the rugged and determined performances we saw in the opening few gameweeks, and an air of complacency has started to creep in after battling into a positive points tally. The biggest talking point outside of the result this week, has been the disciplinary decision Shaun Maloney made, in keeping Stephen Humphrys out of the starting line-up. Yes, he is one of our top attacking players, and we need him at his best to help the team. But unfortunately if you are late to a team meeting then there are consequences. We don’t know the reason, and it’s not ours to know either. Humphrys is 26, a professional, and an apology has been made. Things like this happen, so hopefully the squad takes note of the situation and ensures a collective effort is made to meet the manager's demands for the rest of the season.

The focus this week needs to be on what went wrong at Rovers, and how we prevent Portsmouth getting into the same danger areas. Latics have been allowing far too much time and space on our left side, and in front of the box, to very dangerous attacking players. The 4-1 hopefully is a wake-up call, that not only do we need to fight for each and every ball so much more, but players also need to be smart about their positioning off the ball. If we are going to play out from the back, we need to allow for strong passing options, and routes out of trouble should the opposition close us down well...which, spoiler alert, Portsmouth will be doing all afternoon. Portsmouth are unbeaten in the league since March, and John Mousinho knows how to get the best out of his side to counter their opponents. Mousinho is essentially playing high-level chess and we need to ensure we aren’t caught twiddling our thumbs. Of course, all unbeaten runs come to an end at some point. Latics will have chances to set Pompey back throughout the game, so we need to make sure we are clinical. I was out of my seat when Thelo Aasgaard set himself to take the early shot against Rovers, and to watch the ball go wide was disappointing. I really do rate Thelo but, when wearing the No.10 jersey, we need to be seeing more clinical performances this season. He has the talent and ability, I feel he just needs the confidence in himself. Like Maloney said about Callum Lang, he might just need to take the pressure off himself and play with more freedom.

Team selection is going to be on Maloney’s mind all week, and I hope there are players who have made their case during training to not be dropped from the line-up. We have more options now than we did at the start of the season so, if players are going to become complacent, changes should be made. Jonny Smith, Liam Shaw, Steven Sessegnon, James Balagizi, and plenty of others will all be in contention for a starting spot now, so it’s up to those who want to hold on to their place to show us why they should be kept where they are. It’s a long season, 46 league games in fact, and we have played only eight of them. Let’s not get on our knees and pray just yet. Panic doesn’t need to be on the way. We’ve just got to roll with it. Up the Tics!

Sean Livesey:

So much for that decent week I was speaking of last week, eh? Latics came crashing back to earth with a bump on Saturday after a comprehensive defeat at Joey Barton’s Bristol Rovers. You know it was a bad day when the most interesting aspect of the afternoon was learning Barton is Tony Kelly’s nephew. Barton spoke fondly about Latics, and who could blame him when you look back at the affection ‘Zico’ is still held in by the Springfield Park faithful. But enough of the past, let’s look at the present. Arguably our start to the season has masked some of the issues we are experiencing in the present, thanks to the actions of the past. A young squad, put together at haste, made up of free transfers and Academy graduates, will unfortunately have days like this. And indeed for the majority who said they would be happy with a quiet mid-table season, this will be the case at various points. We have a wonderfully talented young side and, when on it, not many sides will be able to live with us, as shown against Derby, Carlisle and Bolton. But at the same time, there will be harsh lessons learned. I remember travelling to Upton Park during our first Championship season in 2003/2004, and Latics were humbled against a West Ham side that would later beat them to the play-offs. It was all part of the learning curve. These things happen. That is the nature of football, and it’s the nature of having a squad primarily composed of young lads with very little senior football under their belt. To question the manager at this point is so ridiculous it doesn’t warrant discussion. Our decent start has made way for a bit of stuttering in recent weeks, but was anything else ever expected? As long as we see progression and we secure our future in this division, it will have been a successful season. Anything else is a bonus. The visit of Portsmouth this weekend will give us an idea of where we are, we need a reaction, and I’m hopeful we’ll see one.