In that order those words sum up yesterdays game. I am writing this absolutely gutted. Cant believe we managed to not win that game. Still cant get over how we let it slip with less than 30 seconds remaining. THE GAME We began very well, and in the early stages were well on top. Wigan were struggling to stop the likes of Townsend down the wing, and were struggling to get a foothold in the game. Then Zamora challenged Gomez. Gomez rolled around on the floor while the ref let play on so it seemed nothing dramatic had occurred. After a few minutes of treatment for Gomez the ref spoke with his assistant, and to the shock of many produced a red card for Zamora. At the time the ref got so much stick, as did Gomez for the events. That completely ruined our game and we had to sit back and be patient with our attack play. Wigan didnt have many ideas really and still struggled to create anything decent, and the first half petered out. Second half began much the same but we were still creating the better opportunities despite being a man light. Wigan couldnt get any real momentum going and continued to struggle. Then just as it looked like either side was going to fail to break the deadlock Wigan had a free kick close to the area. It got blocked by Mbia who raced away in front of 3 or 4 Wigan players with Loic Remy close behind. Suddenly Mbia released Remy and bang on his first touch it was in the top corner. Cue madness in the home ends, a stunning goal. Surely the winner. But no, QPR had other ideas. Giving away a succession of free kicks in good range eventually cost and Maloney hit one into the net with literally seconds remaining. Lofuts Road fell to silence. Dead silence. Everyone, including the players knew the severity of the goal. Pretty much relegating QPR to the championship. THE RATINGS CESAR - 4 - looking very nervous at the moment and not giving confidence to the defence. one time he failed to rush out to collect the ball when samba clearly wanted him to and kicked poorly most of the game. perhaps could have been a bit better positioned for the free kick, although im not totally sure on that. TRAORE - 5.5 - went off at half time (not sure why) but had an ok first half. got forward well and was part of a solid unit defending against 11 men. HILL - 7 - dealt with alot of what kone threw at him and kone barely had any chance to get away. put his body on the line well. SAMBA - 6.5 - did ok, but to me still doesnt look totally fit. seems to be struggling to move easily. but overall defended well, but nothing spectacular. again, failed to win any decent headers in the wigan box. BOSINGWA - 7.5 - another decent performance. may not be a 'team' player but is playing well. got forward well and linked well with townsend in the first half. defended smartly as well. MBIA - 8.5 - a very good performance with both positives and negatives. i would have taken a point away for the stupid free kick that he gave away that led to their goal, but lets not forget he also set up remy blocking a free kick and running half the pitch. constantly chasing and played a big part in stopping them from getting shots away from the edge of the box. JENAS - 7.5 - perhaps went a bit unnoticed but played a crucial role alongside mbia and was calm on the ball. HOILETT - 4.5 - didnt do anything of any note really and made a few bad passes. not a good performance and i cant say anything positive that he contributed. went missing for large parts of the game. TOWNSEND - 8.5 - MOM - once again an outstanding performance from our lowest earner! didnt stop running at all and i think made the most successful dribbles in the PL this season (13) i read. A constant threat throughout and gave their full back a torrid time. just lacked the goal to push his mark up to 9. REMY - 7.5 - only needs one sniff of the goal and its in the net. an outstanding finisher and i am gutted, bloody gutted we will lose him. imo the most important player to keep as he will get us back up. really gutted to even think about losing him. ZAMORA - 4.5 - idiot basically. a clumsy challenge that initially i thought was harsh as a red card - but after seeing a pic of it at half time its certainly a red. we would have won that game easily had he not been sent off. but was linking things well before the red card and was helping to bring others in to the game. SUBS: ONUOHA - 6.5 - came on at half time and played rb. did the simple things well but when it got a bit more complicated a few mistakes crept in. but solid. TAARABT - 6 - did ok when he came on, but nothing more really. at the time i didnt realise what he did for the free kick, but tbh samba should have been in that position in the wall anyway. why is samba almost nearest to the keeper's side in the wall. makes no sense imo. MACKIE - N/A - on for less than 10 mins again but battled and fought so hard for the cause. apparently he could have gone into the corner but havent seen it back again yet. chased and chased as you would expect though. THE FINAL WORD As I said I feel so deflated right now, even 24 hours later. That had cost us our PL place imo. No coming back now. After seeing such a good performance from the team after being reduced to 10 men for 70 mins and then seemingly nicking it 1-0 with as superb goal everything looked so much better. But to concede in the way we did, at the time we did is a sickening blow. The atmosphere wasnt great really throughout the game, bar a couple of occasions. I think everyone is thoroughly fed up with this season now, and the result yesterday confirmed it. What a dreadful season it has been. Such high expectations at the start and its ending like this. But for me the most gutting part of it all is something I have already mentioned. Losing Remy. You wait years for a decent finisher who can score with the smallest chance and we get one. Then it looks like we are going to lose him. I wish we could keep him either by risking one year in the NPC with him or sending him out on loan for a year. But back to the game, it was billed as a must win after losing to Villa and Fulham, and we didnt. Performances dont really mean anything at this stage of the season. Its results. And we havent got them at the crucial time, and against the crucial teams around us. We need realistically 5 wins from the 6 games, but having won only four all season it really isnt going to happen.
Thanks Judo. Someone said that normally defenders aren't in the wall, which I think is correct. But Samba was at the other end of the wall but in it, M'bia and Hill were a bit to the right of it. Surely one of these bigger blokes should have been left side of the wall where it always looked like Wigan were going.
The freekick was perfectly taken and I doubt that Samba would have made the difference here - very shocking result anyway but I guess we deserve to go down this season and will come back in pride after that. The last 2 season´s were no real fun actually and perhaps we will enjoy some good Football in the 2nd tier.
Flyer, who seems to have a knack for knowing these things, knew that the ball was going to the left. He said before the ball was kicked that Maloneys body language said that is was going round Adels side of the wall. If Flyer can tell from half way up the lower loft...why can't Taarbs and Cesar. Actually he was pretty sure they were going to score from the free kick too.. It really didn't help that Taarbs both jumped, turned away and ducked....but that is past history. Onwards to Everton
To be honest Beth....the ball is usually aimed at the opposite corner to where the keeper is, up and over or round the wall. Everyone around me called it right too. More importantly.....bloody Cesar should have realised it too!
No your right there beth - taarabt actually jumped the highest but ducked at the same time. If it had been samba there is would have hit his head.
though it was a painful goal to give away, it was a good free kick that I doubt anyone would have kept out, silly to give away in the first place, and it was not the first, it was so cruel
Cheers Judo. I also thought Mackie could of done better in the wall. He just stood there like a mouth-breather. The ball actually went over Mackie and Taarabt's shoulder's. Between them they should of got something on it to deflect the ball over the bar. Didn't make any sense to not have someone on that post either.
Good report Judo. Flyer's very perceptive. My concern was their no.3 standing completely unmarked on their far left. Was watching him so intently, I completely missed the goal till every one around me slumped!
M'bia was an embarrassing mess of a player which is perfectly to form. Needs a massive kick up the ass and told in no uncertain terms to cut out the play acting and stupidity or show him the door
Neither of the CD should be in the wall. They should be covering players for cheeky chips and rebounds, the wall is for the people who aren't as good at defending like Adel etc.
When Cesar was lining up the wall, then positioned himself to the far left, didn't the goal look huge?! It was a decent free-kick but poor positioning made it look better than what it was. GOD DAMN IT!!!!
Can't agree with the ratings Judo but thank you for the report. Jenas just shaded it from Townsend IMO but as i played a lot of my time at Central Midfield i am bias ... he didn't really put a foot wrong and showed total class positionally ... how many times were Wigan forced across the park ... that was Jenas ... with the ball just simple composed and effective ... The fact that only a few saw this or even noticed him is testament to a great disciplined performance in that position
he did go down easily a few times to say the least, but imo he was the engine in our midfield. ran and ran and forced wigan to go sideways and stopped a number of possible shots from the edge of the area. but the stupid free kick he gave away at the end is still making me angry!
