Weekly De-Brief: One step closer to Wembley, but something has to change.
Wigan Athletic hosted Wycombe Wanderers in League One on Saturday, before welcoming Nottingham Forest U21s in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday night. Our Women's team faced a top-of-the-table clash.
Shaun Maloney and his team faced two very different opponents this week. The most in-form League One club visited first, followed by the youngest team we have encountered so far this season.
Wigan Athletic Women took on their biggest challenge yet when they faced the FA County Championship leaders in the highly anticipated top-of-the-table clash.
Let’s dive into what we saw this week and try to make some sense of it 👇🏼
Part One: Frustrations against the league leaders.
Part Two: EFL Trophy progression.
Part Three: The weekly de-brief.
Part Four: Academy and Women’s round-up.
Part Five: Our next week.
Frustrations against the league leaders 😩
If there is any team that you do not want to face at the moment, it is Matt Bloomfield’s Wycombe Wanderers. The Chairboys were sitting top of the league after their unbeaten run of eleven games (nine wins and two draws) coming into this one and had scored the most goals in League One with 31 in 13 games.
Shaun Maloney made five changes to the starting eleven with Toby Sibbick, Luke Robinson, Scott Smith, Silko Thomas, and Jonny Smith handed starts. Interestingly, Maloney opted to not field a recognised striker and asked Thelo Aasgaard to step into that role.
👕 Starting XI: Sam Tickle, Toby Sibbick, Jason Kerr ©️, Will Aimson, Luke Robinson, Matt Smith, Tyrese Francois, Scott Smith, Jonny Smith, Silko Thomas, Thelo Aasgaard
🔄 Subs: Tom Watson, James Carragher, Paul Dummett, Jensen Weir, Dion Rankine, Maleace Asamoah, Dale Taylor
After a slow start to the game, with neither side testing in the first ten minutes, Wycombe opened the scoring in the 11th minute with Joe Low scoring from a corner routine.
As you can see below, Wycombe had four players lined up in the middle of the box awaiting the delivery, and Wigan matched that with four players (Robinson, Francois, Sibbick, and Aimson) containing them.
When the ball was whipped into the box, the Wycombe players split into different directions and Joe Low was able to meet the delivery by jumping highest and being on the nearest side in front of Sibbick. This was clearly something that Bloomfield had made his players practice on the training pitch, and it was a well-worked goal from causing organised chaos in our box.
Latics almost responded well after Jonny Smith’s free-kick from the right side found Jason Kerr at the back post. Unfortunately, it looked like Kerr wasn’t expecting the ball to fall there for him and a moment of hesitation allowed the defender to react and block his shot.
Moments later, Thelo Aasgaard won a free kick after being dragged down by Jasper Pattenden, but his shot was caught well by Franco Ravizzoli in the centre of the goal. At the other end of the field, Sam Tickle was then called into action after Daniel Udoh was released down the left side by an exceptional long ball from Josh Scowen. It was a fine save by the England U21 keeper at his near post.
Wigan’s biggest chance of the half came moments before halftime when Sibbick played the ball wide to Jonny Smith, who was afforded some space to work in by left-back, Daniel Harvie. Smith cut the ball onto his left foot and his strike fizzed over the top of Ravizzoli but collided with the crossbar for Pattenden to clear. A couple of inches lower, and that was the equaliser.
After the break, it was Latics who started the better side and I feel that was because Dale Taylor was subbed into the game. Matt Smith was the midfielder who made way, meaning Tyrese Francois and Scott Smith became our midfield duo. This presence up top allowed Latics to work the Wycombe defence more and ask them more questions.
On the hour mark, Thomas was released down the left by Aasgaard and beat Pattenden to the byline. The winger then drilled a low ball across the box to find Taylor who could not divert it goalbound. With Ravizzoli too far left, and neither centre-back putting Taylor under much pressure, it looked like it was going to be a certain goal. However, perhaps the power on the delivery meant Taylor could not react fast enough and his effort sailed over the bar.
Despite missing another opportunity, Wigan looked fired up and over the next 25 minutes, we forced Franco Ravizzoli into four excellent saves. Thomas’ strike from the edge of the area was the first attempt saved by the keeper, followed by a diving header from Aasgaard at the back post forcing Ravizzoli into an excellent reaction save with his knees.
Jensen Weir then whipped a ball into the far post for Aasgaard to have another attempt, but his shot was turned behind by the keeper. And finally, Jonny Smith released Francois down the left to whip another ball into the box with Aasgaard rising highest to it and forcing the best save of the lot from Ravizzoli. Sometimes, when it is not your day, nothing goes your way.
As Jonny Smith was looking to whip another ball into the box late on, he was dispossessed by Harvie who led a counterattack in the 95th minute. Brandon Hanlan was charging forward with him, but Paul Dummett held his run perfectly to delay any ball being able to be played through to Hanlan, allowing Tickle time to come off his line and make the save.
When the referee blew his final whistle, I could not believe that Wigan had not come away with at least a point after that second half. There is a positive to take in that we took the game to the league leaders and looked the much better side. However, our lack of a clinical edge in front of goal - paired with an excellent performance from Franco Ravizzoli - is what cost us.
EFL Trophy progression 🏆
On Tuesday night, Wigan Athletic hosted Nottingham Forest U21s in the final group stage fixture of our latest EFL Trophy campaign.
An initial loss against Morecambe, before securing a victory over Carlisle United, meant that Latics had to beat Forest to progress to the knockout stages. We could have finished top of the group if Carlisle United beat Morecambe and Wigan beat Forest within the 90 minutes.
Shaun Maloney made eight changes to our starting eleven that faced Wycombe Wanderers, with Paul Dummett starting for the first time. Dale Taylor was ineligible to play due to Forest being his parent club, and Jensen Weir was cup-tied due to featuring for Brighton U21s earlier in the season. Thelo Aasgaard has traveled to join Norway U21s as they take on Finland in the Euro U21 Qualifier Play-Offs.
👕 Starting XI: Tom Watson, Toby Sibbick, James Carragher, Will Aimson ©️, Paul Dummett, Kai Payne, Baba Adeeko, Dion Rankine, Silko Thomas, Maleace Asamoah, Joe Hugill
🔄 Subs: Sam Tickle, Calvin Ramsay, Steven Sessegnon, K’Marni Miller, Matt Smith, Michael Olakigbe, Chris Sze
A slow start to the game saw Wigan comfortably gain control of the possession, yet fail to progress high up the field into attacking phases.
In fact, it was Nottingham Forest who had the first attempt on goal, with Jack Perkins sending a ball to the left of our penalty box for Kyle McAdam, who passed it off to Adam Berry to cut it onto his right foot and unleash a strong effort on goal from outside the box. Tom Watson made a fine save to tip it over the bar.
With 17 minutes on the clock, a long ball over the top from Toby Sibbick should have been dealt with well by centre-back, Jack Thompson, but a slip allowed Joe Hugill a 1v1 with Aaron Bott.
As you can see below, by the time Hugill has decided to take an effort on goal, which was comfortably dealt with by Finley Back after a weak attempt, the keeper had made himself big and closed off most of the paths to the goal.
Hugill’s final touch before this shot was too heavy and allowed the keeper to get so close. Any shot on goal should have been taken at the edge of the area, or at this point Hugill should have contemplated going around the outside of the keeper. This should have been 1-0.
Bott was forced into his first save of the night after Maleace Asamoah whipped a deep ball towards the back post and found Will Aimson who had stayed up after a set piece. Our Captain’s header was diverted goalbound but Bott climbed high to catch the ball from going in at the top right corner.
Unfortunately, despite coming close to scoring with the cross into the box, our attackers stopped trying this approach and began trying to cut inside from the wings and take shots from the edge of the box.
Now, I am not great at maths and probabilities - I think everything is a 50/50 where something either happens or it doesn’t - but if you are going to go down the probability route, surely whipping the ball into the box and causing a bit of chaos for defences is more likely to result in a better attempt on goal than wild shots from outside the area?
An example of this is Asamoah’s attempt on goal with five minutes to go in the ninety. This situation came from a short corner routine with Silko Thomas, and Asamoah cut in from the left to where he is standing in the image. A weak effort was caught at the near post by Bott.
In the box was Will Aimson, James Carragher, and Chris Sze, with Matt Smith and Calvin Ramsay originally free at the edge of the area when the corner was first taken.
If Wigan are going to become more dangerous in front of goal, which is something we have struggled with all season, then we simply have to be putting the ball into the box when players are in there. I understand having to take an effort from range if there isn’t anybody in the box, but when tall players such as Aimson and Carragher - who win headers for a living at the back - are not having searching balls sent to them, then the amount of chances we are wasting is becoming too high.
Chris Sze’s late free-kick from the centre of the midfield almost was enough to secure a victory, but his rasping shot narrowly sailed over the top of the crossbar. It was good to see him back in action after a long spell out of the side.
As the game went to penalties, I was thinking back to our recent misfortunes in spot kicks and I was preparing for this to be our final involvement in this EFL Trophy campaign. However, after Silko Thomas netted the first attempt, Tom Watson’s strong save to his right presented some hope. Then, Matt Smith’s strike was followed up with another Watson save to put us two up. Finally, Aimson’s composed finish allowed Watson to make a third save to his right and progress Latics through to the knockout stages.
Carlisle United beat Morecambe 2-1 meaning that if Wigan had won in the 90 by two or more goals, we would have finished top of the group.
While the performance was far from an enjoyable one to watch, the most important thing here is that we progressed to the Round of 32. That said, there will be plenty of areas that Maloney and his coaches will need to work on over the international break as many of the players who featured in this game will be involved in first-team action on our return.
Wigan Athletic 0 - (Penalties 3 - 0) - 0 Nottingham Forest U21s
Shots: 13 - 5
Shots on Target: 3 - 2
Possession: 67% - 33%
Fouls: 15 - 11
Yellow Cards: 4 - 2
Corners: 9 - 4
The weekly de-brief 🤔
This last week has felt very bittersweet for many reasons. Despite the loss against Wycombe, I was happy with how we performed in that second half and saw an attacking performance that got me off my seat plenty of times. However, not being able to score means that the attacks were not worth anything in terms of points on the board.
Pair that with the progression to the next round of the EFL Trophy after being victorious against Nottingham Forest U21s despite a pretty poor performance, I am met with being happy with parts of what I saw, and unhappy with others.
The elephant in the room, which has made itself at home all season, is our goalscoring record. Taking the cup competitions out of this for now, we have scored 12 goals in 14 League One matches, which is 22nd best in the division tied with Cambridge United. Only Stevenage have scored less with 11 in 15.
If we are to turn our form around and go on a good run, while progressing to the next stages of the FA Cup and EFL Trophy, then something has to change in front of goal.
How that change in fortunes comes about is not solely down to what Shaun Maloney and his coaches do or say in training. Ultimately, they are not the ones creating or getting on the end of chances, and the players have to take a large responsibility here.
Below are two tables that show the amount of shots taken, and amount on target, in League One so far this season. As you can see, Wigan are 17th for shots taken, and 21st for shots on target. We sit 19th in the points table, and based on the amount of chances we are creating it is no real wonder why we are there.
It is important to note that the amount of shots taken does not directly translate to league position, as Lincoln City are 23rd for shots taken but 5th in the table and Mansfield are 20th for shots taken but 7th in the league.
However, 101 shots of ours have been off target, and of the 46 on target, we have scored 12. That is simply not good enough and something has to change soon.
Turning our attention to club news, Wigan Athletic announced the signing of Paul Dummett on Friday afternoon on an initial short-term contract until January, following his departure from his boyhood club, Newcastle United, in the summer.
You can read all about Dummett’s career to date, and what he could bring to our squad this season, in this article:
Latics made another squad announcement on Monday afternoon, as Kai Payne returned from his one-month youth loan spell at Oldham Athletic.
With Josh Stones recently being loaned out to the same club until January, I did expect Payne to remain there until at least the same duration. However, Maloney and the club look to have different plans for him.
“I know he was doing really well there, but we are going to have a really hectic schedule. We have got 13 games in 42 days when we come back… Kai will definitely get minutes for us in the next period of games. He will be needed.”
Shaun Maloney on Kai Payne’s return from Oldham Athletic
Some fixture news that came out this week was that our home League One tie against Burton Albion has been rescheduled for Tuesday 21st January in a 7:45pm kickoff.
The game was originally scheduled for Saturday 16th November, but was postponed due to combined international call-ups. Frustratingly, this is another Saturday home tie that has been postponed to become a midweek fixture and this has become common over the last two seasons.
I have lost count of how many times this has happened, but I would guess we are now at 5 or 6 since last Summer. Naturally, the highest attendances occur on Saturday afternoons and this rescheduling will lead to ticket sales being down along with food, drink, and merchandise sales also taking a hit.
With the club in the financial situation that we are in, hopefully, a case is being built to present the EFL with all of the information they need to rethink the fixture scheduling to take the evergrowing number of international call-ups into account.
Of course, we are not the only club affected. Therefore, I am sure that other clubs who face similar issues are experiencing similar frustrations. Ultimately, the EFL will stick with this scheduling model unless there is a combined pushback from clubs with evidence to support it.
Academy and Women’s round-up 🔵
Wigan Athletic Under 18s hosted Hull City U18s at Christopher Park on Saturday. The Tigers were 2nd with 23 points from 11 games, while the Latics were 5th with 16 points from 11 games.
👕 Starting XI: Jake Spaven, Alex Hughes, Oliver Fairhurst, Sam Bolland, James Knott ©️, Charley McKee, Christy Edwards, Harrison Rimmer, Cole Simms, John-Paul Cavanagh, Harrison Bettoni
🔄 Subs: Trialist (GK), Mason Goulding, Liam Flight, Lewis Wilson, Oscar Harris
A quarter of an hour into the game, Christy Edwards sent a searching cross into the box and found John-Paul Cavanagh who opened the scoring. That goal was enough to see the Latics enter the break one goal ahead.
Hull were unable to level the scoreline early on in the second half, and with ten minutes to go, Marc Maddocks made his first changes in a bid to see out the game. John-Paul Cavanagh made way for Oscar Harris, and top-scorer Cole Simms was replaced by Liam Flight.
With just moments to go until the final whistle, Hull City were awarded a penalty with Oliver Fairhurst being given a red card by the referee. Zac Jagielka, son of Phil, netted to relevel the game and rescue the Tigers another point for the board.
🏟️ Wigan Athletic U18s 1 - 1 Hull City U18s
⚽️ Goals: John-Paul Cavanagh (14’)
Wigan Athletic Under 21s hosted Preston North End U21s in the Central League Cup on Wednesday afternoon. Chris Brown selected K’Marni Miller and Chris Sze to start after featuring for our senior team the night before, with Jensen Weir and Harry McHugh as the other first-team players involved.
👕 Starting XI: Trialist (GK), Harry McHugh, K’Marni Miller, Jack Rogers ©️, Llyton Chapman, Jensen Weir, Jack Reilly, Finn O’Boyle, Tom Costello, Chris Sze, Leo Graham
🔄 Subs: Jake Spaven, Sam Bolland, Charley McKee, Trialist, Harrison Rimmer
Before we dive into an overview of the game, it is worth noting that Preston North End started 25-year-old Milutin Osmajić who has around 200 senior appearances to his name. The forward was banned from first-team action due to biting Owen Beck in a game against Blackburn Rovers in mid-September.
Our young tics drew the first blood within 2 minutes, as K’Marni Miller’s cross to the back post was smashed home by Jack Reilly. However, Preston responded well and Osmajić scored a seven-minute hattrick from the 18th minute to give our visitors a 3-1 lead going into the halftime break.
Preston added a fourth and a fifth within 15 minutes of the restart with Theo Mawene netting first before Osmajić got his fourth. Chris Brown then replaced Chris Sze and K’Marni Miller with Charley McKee and our trialist in the 64th minute.
A minute later, former Liverpool Academy graduate, Layton Stewart, netted their sixth, with Osmajić quickly following in with his fifth and Preston’s seventh.
Tom Costello then scored a quick brace with twenty minutes to go, before Jack Reilly was replaced by Harrison Rimmer. Kian Taylor added an eighth for Preston in the 77th minute, with Jensen Weir netting our fourth with 5 minutes to go.
The loss hands Preston their first three points of the group stage, while Wigan remain on one point after an opening 2-2 draw against Stoke City. Latics will face Stockport County U21s on December 3rd in the final group stage game.
🏟️ Wigan Athletic U21s 4 - 8 Preston North End U21s
⚽️ Goals: Jack Reilly (2’), Tom Costello (72’, 75’), Jensen Weir (85’)
Wigan Athletic Women took on Blackburn CSC Reserves at the Robin Park Arena in the highly anticipated top-of-the-table clash. Our visitors had won all ten of their opening games so far and were three points ahead of Wigan having played a game extra.
Emmerson Boyce made three changes to the starting lineup, with Amelia Knowles, Chelsea Bloor, and Molly Hassall starting over Faye Moseley, Holly Scott, and Tegen Baker.
👕 Starting XI: Amelia Knowles, Abbie Moore ©️, Libby McCoy, Chelsea Bloor, Laura Heslip, Niniola Dada, Molly Hassall, Grace Carr, Izzy Worswick, Avagrace Hodson, Ellie Cleary
🔄 Subs: Faye Moseley, Sara Merican, Holly Scott, Tegen Baker, Alyson Hastie
In the early stages of the game, Blackburn looked the most dangerous and were testing Amelia Knowles by calling her into action with some big saves. However, in the 28th minute, Ellie Cleary arrived on the scene and rounded the goalkeeper to put Wigan one goal ahead.
Our hosts reacted well and won a penalty a minute later which Hayley Wilford, Blackburn’s top scorer with 22 goals, netted to relevel the game.
After the top two sides were level at the halftime break, Cleary stepped up to take a long-range free kick in the 53rd minute and an excellent strike restored Latics lead. Moments later, another excellent strike from Cleary secured her hattrick and gave Wigan a two-goal cushion.
As we have come to find out, when Cleary wants another goal she will get one, and in the 72nd minute, a through ball from Niniola Dada found our number 17 to net her 24th league goal of the season, making her the top scorer by two goals over Blackburn’s Hayley Wilford.
Wigan’s win ties us at the top of the table with Blackburn CSC. However, Latics have a game in hand and have reduced the goal difference to two.
🏟️ Wigan Athletic Women 4 - 1 Blackburn CSC Reserves
⚽ Goals: Ellie Cleary (28’, 53’, 57’, 72’)
Our next week 🗓️
Saturday 16th November | Peterborough United U18s vs Wigan Athletic U18s | U18 Professional Development League
Sunday 17th November | Lancaster City Ladies vs Wigan Athletic Women | Challenge Cup Third Round
Tuesday 19th November | Hull City U21s vs Wigan Athletic U21s | U21 Professional Development League
Up the Tics 🔵⚪️
🙌 Thank you for reading!
✍🏼 Charlie Keegan / Central Wigan
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