Weekly De-Brief: When it rains, it pours for Wigan Athletic.
Episode Description
The last couple of weeks have been difficult for Wigan Athletic as we seem to have hit another bad patch of form.
In truth, we haven’t looked very convincing all season, but a League One game at home against an inconsistent Leyton Orient side and an EFL Trophy Round of 32 tie away at League Two’s Chesterfield should have been two games that Latics made a statement in to try and turn our fortunes around.
Unfortunately, the statement made was not a positive one in either game, making our situation much more difficult to find positives in.
Let’s dive into it all and try to make some sense of it 👇🏼
Part One: Lethargic against Orient.
Part Two: Catastrophic at Chesterfield.
Part Three: The weekly de-brief.
Part Four: Academy and Women’s round-up.
Part Five: Our next week.
Lethargic against Orient 😪
On Saturday morning, Storm Darragh hit the UK and postponed football games up and down the country. Wigan Athletic confirmed that our home tie was set to take place despite the high winds, and now, in hindsight, I wish it had been called off.
Shaun Maloney made five changes to the starting eleven that faced Huddersfield Town last Tuesday, with Matt Smith dropping out of the eighteen-player squad.
👕 Starting XI: Sam Tickle, Toby Sibbick, Jason Kerr ©️, Will Aimson, Steven Sessegnon, Baba Adeeko, Scott Smith, Dion Rankine, Jensen Weir, Silko Thomas, Dale Taylor
🔄 Subs: Tom Watson, James Carragher, Paul Dummett, Thelo Aasgaard, Jonny Smith, Maleace Asamoah, Callum McManaman
The opening ten minutes offered up no real chances for either side as they cancelled each other out while trying to get to grips with the adverse weather conditions. Long balls were being sent into the stands, and there were plenty of turnovers in the middle of the park.
Wigan had the first notable attempt on goal in the 11th minute after Dion Rankine’s charging run down the right wing allowed him to pull the ball back to the edge of the area for Scott Smith to strike. His effort sailed over the bar, but the intent was good to see.
Our former Academy captain then sent an excellent ball into Steven Sessegnon’s feet through the lines for the left back to take a shot. Latics won a corner but a poor cross was caught comfortably by Josh Kelley. Looking back, this felt like an omen for what was to come.
Orient had to wait until the half-hour mark for their first big chance, which came from an excellent through ball from Sonny Perkins to unleash Ollie O’Neill 1v1 with Sam Tickle. Our defensive positioning was poor and allowed the pass to be played, but when the left winger tried to play the ball past Tickle his trailing leg blocked it. ❌
Moments later, a crunching tackle kept Dion Rankine on the ground and forced him into an early substitution. Jonny Smith came on in his place 🤕
Things went from bad to worse for Wigan just before the break as Tom James played another excellent ball through the lines to find Dan Agyei. The Orient frontman knew that he had the pace to beat Aimson and used this to his advantage as he drove to the byline to send a ball into the box. Left-back, Jayden Sweeney had arrived on the scene and was able to get in front of Toby Sibbick to open the scoring 💢
Boos rang around the Brick Community Stadium at halftime, and after the teams reemerged we saw two changes had been made. Baba Adeeko and Silko Thomas, who had been struggling with an injury from an early challenge throughout the first period, were replaced by Thelo Aasgaard and Callum McManaman 🔄
Our FA Cup-winning winger made his presence known early on in the second half as he made a big challenge on Tom James to try and inject a bit of life into our performance. Yellow card. Deservedly so, in truth.
The game fell flat quickly, however, and other than a couple of unsuccessful corner routines for each side there wasn’t anything to get excited for. Orient made a change in the 71st minute with Sonny Perkins coming off for Ethan Galbraith.
A minute later, Wigan had our best chance of the game after Jonny Smith worked the ball to the left for McManaman. The winger couldn’t get past his defender but found Sessegnon in space at the edge of the area. Sess tried his luck from range and forced Keeley into only being able to parry the ball to his left, which looked destined to fall at Weir’s feet inside the six-yard box. Unfortunately, Orient’s goalscorer Jayden Sweeney got to the ball first to clear 😪
Both managers made more changes with ten minutes to go, as Maloney subbed in Paul Dummett and Maleace Asamoah for Steven Sessegnon and Will Aimson, and Richie Wellens opted for Charlie Kelman to replace Jamie Donley 🔄
The former Latics forward had a golden opportunity to double his new club’s lead, as after Weir was dispossessed in the midfield by Ollie O’Neill, the winger put Kelman through on goal in a 1v1 opportunity. Despite his shot fizzing past Sam Tickle, it also fizzed past the post to narrowly keep us in the game.
Our visitors began to sit back in an effort to see out their 1-0 lead, and this invited Thelo Aasgaard to try a late shot on goal from outside the area. The Norwegian received the ball from Weir and managed to wriggle away from Dominic Ball to shoot with his strong foot. Unfortunately, the attempt was dragged wide of the near post and that would be our final chance.
Josh Keeley stepped up to hit the ball long from the goal-kick, and this was aided by the wind to sail over the top of Toby Sibbick, who was now playing at centre-back after Will Aimson’s departure. Sibbick chased the ball down and tried to shield it from Diallang Jaiyesimi while Sam Tickle made his way off the line to come and collect. The Orient attacker nicked the ball off both of them and swept it into an open net. When it rains, it pours.
As the ball hit the net, Wigan supporters all around the stadium rose and began making their way for the exit. By the time the full whistle sounded, there were very few Latics fans left in the stadium, and only three players came around to applaud those who stayed. Sam Tickle, Thelo Aasgaard, and another who I couldn’t identify as he had his substitute jacket on with his hood up. This was disappointing to see only three members of the football club make this effort, but I respect those who did.
Catastrophic at Chesterfield 🫣
After such a disappointing showing at the Brick against Leyton Orient, the Vertu Trophy Round of 32 tie away at Chesterfield should have been a perfect way to bounce back and give the supporters something to get excited about.
As you can tell from the title of this section, the game did not deliver.
Shaun Maloney made nine changes to his starting eleven, with only Toby Sibbick and Baba Adeeko holding their place on the teamsheet.
👕 Starting XI: Tom Watson, Calvin Ramsay, James Carragher, Toby Sibbick, Luke Robinson, Baba Adeeko, Matt Smith, Callum McManaman, Chris Sze, Michael Olakigbe, Joe Hugill
🔄 Subs: Sam Tickle, Paul Dummett, Scott Smith, Kai Payne, Thelo Aasgaard Jonny Smith, Dale Taylor
Three minutes on the clock, Chesterfield went a goal up through Alejandro Dobra. Oh, boy… 🫣
Kane Drummond was played in behind by Darren Oldaker, with James Carragher rushing back as the forward took the ball around Tom Watson. Instead of going to the player, Carragher stepped off and went to the near post allowing Drummond to take his time in looking up and assessing his options. A low ball across the box was almost cleared by Ramsay but swiftly followed up by Dobra to nestle the ball into the back of the net. 💢
Latics made a decent move of their own around the ten-minute mark as Baba Adeeko was played in behind down the right side of the penalty area. The Ireland U21s midfielder drove a low ball across the edge of the six-yard box with a chance that was begging for Hugill or Michael Olakigbe to throw themselves at it. Neither did, and Chesterfield could clear up the ball at the far side of the box.
In fairness to Wigan, they did show some desire to level the game up quickly and Toby Sibbick won the ball in the middle of the park to find Chris Sze in the ‘10’ position. The Academy graduate turned and flicked the ball forward to Hugill, who sent it wide to McManaman. His route to goal looked blocked by two or three Spireites, but a punt from the edge of the area took a nice deflection to find a route into the far corner. 1-1. ⚽️
Joe Hugill had a big chance to impact the scoreline for the first time since his brace away at Bristol Rovers in mid-September. The chance came from an excellent through ball by Olakigbe to set the forward away, with the goalkeeper making a mess of his attempt to get to the ball first. As the keeper went down, Hugill worked the ball to his right and tried an effort from distance. The effort went wide.
James Carragher then had a glorious opportunity to put Latics ahead after Callum McManaman’s corner found the defender unmarked in the six-yard box. You would have put money on him scoring a header, but the effort sailed over the bar. Carragher simply had to do better with this chance.
Paul Cook’s side came close to restoring their one-goal lead after a short free-kick routine on the left wing allowed James Berry to whip a ball into the box. His deep effort towards the far post in search of Oldaker bounced off the woodwork before the referee called for a foul on Watson.
Shaun Maloney’s teamtalk was almost forced to be changed as Sibbick played an excellent ball from our own half to put Hugill in 1v1 with the Chesterfield goalkeeper. Just like he did against Nottingham Forest U21s, Hugill held on to the ball for far too long and his chance to score disappeared. At the stage he hit the ball, the keeper had already committed to going down in an attempt to block. Hugill has to get better at reading the goalkeeper’s move early and thinking about taking the ball around him in this situation. Or better yet, shoot earlier when the chance to score is higher.
With the game tied at 1-1, as both teams made their way for the dressing room, Luke Robinson was the only player not to make it back out to the field. Paul Dummett replaced him at the break 🔄
The fifteen minutes after the restart offered very little to get excited for. Maloney then made two further changes with Thelo Aasgaard and Jonny Smith coming on for Chris Sze and Callum McManaman, shortly followed by Matt Smith making way for Scott Smith.
Latics looked to be clicking into gear after the hour mark, as Calvin Ramsay drove an excellent ball through the defence to play Hugill into the area. The forward opted not to shoot first time, and instead played it across the box to Aasgaard. Just like Carragher’s chance, you would have bet your bottom dollar that the Norwegian would hit the target. However, it is a good thing Neil Armstrong isn’t on the moon anymore of that effort would have bounced off his head. 🔭
Aasgaard then had a great chance to finally get a good shot away as he drove into the area on the left side and had a clear sight of the goal. He seemed to hesitate, hoping the defender would make contact, but a minimal touch was enough to see him tumble to the floor. The referee rightly said to play on, which was another opportunity that went begging. Just shoot.
Twenty seconds later, Chesterfield were awarded a penalty. James Berry’s excellent ball from the left wing to find Ryan Colclough on the far side was brought down perfectly and as the former Latics winger tried to work it around Dummett he was hacked down. Clear penalty. Poor challenge.
Berry stepped up to hit it and restored the hosts’ one-goal lead in the 78th minute. Nine minutes later, they went two goals ahead through Dilan Markanday. A long ball by Watson found Jonny Smith, who tried to play it infield for Hugill. Grimes intercepted and kicked forward, with Sibbick looking to head the ball into the midfield for Adeeko. Instead, the ball fell to the goalscorer who took the fall forward and nestled his long-range effort into the far post. Easy as 1, 2, 3 for the Blackburn Rovers loanee. 😪
As the clock ticked past the ninety minutes, Carragher punted a long ball upfield in search of Hugill as Latics tried to mount a comeback. The forward could not control but a poor touch from the defender played Hugill through on goal. His effort looked to be an easy one for the keeper to save but the ball worked its way underneath him and into the net. Unfortunately, this was nothing more than a consolation and the Latics crashed out of the cup.
The weekly de-brief 🤔
So, there you have it. Two games, two very poor performances, and two missed chances to give the supporters something to get excited about as we continue on in this difficult festive period.
To make things worse, Steven Sessegnon and Silko Thomas are dealing with injuries and may not be involved for a couple of weeks. On top of this, Dion Rankine has been ruled out until April after picking up a big injury from Dominic Ball’s challenge in the Leyton Orient game.
I have said it before and I will say it again. When it rains, it pours. ⛈️
For me, it is clear to see that the way we are trying to play is not working, and it seems to be getting worse. I am not going to call for Shaun Maloney to no longer be our manager, but I am going to call for him to try something new in a bid to turn our season around.
Last season, when we played a three at the back we looked stronger defensively in those central areas, and we benefited from having an extra body further up the field. I feel that it is glaringly obvious that our lone striker is isolated, our wingers are too wide, and our number 10 can get marked out of the game quite easily. This is not going to change unless that change is forced by a change in tactics.
Against Orient, we did see a minor adjustment with Jensen Weir moving up alongside Dale Taylor to create a box in the midfield with Scott Smith and Baba Adeeko as a duo behind. While this was doing well to pressure Beckles and Happe into mistakes, once they broke through Weir and Taylor then Brown and Ball in the midfield had all the time in the world to look forward and get Orient up the field. Donley, O’Neill, Perkins, and Agyei were keeping Adeeko, Smith, and our defenders far too busy to then have them worry about the central midfielders.
I don’t think it is right to blame Maloney for all of our problems this season. Our players have had plenty of opportunities to score, and we aren’t taking these chances anywhere near enough. If we take more of our chances, then the confidence in the game shifts completely and the players will start to feel that they can go and get a win and then that confidence snowballs from there.
The players need to take responsibility and dig themselves out of the rut as they are the ones wearing the boots and making the on-field decisions about where to pass the ball and when to shoot.
We have a massive game on the weekend against Bolton Wanderers in the Derby, and they haven’t beaten us since November 2014. If that isn’t an accolade to get yourself fired up for and defend, then I don’t know what is. Come on, lads. Give us something to cheer about.
Academy and Women’s round-up 🔵
Wigan Athletic Under 18s had a week out of action with no league or cup fixtures scheduled. They will return to the field on Saturday in a trip to Coventry City U18s.
Wigan Athletic Under 21s travelled down the M6 to face Birmingham City U21s at The Arden Garages Stadium in the Professional Development League. Like the Latics, the Blues have been struggling in the league this season and have 3 wins, 2 draws, and 8 losses. They sat six points and one place above Wigan coming into this game.
👕 Starting XI: Trialist (GK), Llyton Chapman, K’Marni Miller, Jack Rogers ©️, Sam Bolland, Trialist, Jack Reilly, Harrison Rimmer, Tom Costello, Finn O’Boyle, Leo Graham
🔄 Subs: Jake Spaven, Alex Hughes, Callum Jones, Charley McKee, Cole Simms
The hosts started the better side and made their early pressure count with a sixth-minute goal from Alfie Chang. 17-year-old Romelle Donovan, who is on loan at Burton Albion this season, saw his initial free kick saved before Chang followed up with a rebound strike 💢
Donovan almost extended the Blues’ lead after some excellent work up against the Latics defence, forcing our trialist goalkeeper into a fine save.
After the half-hour mark, Wigan found some strong rhythm in the game and got their rewards just seconds from halftime as K’Marni Miller headed the ball over the goalkeeper to level the game ⚽️
Chris Brown made a couple of changes at the hour mark with Callum Jones and Charley McKee coming on for our midfield trialist and Jack Reilly. Moments later, some nice interplay between Miller and Leo Graham set Tom Costello through on goal to bag his first of the game 🙌
With 15 minutes to go, Finn O’Boyle was replaced by in-form U18s forward, Cole Simms and Latics continued to pressure the Blues backline. Their efforts paid off as Costello won back the ball high up the field and slotted the ball past their goalkeeper to secure his brace and Wigan's third 💫
Brown made one final change in the dying moments with Alex Hughes coming on for Leo Graham, and the Blues had no time left to try a comeback. Excellent victory.
Wigan stay bottom of the table but move up to 8 points from 15 games with this second victory of the season. We are now close to catching the teams above us, and that would be a big confidence boost if we can climb some places from now until the end of the season.
🏟️ Birmingham City U21s 1 - 3 Wigan Athletic U21s
⚽️ Goals: K’Marni Miller (45+1’), Tom Costello (68’, 83’)
Wigan Athletic Women hosted Euxton Girls FC on Sunday afternoon in our second encounter of the season. Latics won 2-1 in the first meeting at the start of September with goals from Avagrace Hodson and Ellie Cleary.
Emmerson Boyce made two changes to the starting lineup with Amelia Knowles retaking the gloves off Faye Moseley, who was unavailable for this game, and Holly Scott starting in defence with Avagrace Hodson dropping to the bench. Hodson was our only named substitute with Abbie Moore out with injury and other players unavailable for selection.
👕 Starting XI: Amelia Knowles, Holly Scott, Libby McCoy, Alyson Hastie, Laura Heslip, Sara Merican, Tegen Baker, Grace Carr ©️, Molly Hassall, Ellie Cleary, Izzy Worswick
🔄 Subs: Avagrace Hodson
While Storm Darragh may have passed before kickoff, the two sides still had to battle through wet and cold conditions at Robin Park. A battling opening 15 minutes resulted in our visitors opening the scoring.
One thing that we have learned this season is that Latics are never far away from scoring a goal, and in the 39th minute our goalscorers from the first meeting linked up to level the game. Ellie Cleary’s hard work to break down the Euxton defence allowed her to slot the ball through to Avagrace Hodson to stick the chance away ⚽️
The sides were level at the break, with Wigan kicking off the second half. Ellie Cleary received the ball and sprinted down the field to whip a searching cross into the box which Hodson controlled and smashed into the back of the net for her second 🌟
What is better than a brace? A hattrick. Three minutes after securing her double, Avagrace Hodson capitalised on a mistake at the back and swept the ball past the goalkeeper to secure her third of the game. What a talent the teenager is 👏
What is better than a hattrick? A haul (apparently, that is the term for four goals. I had to look it up…). Just before the hour mark, Hodson found herself in a 1v1 with the Euxton goalkeeper to work the ball around her and tap into an open net. Twelve goals now for Hodson, making her Wigan’s second-highest goalscorer behind Ellie Cleary (24) 📈
Latics were loving this strong rhythm they had found in the game since the break and in the 63rd minute they added another to the scoresheet. The ball dropped into the box and amid a scramble, Laura Heslip made the best connection to add our fifth of the game. This was the former Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers teenager’s second of the season ✌️
Euxton didn’t let their heads drop and with 20 minutes to go they pulled a goal back to make it 5-2.
Wigan reinstated their four-goal lead in the 81st minute after Ellie Cleary’s excellent strike netted her 25th of the campaign. Our top goalscorer has been providing plenty of assists recently, but could now celebrate a goal of her own again 🎯
🏟️ Wigan Athletic Women 6 - 2 Euxton Girls
⚽️ Goals: Avagrace Hodson (39’, 46’, 49’, 55’), Laura Heslip (63’), Ellie Cleary (81’)
Our next week 🗓️
Saturday 14th December | Bolton Wanderers vs Wigan Athletic | League One
Saturday 14th December | Coventry City U18s vs Wigan Athletic U18s | U18 Professional Development League
Sunday 15th December | Wigan Athletic Women vs Burnley Belvedere | FA Womens County Championship League (Tier 7)
Tuesday 17th December | Wigan Athletic U21s vs Coventry City U21s | U21 Professional Development League
Up the Tics 🔵⚪️
🙌 Thank you for reading!
✍🏼 Charlie Keegan / Central Wigan
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