Weekly De-Brief: The underlying stats of Wigan Athletic's season so far.
Wigan Athletic had their third international break of the season this week, as they prepare for a tough run to 2025. But, how are we actually looking in comparison to the other teams and players?
As far as international breaks go, this was the worst of all three in my opinion. Only one Wigan Athletic player - Thelo Aasgaard - was away on international duty, and I cannot get excited for the Nations League even with England’s 5-0 victory over Ireland.
This week, as there wasn’t much to cover, I thought I would do a run-through of our fixtures until 2025, and what our underlying League One stats are looking like in comparison to the other teams and players. I haven’t covered every stat, as they would take far too long and be far too much homework, but I have looked into some of the main stats such as; key passes, ground and aerial duels, shots on target, and so on.
Let’s dive into it all and try to make some sense of it 👇🏼
Part One: Nine games left in 2024.
Part Two: Wigan’s underlying league stats.
Part Three: The weekly de-brief.
Part Four: Academy and Women’s round-up.
Part Five: Our next week.
Nine games left in 2024 🗓️
The first snowfall of Winter happened this week, which means we are in the final stint before you can hang up your 2025 calendars on the wall. From now until New Year’s Eve, Wigan Athletic will play nine games across League One and the FA Cup Second Round.
Starting on Saturday, Latics travel to fifth-place Barnsley, before hosting Northampton Town who are currently three points ahead of us in 16th. To wrap up November, Latics return to the Abbey Stadium to take on Cambridge United in the FA Cup Second Round. This game will be a chance to get revenge after losing 2-0 there in the league in mid-October and could secure us a Premier League opponent in the Third Round.
In December, Wigan start with a trip away to top-six chasing Huddersfield Town, before hosting Leyton Orient who are currently tied with us on 14 points. If we are to push up the table and start escaping the bottom six, we have to win that game.
Wigan return to our happy stomping ground, the Toughsheet Stadium, on December 14th, before hosting Shrewsbury Town a week later. Like the Orient game, we have to be winning this game against the Shrews but they have Gareth Ainsworth in charge now and could be a very different prospect by the time this fixture is played.
Our final two games of the year are against sides who are new to the division this season, with a trip to Rotherham United on Boxing Day before a visit to the STōK Cae Ras to face Wrexham.
An inconsistent and slow start to the season has given Wigan plenty of work to do if we are to look in a much healthier position by the time the January Transfer Window opens.
The biggest concern at the moment is our tally of just 12 goals from 14 games. Each of the four teams in the drop zone have scored more, and at the moment it is only our strong defensive record that is keeping us from becoming one of those sides.
At this stage of the season, I am not worrying. I do feel that this squad will grow into the season and have a stronger second half. However, any such success will not be achieved unless our goalscoring record starts to improve with players stepping up to become more ruthless in and around the box. Being too nice and giving the opponents too much respect will cost us. If we do not have the players able to step up, then the harsh reality is we will need to act in the window to bring in players who can and will be more clinical.
Wigan’s underlying league stats 📊
As this last week has been fairly quiet due to the international break, I thought it would be a good time to give an overview of some of Wigan Athletic’s underlying stats and compare these to those of other clubs and players.
⌚️ Minutes - Shaun Maloney has handed league appearances to 30 players so far, with just 5 playing over 75% of the 1260 total minutes available. Matt Smith (916 mins), Thelo Aasgaard (1095 mins), Will Aimson (1243 mins), Jason Kerr (1260 mins), and Sam Tickle (1260 mins) are the top five.
Luke Chambers (855), Silko Thomas (840), and Dion Rankine (816) are the only other players to secure over 650 minutes. This shows how heavy of a rotation there is in the squad outside of a core set of players.
👟 Touches - Wigan aim to play out from the back, and naturally our centre-backs have had the most touches by a large margin. Will Aimson (1202) has had the most, with Jason Kerr (1131) the next highest. Surprisingly, Luke Chambers remains third on that list with 657 despite being unavailable for the last month. Matt Smith has had 644, with Thelo Aasgaard the next-highest outfield player with 559.
🔑 Key Passes - Earlier in the season, Luke Chambers was a key player for Latics and his drives down the left wing formed a large part of our game plan. The Liverpool loanee has made the most key passes (a pass that leads to a shot, but not a goal) with 17. Thelo Aasgaard has made 12, with Matt Smith and Jensen Weir tied on 10.
Dion Rankine has made 8, with Jonny Smith, Michael Olakigbe, Silko Thomas, and Dale Taylor all on 7.
💪 Ground Duels - According to Sofascore, a ground duel is “any duel over the possession of the ball where one player wins the ball, and which isn't deemed an aerial duel.”
Will Aimson has won the most of any Wigan player (54/81), with Thelo Aasgaard winning 52 of his 101 duels. Tyrese Francois has impressed in his battles for possession, winning 22 of his 32 duels in 265 minutes of league football, giving him the highest win percentage (69%) of any of our outfield players who have featured for over 200 minutes.
✈️ Aerial Duels - In the air, Will Aimson has again won the most of any Latics player (63/86), giving him a combined ground and aerial duel win rate of 70%. Jason Kerr has won 61 of his 90 aerial duels, taking his combined success rate to 62%, with James Carragher having the highest aerial success rate of our defenders with 14/21. His combined success rate is 55%.
There have been many conversations this season about how Latics have lacked a ‘lump’ up top to send long balls to as a way to progress up the field. Of our more attacking players, Thelo Aasgaard has won the most aerial duels with 23/59, while Dale Taylor has won 16/44, and Joe Hugill has 7/30. Their combined success rates are 47%, 38%, and 26% respectively.
🎯 Shots on Target - It is no secret that Wigan have been struggling in front of goal, netting just 12 times in the opening 14 games. Thelo Aasgaard has had the most shots on target (12/21) and scored 3 goals, with Joe Taylor (5/7) and Dale Taylor (5/10) tied in second, both with 2 goals. On the wings, Dion Rankine and Michael Olakigbe both hit the target 4 times from 6 shots, with Silko Thomas (3/4), Callum McManaman (2/3) and Jonny Smith (2/4) struggling to take shots. Rankine and McManaman are the only wingers to score at this stage.
24 players in the division have hit the target 10 times or more, with Peterborough and Rotherham having 3 players each in that list. Posh have 20 goals between their three players (Ricky-Jade Jones, Malik Mothersille, and Kwame Poku), while Rotherham have 10 goals from their three players (Malik Wilks, Jonson Clarke-Harris, and Sam Nombe).
More shots on target don’t necessarily translate to more goals, but Wigan are 21st in the table for shots (147) and 22nd for shots on target (46), while only Stevenage have scored less (11). Therefore, you could argue that it is no surprise that we are placed 19th in the table when we lack a clinical edge with the low amount of chances we are making.
⚽️ Goal Contributions - Eight different players have contributed to goals this season. Dale Taylor has been directly involved in four of our twelve with 2 goals and 2 assists. Thelo Aasgaard has 3 goals to his name, with Matt Smith netting 1 goal and providing 2 assists. Players with two goal involvements are Luke Chambers (1 goal and 1 assist) and Joe Hugill (2 goals), while Callum McManaman and Dion Rankine have 1 goal each and Tyrese Francois has provided 1 assist.
🧤 Saves - Sam Tickle has played every minute of League One football for Latics, and has kept 7 clean sheets so far. Last season, Tickle kept 15 clean sheets and made 138 saves while conceding 56 goals. This season, Tickle has made 41 saves and conceded just 12 goals.
Ultimately, the only stats that mean anything are; how many goals we are scoring, how many we are conceding, and how many points we have. Anything outside of that, i.e. all of the stats above, just helps to paint the picture of how Wigan are performing in comparison to the other 23 teams.
To wrap up the underlying stats overview, these tables show where Latics are in terms of shots/on target for and against.
The weekly de-brief 🤔
Over the international break, Thelo Aasgaard was the only Wigan Athletic player representing his nation. Norway U21s faced Finland U21s in a two-leg Qualifier Play-Off for the Euro U21 championships in Slovakia next Summer.
Aasgaard started in both games, featuring for 90 minutes in the first leg and 58 minutes in the second leg. Finland secured a 5-1 victory to start the playoffs, and despite losing 2-1 in the second leg they will progress to the championships.
England U21s have already secured their spot, and if Sam Tickle is called up to join them he will be the only Latics player eligible to take part in the Euros.
Shaun Maloney will find out who his side will face in the Bristol Street Motors Round of 32 tie on Friday, with Latics being drawn against one of Blackpool, Doncaster Rovers, Chesterfield, or Rotherham United. As we secured only a runners-up spot in the group stage, we will be the away side against whoever we are drawn against.
With the international break now over, there will not be any more interruptions from now until January and this is an incredibly important phase of the season that Latics are going into. We simply have to play better football and score more goals.
Of course, that is easier said than done, especially against the calibre of some of the teams we will be facing, but unless something changes over the next month we might be in a very vulnerable position when the January Transfer Window opens.
Academy and Women’s round-up 🔵
Wigan Athletic Under 18s travelled to Peterborough United U18s on Saturday afternoon in the U18 Professional Development League. Our hosts had 14 points from 13 games coming into this one, just 3 points behind Latics who have played a game less so far.
👕 Starting XI: Jake Spaven, Alex Hughes, Harrison Rimmer ©️, Sam Bolland, Mason Goulding, Charley McKee, Christy Edwards, Liam Flight, Cole Simms, John-Paul Cavanagh, Harrison Bettoni
🔄 Subs: Trialist (GK), Lewis Wilson, Alastair Clifford, Oscar Harris
Marc Maddock’s side started the game well, and with just 19 minutes on the clock, Cole Simms netted his 11th goal of the U18 season from a corner routine. Harrison Rimmer looked to have doubled our lead on the half-hour mark, but the flag was raised to discount the goal.
Unfortunately, Peterborough quickly equalised with Joe Davies scoring in the 34th minute. Posh then added a second and a third before the half with Lucca Mendonca and Bolu Shofowoke putting their names on the scoresheet.
Ten minutes into the second half, Peterborough dropped to ten players as their trialist was sent off for illegally denying Simms a goal-scoring opportunity. Moments later, Harrison Bettoni scored to give the Latics a fighting chance. However, Posh defended well for the remainder of the game and managed to secure the full three points.
🏟️ Peterborough United U18s 3 - 2 Wigan Athletic U18s
⚽️ Goals: Cole Simms (19’), Harrison Bettoni (58’)
Wigan Athletic Under 21s travelled to Hull City in the U21 Professional Development League on Tuesday afternoon, with our hosts sitting third on 21 points from their opening 11 games coming into this game.
👕 Starting XI: Trialist (GK), Jack Reilly, K’Marni Miller, Jack Rogers ©️, Sam Bolland, Trialist, Finn O’Boyle, Harry McHugh, Tom Costello, Chris Sze, Leo Graham
🔄 Subs: Jake Spaven, Alex Hughes, Llyton Chapman, Charley McKee, Cole Simms
Seven minutes into the game, Hull City opened the scoring through Zane Myers. However, Chris Sze quickly re-levelled the game after Finn O’Boyle picked him out with a great ball. The Tigers restored their lead just after the half-hour mark, with Tyrell Sellars-Fleming on the scoresheet.
A spirited second half from Latics was not enough to grab another equaliser, and with 6 minutes to go Sellars-Fleming secured his brace to give Hull the three goals and three points.
🏟️ Hull City U21s 3 - 1 Wigan Athletic U21s
⚽️ Goals: Chris Sze (29’)
Wigan Athletic Women were set to travel to Lancaster City Ladies for the Challenge Cup Third Round tie on Sunday afternoon. However, City withdrew their squad from the competition and handed the victory to the Latics.
The FA’s website states that our fourth-round fixture will be away at Radcliffe FC Women on Sunday 19th January 2025. Details of the tie have not yet been confirmed.
Our next week 🗓️
Saturday 23rd November | Barnsley vs Wigan Athletic | League One
Saturday 23rd November | Burnley U18s vs Wigan Athletic U18s | PDL Cup Group Stage Match 3
Sunday 24th November | Wigan Athletic Women vs Haslingden Ladies | FA Womens County Championship League (Tier 7)
On Thursday (21st November), I will have a full match preview uploaded for our visit to Oakwell, so be sure to subscribe and check back for this 🫡
Up the Tics 🔵⚪️
🙌 Thank you for reading!
✍🏼 Charlie Keegan / Central Wigan
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