Swansea City v. Wigan Athletic Saturday 20th October 2012 - 3pm Liberty Stadium Yes, itâs the second coming....of everyones favourite ex-Swansea manager Roberto Martinez back to the Liberty Stadium. This will be fourth meeting between the two sides since his acrimonious departure in the summer of 2009. As Roberto enters his fourth season as Wigan manager, hereâs a reminder of the 3 games already played: 26th October 2010 - Wigan 2 Swansea 0 - League Cup 5th? Round (Boselli, Watson(pen)). Swansea team: Ma-Kalambay, Taylor, Tate, Serran, Rangel, Cotterill, Pratley, Van der Gun, Agustien, Beattie, Emnes. Only 4 of that starting line-up still with us. 20th August 2011 - Swansea 0 Wigan 0 Our first home game in the Barclayâs Premier League and the first point gained but only thanks to Vorm saving a penalty and Moses and Gomez had both hit the woodwork for Wigan. Swansea team: Vorm, Williams, Taylor, Caulker, Rangel, Britton, Sinclair, Dyer, Routledge, Agustien, Graham. 3rd March 2012 - Wigan 0 Swansea 2 (Sigurdsson x2) Two great strikes from Gylfi Sigurdsson secured the 3 points with Nathan Dyer given a straight red card for a high tackle. Swansea team: Vorm, Williams, Taylor, Caulker, Rangel, Britton, Sinclair, Dyer, Allen, Sigurdsson, Graham. A brief history of Wigan Athletic Founded very late in life in 1932. They played in the lower leagues until 1978 when they were elected to the Football League. They actually finished second in the Northern Premier League in the 77-78 season behind Boston United but Bostonâs ground did not meet the criteria for a league club, so Wigan were put forward instead. As there was no automatic promotion to the Football League in those days they went up against Southport for election. The first round of voting was tied 26/26 but Wigan won the re-vote 29-20and hence became a league club. In February 1995, local millionaire and owner of JJB Sports Dave Whelan purchased the club with ambitions of reaching the Premier League. After progressing through the leagues Wigan gained promotion to the Premier League in 2005 when they came second behind Sunderland. Our glorious former manager played for Wigan 187 times between 1995 and 2001 scoring 17 goals. Wiganâs record in the Premier League Season..........Manager.............Posn......Points 2005-2006.....Paul Jewell...........10th.....51 pts 2006-2007.....Paul Jewell...........17th.....38 pts 2007-2008.....Hutchings/Bruce.....14th.....40 pts 2008-2009.....Steve Bruce...........11th.....45 pts 2009-2010.....Roberto Martinez.....16th.....36 pts 2010-2011.....Roberto Martinez.....16th.....42 pts 2011-2012.....Roberto Martinez.....15th.....43 pts 2012-2013.....Roberto Martinez.....????.....?? pts Wiganâs best season in the Premier League was actually their first and since then have flirted pretty much non-stop with relegation. I remember particularly their 2-1 win at Sheffield United on the last day of the 2006/7 season after which Paul Jewell unexpectedly resigned. Also Robertoâs 1-0 win at Stoke on the final day of the 2010/11 season. Last season Wigan had an 8-game losing run and a 4-game losing run but had a blistering end to the season winning 7 of their last 9 games including wins at Liverpool and Arsenal as well as home wins over Man Utd and Newcastle. Saturdayâs Possible Line-Ups ..................SWANSEA................... .....................Vorm..................... Rangel.......Chico........Williams.....Davies ...............Ki........Britton............. Hernandez.......Michu...............Routledge .......................Moore................. =========================== Kone...............Di Santo...........Maloney Beausejour....Boyce.......McArthur...McCarthy ......Figueroa......Caldwell......Ramis...... ....................Al-Habsi................. ....................WIGAN....................... My Prediction We have averaged about 2 goals per game at home in the Premier League this season. Wigan have scored 2 in 3 away games. Therefore, the score must be 2-1 to the Swans. (However, if you factor in an Ashley Williamsâ back-pass blunder, it will be 2-2.)
tough game but we must win games at home against fellow strugglers like the wigans and readings of this world or we will be in trouble.....2-1 home win....moore, michu........gomez pen
definitely need 3pts from this one. Don't fancy our chances against citeh or chelski in the following games so need more than a point off bobby brown shoes
Dai, have you been listening to too much of Andy Gray on talksport? Agreed though, need to be winning these and I think we will. I fancy a cracking game though 4-2 Swans
Just wanted to say what a great OP Aswan-dam, no-one reads in the Wigan forum but I'm inspired to put a bit more effort into match day threads in the future. When you beat us at our place last season it was the weekend after an international break and is probably as close as Bobby came to leaving the club. It was a real low for us - in fact you might remember that we went to Sunderland, beat them and cost Steve Bruce his job - Swansea came close to doing the same (deeply satisfying) thing to us. It wasn't a massive low because we "got beat by Swansea" but our performance that day was as bad as anything we had seen in what had been a pretty shocking year for us (even by our own sometimes low standards). And again this time out we meet after an international break and for us I'm worried that that'll be the crucial factor. We're always awful after these breaks and honestly a place like the Liberty isn't somwehere anyone will want to go when they're not at their best. The team you've listed Aswan - that would be pretty much our first choice team and I would expect them to give you a hell of a game. I'm not sure that what will actually take the field will match that - and I'm convinced that if Gomez plays, we'll lose. So - with Gomez, defeat, and without him, a point maybe.
Well your players will have to rely on themselves to get anything as it'll be quiet at your end , difficult one but I've hoping that that there'll be a show of unity tomorrow resulting in a win for us
Wigan look a much better team now than in the last 3 seasons. Martinez is a really good manager and i rate him a lot. We on the other hand had a good start but have not won a game in the last 4 starts, The pressure is definitely on us to stop the rot and as teams like wigan who i regard as the same standard and ability as us then these games at home is a must win, we have the advantage by being at home and to lose or even draw would be a bad result for us. It will be the same for wigan when we visit you as we would be one of the teams in wigans target to get points off.....I think its going to be a close finish at the end of the season where the unfancied teams like ours If they have not done well against fellow sides equivalent to ourselves will be the one's who will be relegated.......so tomorrow is a must win for the swans....
Thanks, Aswan, great thread. This is a winnable game but the lads are going to have to concentrate fully as Wigan are better than their position suggests and they have got some tidy players who can hurt us - particularly Kone if he's allowed to get at a below par Ash. Beausejour can also cause problems with his pace and trickery and Wigan have some talented midfielders who can give them the ammunition. I see Wigan's defence as vulnerable so we will have to pressure them from the off and start playing immediately instead of leaving it until the second half. If we fall behind, as we have been doing, we might well lose as Wigan are well equipped to pick us off on the break with their pace. If we get it right we will win but the stupid mistakes must be eradicated.
I would not play ash for a start. He is not fit enough to cope with wigans pace up front and they will put pressure on ash for sure having watched his errors in the last 5 games. Martinez is not stupid and knows ash well and will target him as our weakest link.....I would stop that by not playing him as lets be sensible he is not 100% fit as he admits himself....Who i would play as my back 4 are Rangel,..Chico...Richards...Davies....................put ash on the bench as emergency cover that we could use if we really have too..
Great thread Aswan. Dai, what have you been smoking and can I have some? Jazz Richards at centre-half!?!? (only joking with you mate)
anyone watching the reserves, just went on the swans website and found nothing, like they dont exist, good post btw aswan
this will be a tough one no doubt about that - lets hope we go out firing on all cylinders right from the start not just in the 2nd half. I hope Moore gets a start and I hope Laudrup says these words to him ' if you put in a good shift you re in the team against Citey!'
We could do with making a good start and getting an early goal, this season we seem to leave it til the second half to play our best football so as Laudrup says if we can keep it tight at the back then we should win. Wigan do have a decent attack however so it won't be easy to keep a clean sheet unless Ash and co are totally focused but as long as we score more than them we'll all be happy.
http://www.byfarthegreatestteam.com...-swansea-vs-kones-attacking-impact-for-wigan/ Some stats for todays game , please note Mr Laudrup
No Moore, no Graham. False 9 and I am guessing its Michu up front. This is a Plan B!!! Or the new Plan A? Tons of talent on the field today. ..................SWANSEA................... .....................Vorm..................... Rangel.......Chico........Williams.....Davies ..............deGuzmani........Britton............. Hernandez.......Ki...............Routledge .......................Michu................. Who knows how we will line up in midfield
Bold team selection for Laudrup, would have like Moore to be given a start. I do like the look of it mind though.
