Will_Shahane
Vital Squad Member
A win against Sheffield Wednesday in the first match of the campaign, instilled a feel good factor and sense of joy that had been absent during the majority of our previous two seasons in this league. Our approach to the game epitomised the bravery and attack mindedness that had resulted in our title win the year beforehand, and everyone played their part in a truly eye-catching victory.
This triumph would come to signify the beginning of a fantastic start to the season for ourselves, and was followed up by another solid performance against Aston Villa. Despite the relative inexperience of the squad, they generally coped with the challenge of playing at a ground as potentially daunting as Villa Park with aplomb. The players were desperately unlucky to come away from the game with nothing, after Bjarnason scored a 94th minute winner for Steve Bruce's men. Nevertheless, this did not appear to deplete morale, with the Latics putting in another entertaining and positive display against Nottingham Forest at home. Yet again, however, the players were unable to obtain the result that the performance merited, with several golden opportunities spurned in the first half, and a contentious penalty in the latter stages, gifting the Reds a point. Nonetheless, one of the performances of the season against Stoke at the Britannia, followed by more positive results against Rotherham, Hull and Bristol City, took us to 3rd position by 29th September, with hopes of the playoffs not discreditable.
Yet our several weaknesses, which would come to limit the position that we could attain, and at least partially result in our dire period of form throughout the middle of the season, were already being manifested. Walton's inability to command his area with confidence and effectivity had been clear for all to see in the Villa game, and would lead to his eventually being dropped in January. Our tendency to concede late in games had been seen in the Forest, Villa, and Wednesday matches. The lack of a reliable, proven goalscorer at this level was already beginning to show by September, a month in which we scored just 4 goals (just one of which was by a striker), compared to the 11 notched up in August. Our heads seemed to drop when the opposition scored first; in the five occasions that this occurred in the first two months of the season, we went on to lose the game. The humiliation of the Preston fiasco in early October, and the consequent evaporation of early season momentum, precipitated a run of form that would result in these fragilities becoming more exposed as the season progressed.
Barring a few isolated performances, our form deteriorated to an extent that few could have imagined following the brilliant opening to the campaign. 5 wins in 5 months, 23 points out of a possible 87, 0 wins in 15 away games between the Preston away and Norwich home games, all paint the same uninspiring picture, and led to Cook's win ratio temporarily falling below that of the worst Wigan manager I've ever known, in Warren Joyce. Cook's tactics were often questionable, as were the levels of motivation, effort and positivity from the players. Our record-breakingly poor away form included losses in 6-pointers such as the Reading, and Millwall matches, not to mention a defeat at Portman Road, which was arguably the worst display of the season. The sale of a club icon in Will Grigg created a feeling of unrest from certain fans, that further contributed towards the dissipation of the early season unity and feel good factor, and injuries to key players such as Jacobs and Powell exacerbated the dire nature of both performances and results. Several, including myself, feared that relegation was on the cards, and calls for Cook's dismissal heightened in intensity as the underwhelming displays continued throughout the first 4 months of 2019. The aforementioned weaknesses had well and truly come to the fore.
Nevertheless, all would work out in the end. A battling and determined display against a Norwich side brimming with confidence and quality, and with the best striker in the league in Teemu Pukki, was a stark contrast to the lack of fighting spirit and courage demonstrated in most of the matches in 2019, and in the final 2 months of 2018. Had it not been for a lapse in concentration from the defence, or a debatable adjudgment by the linesman in the last minute, we could well have taken all 3 points from that match. This would have been no mean feat; Norwich had gained 22 points from their last 24 games, and had lost just 1 match in the whole of 2019. Yet the main highlight was to come just 5 days later, in the Leeds game. A quintessential Latics performance; it exemplified Wigan's unusual tendency to pull of the unexpected, and went a significant way towards ruining Leeds' automatic promotion chances; all but securing our safety.
Further encouraging performances against Preston, Birmingham, and Millwall, meant that our season ended on a high, leaving us with cause for excitement going into the next campaign. A number of players had seemed to show drastic improvement since the beginning of the season; namely Robinson, Naismith, Byrne and James (the latter three most likely due to a change into their more natural position), and Walton appeared to have come back stronger following his break from the side; this was a testament to his character. Further cause for optimism came in the form of Joe Gelhardt's and Charlie Jolley's lively displays against Birmingham and Millwall respectively, indicating a wealth of young talent in the academy, that could hopefully save us money in the future.
Anyway, l hope you enjoyed reading this. Let me know your own views on our season, if you disagree with anything, and your ideas on what we may need to do to improve going into the following campaign.
This triumph would come to signify the beginning of a fantastic start to the season for ourselves, and was followed up by another solid performance against Aston Villa. Despite the relative inexperience of the squad, they generally coped with the challenge of playing at a ground as potentially daunting as Villa Park with aplomb. The players were desperately unlucky to come away from the game with nothing, after Bjarnason scored a 94th minute winner for Steve Bruce's men. Nevertheless, this did not appear to deplete morale, with the Latics putting in another entertaining and positive display against Nottingham Forest at home. Yet again, however, the players were unable to obtain the result that the performance merited, with several golden opportunities spurned in the first half, and a contentious penalty in the latter stages, gifting the Reds a point. Nonetheless, one of the performances of the season against Stoke at the Britannia, followed by more positive results against Rotherham, Hull and Bristol City, took us to 3rd position by 29th September, with hopes of the playoffs not discreditable.
Yet our several weaknesses, which would come to limit the position that we could attain, and at least partially result in our dire period of form throughout the middle of the season, were already being manifested. Walton's inability to command his area with confidence and effectivity had been clear for all to see in the Villa game, and would lead to his eventually being dropped in January. Our tendency to concede late in games had been seen in the Forest, Villa, and Wednesday matches. The lack of a reliable, proven goalscorer at this level was already beginning to show by September, a month in which we scored just 4 goals (just one of which was by a striker), compared to the 11 notched up in August. Our heads seemed to drop when the opposition scored first; in the five occasions that this occurred in the first two months of the season, we went on to lose the game. The humiliation of the Preston fiasco in early October, and the consequent evaporation of early season momentum, precipitated a run of form that would result in these fragilities becoming more exposed as the season progressed.
Barring a few isolated performances, our form deteriorated to an extent that few could have imagined following the brilliant opening to the campaign. 5 wins in 5 months, 23 points out of a possible 87, 0 wins in 15 away games between the Preston away and Norwich home games, all paint the same uninspiring picture, and led to Cook's win ratio temporarily falling below that of the worst Wigan manager I've ever known, in Warren Joyce. Cook's tactics were often questionable, as were the levels of motivation, effort and positivity from the players. Our record-breakingly poor away form included losses in 6-pointers such as the Reading, and Millwall matches, not to mention a defeat at Portman Road, which was arguably the worst display of the season. The sale of a club icon in Will Grigg created a feeling of unrest from certain fans, that further contributed towards the dissipation of the early season unity and feel good factor, and injuries to key players such as Jacobs and Powell exacerbated the dire nature of both performances and results. Several, including myself, feared that relegation was on the cards, and calls for Cook's dismissal heightened in intensity as the underwhelming displays continued throughout the first 4 months of 2019. The aforementioned weaknesses had well and truly come to the fore.
Nevertheless, all would work out in the end. A battling and determined display against a Norwich side brimming with confidence and quality, and with the best striker in the league in Teemu Pukki, was a stark contrast to the lack of fighting spirit and courage demonstrated in most of the matches in 2019, and in the final 2 months of 2018. Had it not been for a lapse in concentration from the defence, or a debatable adjudgment by the linesman in the last minute, we could well have taken all 3 points from that match. This would have been no mean feat; Norwich had gained 22 points from their last 24 games, and had lost just 1 match in the whole of 2019. Yet the main highlight was to come just 5 days later, in the Leeds game. A quintessential Latics performance; it exemplified Wigan's unusual tendency to pull of the unexpected, and went a significant way towards ruining Leeds' automatic promotion chances; all but securing our safety.
Further encouraging performances against Preston, Birmingham, and Millwall, meant that our season ended on a high, leaving us with cause for excitement going into the next campaign. A number of players had seemed to show drastic improvement since the beginning of the season; namely Robinson, Naismith, Byrne and James (the latter three most likely due to a change into their more natural position), and Walton appeared to have come back stronger following his break from the side; this was a testament to his character. Further cause for optimism came in the form of Joe Gelhardt's and Charlie Jolley's lively displays against Birmingham and Millwall respectively, indicating a wealth of young talent in the academy, that could hopefully save us money in the future.
Anyway, l hope you enjoyed reading this. Let me know your own views on our season, if you disagree with anything, and your ideas on what we may need to do to improve going into the following campaign.
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