Heres my thoughts on the game - even though nobody asked lol. Negatives Wright was poor today, he still dug in and no doubt organised things at the back but hes so slow which did cause us to drop off more than we did. Simms all round game needs to be better, his hold up play is so poor and he doesnt draw in enough fouls for a big striker - he took his goal well. The midfield 3 struggled with the runs in behind them - too often all 3 would be watching whats in front of them only. Need to be more aware of whats around them as birmingham played through us too easily. Clarke - not as effective but it was clear he missed cirkins overlaps tonight. He doesnt get double teamed as much when cirkin plays as his runs attract markers. Positives Patto - what a prospect he is. Thought he was class in everything he did tonight and pulled off some class saves. Fullbacks - great to see both get through 90 mins and thought hume was class throughout. Huggins had a tough 1st half but he clearly learned from it and was more solid in the 2nd. Amad - what a goal and i loved his assist as well, turning into a player. Baath - player of the season for me, just wins n competes for everything Workrate - the team gave everything for us fans. I didnt think pritchard was great on the ball tonight but what desire n effort he showed in this game. Result - we showed with this result and the huddersfield one that we can grind out results, so important to be able to win when not at our best. Players to return, look at the quality who were missing tonight and shows how good a squad we have. Add a couple in January and we should kick on. Betting - i had a couple scum supporters put birmingham on their coupons for the weekend so we fcuked their bets already!!!! Sorry for the long posts, buzzing after last night n wanted to share my views Enjoy your weekend folks
Well I never saw that coming, and once again the form book goes right out the window. As I’ve said before, I’ll always be critical of TM and never wanted him, but I took my hat off to him last night. Got the tactics spot on!! And the players ran themselves into the ground, so they’re clearly playing for him. If he can get the home form sorted, I might even be prepared to say how wrong I was with his appointment. Now (as a few have said already) I’m really relaxed and looking forward to Qatar. H’AWAY ENGLAND!! Bart
Just being able to mix it helps though, and gives defenders more to think about. Plenty of good football played too, both goals were scored by players keeping their heads and finding men in space. Some excellent effort put in there. A lot of likely starters missing and against a side very good at home. Perfect before a break. I think we're okay and very much on the right lines. One of the things I always look for in a side is how much help players give to each other. Are you ever left alone, even if it's your own mistake? We have seen a lot of selfish players here in those dark times who would hide from the ball, and let a player struggle when he got into trouble. I never see that now. Whatever failings there may be, they are in it for each other, including the loans. Always got a chance when you have decent players and you see that
It's ironic that the three key players last night imo, Evans, Batth and Pritchard ,who formed the platform.on which the likes of Amad could perform, were the same three condemned as useless donkeys not so long ago. Even last night Pritchard was being slated in various places. This is despite being everywhere on the pitch and, at worst, disrupting their play. But he was involved in the opener and was flying into tackles in defence and attack. Matete, who some want in to replace him, wasn't as effective and was inevitably booked for something stupid. Perhaps a bit of patience is needed with things ... ... Amad is the lesson, he was a waste of a signing only a few games ago.
It's the same all the time. Players need time to bed in when they first sign or come back from injury. We've got quite a few fans who are far too impatient! There's some who expect certain players to contribute to goals in every match - Pritchard is a prime example - just enjoynthe magic carpet ride!
Agree with all of that. Do feel a bit for Matete, can't be easy just getting 10/15 mins here and there, and trying too hard. Definitely think there's a player in there. Maybe benefit from a loan in January to a league one team where he's playing week in week out, if we bring an experienced Evans type in January, like I think we should. He misses games and our midfield goes to **** really. He's that important to us.
Pritch seems happy here. He gives it 100% and seems like he is the type of bloke who will be saying to the young lads "****ing enjoy this club and these fans" He was labelled as a bad influence by Huddersfield fans and was booed by them constant the other week. I know there has been a few suggestions (all out bullshit) of him having fall outs, like the he is fuming AN has gone story and then he fell out with TM last week. But for me I don't think there is any sign of that, he is more important to us than I sometimes think which was proved last week when he was on the bench.
Against Burnley he took Evans and Pritchard off and we fell apart.. that SHOULD have shown a few, what these players do , its not always obvious. Batth is player of the season for me and I hope he's no where near 5 cards as we would be in the s..t without him.
Agreed mate, i remember ross stewart was written off as soon as we signed him 'he has hardly scored any goals'. The one thing everyone in this team does is work hard
Really? Must have been by a few who will say every new player is ****e cause they didn't come in and play like Ronaldo in his prime! Cause I remember that from the off People said how much more he was going to offer compared to Wyke (who was scoring for fun at the time) and overall feeling was very positive. So much so that the media and Wigan fans made a big deal of Wyke (our top scorer) going and apart from one poster on here, who would have probably complained if we kept him cause he likes a moan, everyone else wasn't arsed as we had a better all round player to take his place.
There is no other play in our forward positions that understand the game better than prichard for me. Tactically superb.
Seen multiple people say their insiders said it Simms who was out injured last night think you need to get new sources lads. On a serious note, fantastic win last night. Not the best performance and probably got lucky in the end, but who cares. Great win and what a goal by Amad.
Agree 100% with this Smug, we all have a view on players and tactics, I pay more attention to the position I used to play, but sometimes I feel like I am watching a different game to others. Prichard and Evans were excellent yesterday and as you say created the platform for the flair players, we won a high percentage of second balls because the two of them won the battles in their respective pockets. I have said for ages that Batth is my player of the season but I said that about Tom Flanagan after a few games in his last season with us, then he went to rats ****, so what do I know I like Mowbray's comment when he first came here, he said that footballers are either soldiers or artists and every team needs a mixture. Last night was a great example of the soldiers winning their battles, I reckon we had a team full of soldiers and Amad offering that bit extra.
Matete was put on to be a disruptive influence, his booking was silly but how many times do we see our opponents using similar tactics without punishment . He helped us see out the game where in previous years we have habitually conceded late goals . I wish Roberts would track back better and I would apportion a degree of blame for letting the runner go and cross for the Birmingham goal though Bailey Wright should have cut the cross out . All in all a welcome three points thank you very much .
Batth has been a very good signing especially for free! On a differnt note who are the experienced heads in the team, I know it was said AN wanted more experience but who would people class as being experienced players? Would it be on age and overall time playing or would it be ok experience at this level. Batth, Evans, Pritchard, Gooch, O,Nien, Stewart (Wright who wouldn't really be around the matchday squad without injuries) or just Batth, Evans, Pritchard?
