Rotherham

[Will_Shahane]

It was more to do with my expectation. He was no better than how Evans would have played. There seemed to be a lot of space in midfield. I thought defensively we was sound especially dealing with those long throws into the box and up front appeared to be threatening. I also thought James was not as effective in midfield.

Yeah he didn't do anything special, but maybe it's a little harsh to expect him to come in and hit the ground running from the very first game? I think he'll get better.

As for Pilkington, he was absent in the first half but I was very impressed with the link-up play he had with Jacobs and Windass. I actually thought those three moved the ball really well between them and created opportunities where it seemed sure they'd get crowded out by Rotherham defenders. In my opinion, if we'd done that all game rather than continually trying to play the long ball only for Windass to be called off-side several times, we'd have had a much better chance than winning.

 

[OnLoanfromEnfield]

Cheap tickets and a lovely stadium probably compensated for the dire football today. Head tennis and Wigan lumping it forward instead of controlling the tempo of the game. The players once again deliberately ignoring the manager's tactics at an away match .......... 3 Wigan players were ignoring the manager's tactics, decided not to bother defending corners and stood on the half way line.... fines all round for that !

Quite impressed with (wrong player edit) Will Vaulks long throw ins ... superior to William Kvist's sterling efforts. Far more accurate than a corner. With better players, Rotherham could possibly have done something more with them.
Jamie Jones falling on his rs but got stuck in and coming off his line for the 50/50 balls was good to see. Kicking went a bit wonky at times though. Nathan Byrne having the same problem as well.
Thought Reece James might pull off a Jermaine Pennant but it was nowhere near either of those two quality free kicks.

Leon Clarke's performance harking back to early 2015 ... poor. His delicate control of the football with his shin (and out for their throw in) probably the highlight of his match.

No Nick Powell, Lee Evans down with flu, Michael Jacobs having an off day, a young midfield plus Wigan playing with ten men didn't help the cause.
Beni Baningime was probably scratching his head thinking ... we never play this dog poo at the Everton Academy (or in the first team). To me, he looked well out of the game for long periods and along with lazy boy ... we looked like we had 10 men on the pitch at times.

Highlights
https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/11632708/rotherham-1-1-wigan

 

[Hampton]

Cheap tickets and a lovely stadium probably compensated for the dire football today. Head tennis and Wigan lumping it forward instead of controlling the tempo of the game. The players once again deliberately ignoring the manager's tactics at an away match .......... 3 Wigan players were ignoring the manager's tactics, decided not to bother defending corners and stood on the half way line.... fines all round for that !

Quite impressed with Jon Taylor's long throw ins ... superior to William Kvist's sterling efforts. Far more accurate than a corner and with better players, Rotherham could possibly have done something with them.
Jamie Jones getting falling on his rs but getting stuck in and coming off his line for the 50/50 balls was good to see. Kicking went a bit wonky at times though. Nathan Byrne having the same problem as well.
Though Reece James might pull off a Jermaine Pennant but it was nowhere near either of those two quality free kicks.

Leon Clarke's performance harking back to early 2015 ... poor. His delicate control of the football with his shin (and out for their throw in) probably the highlight of his match.

No Nick Powell, Lee Evans down with flu, Michael Jacobs having an off day, a young midfield plus Wigan playing with ten men didn't help the cause.
Beni Baningime was probably scratching his head thinking ... we never play this dog poo at the Everton Academy (or in the first team). To me, he looked well out of the game for long periods and along with lazy boy ... we looked like we had 10 men on the pitch at times.

Highlights
https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/11632708/rotherham-1-1-wigan

Which 3 are up for a fine OLFE ?

 

[Lazysid]

Which 3 are up for a fine OLFE ?

Pilks, Windass & Jacobs.

 

[walgarthjohn]

No matter what any one on here says . It is the worse away record in our history and its not somthing to be proud of ..... Knowing us we will win at LEEDS

 

[HudWiganFan]

If you say so Grip.

Personally I want capable, competent players in the team. If you want to see us persist with a league two winger who can't defend at full back, ahead of an international full back then we can only be thankful you don't select the team. If he's match fit he should play.

League Two winger despite being the best crosser of a ball we’ve had since Beausejour? That’s a new one for the Naismith case file.

Meanwhile, Evans, James and Byrne get weekly passes and stamps of approval despite shanking about 10-15 over-hit crosses combined into the stands every game. ?‍

I like all three of those players very much, it’s just a shame that you seem to cover your eyes or turn the other way whenever one of their deliveries sails hopelessly out of play. I wish you held them to the same rigorous disciplinary standards you do the resident Scot in the squad.

 

[Made in Wigan]

League Two winger despite being the best crosser of a ball we’ve had since Beausejour? That’s a new one for the Naismith case file.

Meanwhile, Evans, James and Byrne get weekly passes and stamps of approval despite shanking about 10-15 over-hit crosses combined into the stands every game. ?‍

I like all three of those players very much, it’s just a shame that you seem to cover your eyes or turn the other way whenever one of their deliveries sails hopelessly out of play. I wish you held them to the same rigorous disciplinary standards you do the resident Scot in the squad.

Strange how I haven't even mentioned your little chum today yet you see fit to bring him up. You may want to read my synopsis of the Bolton game to find out what I think about Byrnes crossing. My opinion of evans isnt exactly high either. Of course however you can't acknowledge that I try to provide balance views and that doesn't satisfy your steadfast defence of your man despite evidence to the contrary. As per others observations, as you ask, he was once again shite today, particularly in the first half.

 

[Adgjlzcbm]

Fuck me Cook,get a grip .

Don't think Paul Cook will oblige.
And does he know where Grip has disappeared to?

 

[king_dezeeuw06]

In my 20 years watching Latics i don't think I've seen a game where the ball was on the floor less than today. Neither team made any real attempt to even try and play football. Horrendous game for a neutral - two awful sides bad enough to deserve to go down from L1 let alone the Championship on that showing. If we hadn't had the Windass moment of brilliance against the run of play we may never have scored and they'd have been booed off for an otherwise identical performance. It was one of the worst performances of the season but Rotherham were also so bad we weren't shown up like we should have been.

To be fair to Rotherham they lack quality but to compete they try and make themselves physically difficult to play against in the classic Stoke style and they have built their team to be long ball monsters. It may not be pretty but there is clear method to it. Feel sorry for their fans though as it's not football. They are unorthodox and I can see them being awkward to play against if you try to play their way but they were wide open on the rare occasion we attacked. But overall they had more energy and urgency and a game plan.

While us on the other hand - we have a team incapable of playing long ball effectively but just do it anyway and nullify our strengths. If Warne could've written the Wigan game plan to give Rotherham the best chance of winning he'd have told them to play Cooks tactics today. Utterly insane to play completely to the oppositions strengths and your own weaknesses and avoid playing to your strengths and their weaknesses. Cook says we could get our own game going - because im not sure we even tried to pass the ball out from the back once in 90 mins. But you could see on the rare occasion we tried to pass the ball on the deck in their final third we ripped through them so easily - they were there for the taking if we weren't hell bent at trying to beat them at their own game. Tactically it was beggars belief with zero attempt to change it from our coaching staff. Either they did as Cook says and his instructions are awful or he has zero idea how to get them to do what he wants - either way it's concerning. Come the end of the season if think even if we stay up questions will need to be asked.

Every throwin was like a corner with them committing every player in and around our box and as we kept pumping it clear it kept coming back so it was like what I imagine a Rotherham attack vs defence training session looked like. Strangely on corners we kept 3 men up field which meant they had to leave 4 back so it worked in that sense but we never managed to look to break with them and bizarrely didn't apply the same approach on throws and we brought all 11 men back allowing them to have 9 in our box nd two just outside.

Ref was dodgy gave them everything, ruined our advantages and generally gave minor infringements against us but missed blatently fouls by Rotherham. The linesman on our end was also really poor couple of occasions he flagged us inexplicably. I know officiating is a hard job but some of the calls today were mind boggling.

Jones had to be alert and saved us numerous times today by being so quick to react to potential threats. But when he first got in he was starting breaks by throwing the ball out and trying to pass out all that good stuff went in the bin today. Every time he collected the ball he allowed Rotherham to all get back into position before hoofing it and losing posession. Why has he changed?

Byrne defended well and when he got in their half tried to play a bit.

Dunkley it was all battle and head tennis for him which suits him and he did very well.

Fox was doing really well getting up to beat their 6'6 striker Smith but went off injured. To be fair it was the type of game that suits Kipre as it did Dunkley so he did very well too and pulled out some tricks in the opposition box you wouldn't think he had.

Naismith was targeted in the first half and really exposed badly and easily could have cost us with his mistakes. Improved in the second half and put in 2 decent crosses we came close to scoring from. Fair play to him for getting to grips with Taylor in the second half but that first half he was a liability. Really needed a left back in January. Maybe Fox needs to go there with Dunks and Kipre in the middle.

James had the ball kicked over his head back and fourth constantly missing him out but when he did get the ball he was the one with enough composure to try and get some passing going rather than just launch it. He was great but we just didn't get the ball to him anywhere enough.

Beni looked like a kid lost and way out of his depth for most of the game, looked weak, didn't want he ball and lacked urgency to close people down or anticipation to win second balls. Was quite suprised he was so poor for his hype - looked not much better than Connelly. But last 15 mins or so seemed to improve a bit and it made a difference but it was a bit too little too late. Not an impressive debut unfortunately. Where James in 19 and looks and playslike a man Beni at 20 looks and plays like a kid. Hopefully he can improve as he will need to.

Jacobs had a really quiet game didn't help ball was kicked over his head constantly rather than fed to feet to run with.

Pilkington every time he got the ball he tried to play it rather than hoof it. Decent cross for Clarke and came closest to scoring when ball take off his head at last second at back post. But just didn't get enough of the ball.

Windass showed both sides if his game today the skill, movement and pace to hurt teams and the powder puff physicality that is so frustrating. Time and time again rather than even attempt to challenge for a ball he just let their centre half have it without challenge or just did a really soft foul - anything but try to win the ball. He desperetly needs to man up a bit - I'm not expecting him to be a bruiser like his dad as it's not his game but he's got to at least attempt to challenge for these balls when they come his way. Good to see him get another goal and he has by far the best movement off the ball. Work in progress but he is getting better.

Clarke was feeding off scraps out numbered and not able to win the long balls but to be fair most long balls went nowhere near him they were so inaccurate. Worked harder than he did last week but we gave him zero service.

Massey came on to waste time so can't comment on him.

Overall 2 points lost in a game there for the taking but the way we approached it meant we were lucky to get a draw. Think we were playing for a draw and never really went for a win - it's pointless going away with that mentality. We had a chance to pull clear we didn't really look like we wanted to take it. The defence will know they were in a battle and credit to them for dealing with at times relentless pressure but it was a poor display as a team.

Rotherham will feel worse than us with the result but the draw did feel like a loss to me to be honest. It was just so bad - we tried to play a little bit at the end and could've won it if we'd have shown any real intentions all game and made them worry about us rather than just drop to their level. We could've maybe pulled to the edge of safety. But as is the story of our away form all season too much negative long ball rubbish. Fortune favours the brave and away from home we are cowardly.

 

[Will_Shahane]

Off the topic of the match itself, but did anyone see the kids playing a match on the right hand side of the away stand? I thought a few of them looked very decent with the ball! Was tempted to ask Cook to get one of them on the pitch .

 

[walgarthjohn]

He is not a full back and never be one as long as as a hole in his /////// leauge 2 player at best . And to give him a three year contract he must be good at golf

 

[Will_Shahane]

In my 20 years watching Latics i don't think I've seen a game where the ball was on the floor less than today. Neither team made any real attempt to even try and play football. Horrendous game for a neutral - two awful sides bad enough to deserve to go down from L1 let alone the Championship on that showing. If we hadn't had the Windass moment of brilliance against the run of play we may never have scored and they'd have been booed off for an otherwise identical performance. It was one of the worst performances of the season but Rotherham were also so bad we weren't shown up like we should have been.

To be fair to Rotherham they lack quality but to compete they try and make themselves physically difficult to play against in the classic Stoke style and they have built their team to be long ball monsters. It may not be pretty but there is clear method to it. Feel sorry for their fans though as it's not football.

While us on the other hand - we have a team incapable of playing long ball effectively but just do it anyway and nullify our strengths. If Warne could've written the Wigan game plan to give Rotherham the best chance of winning he'd have told them to play Cooks tactics today. Utterly insane to play completely to the oppositions strengths and your own weaknesses and avoid playing to your strengths and their weaknesses. Cook says we could get our own game going - because im not sure we even tried to pass the ball out from the back once in 90 mins. But you could see on the rare occasion we tried to pass the ball on the deck in their final third we ripped through them so easily - they were there for the taking if we weren't hell bent at trying to beat them at their own game. Tactically it was beggars belief with zero attempt to change it from our coaching staff. Either they did as Cook says and his instructions are awful or he has zero idea how to get them to do what he wants - either way it's concerning. Come the end of the season if think even if we stay up questions will need to be asked.

Every throwin was like a corner with them committing every player in and around our box and as we kept pumping it clear it kept coming back so it was like what I imagine a Rotherham attack vs defence training session looked like. Strangely on corners we kept 3 men up field which meant they had to leave 4 back so it worked in that sense but we never managed to look to break with them and bizarrely didn't apply the same approach on throws and we brought all 11 men back allowing them to have 9 in our box nd two just outside.

Ref was dodgy gave them everything, ruined our advantages and generally gave minor infringements against us but missed blatently fouls by Rotherham. The linesman on our end was also really poor couple of occasions he flagged us inexplicably. I know officiating is a hard job but some of the calls today were mind boggling.

Jones had to be alert and saved us numerous times today by being so quick to react to potential threats. But when he first got in he was starting breaks by throwing the ball out and trying to pass out all that good stuff went in the bin today. Every time he collected the ball he allowed Rotherham to all get back into position before hoofing it and losing posession. Why has he changed?

Byrne defended well and when he got in their half tried to play a bit.

Dunkley it was all battle and head tennis for him which suits him and he did very well.

Fox was doing really well getting up to beat their 6'6 striker Smith but went off injured. To be fair it was the type of game that suits Kipre as it did Dunkley so he did very well too and pulled out some tricks in the opposition box you wouldn't think he had.

Naismith was targeted in the first half and really exposed badly and easily could have cost us with his mistakes. Improved in the second half and put in 2 decent crosses we came close to scoring from. Fair play to him for getting to grips with Taylor in the second half but that first half he was a liability.

James had the ball kicked over his head back and fourth constantly missing him out but when he did get the ball he was the one with enough composure to try and get some passing going rather than just launch it. He was great but we just didn't get the ball to him anywhere enough.

Beni looked like a kid lost and way out of his depth for most of the game, looked weak, didn't want he ball and lacked urgency to close people down or anticipation to win second balls. Was quite suprised he was so poor for his hype - looked not much better than Connelly. But last 15 mins or so seemed to improve a bit and it made a difference but it was a bit too little too late. Not an impressive debut unfortunately. Where James in 19 and looks and playslike a man Beni at 20 looks and plays like a kid. Hopefully he can improve as he will need to.

Jacobs had a really quiet game didn't help ball was kicked over his head constantly rather than fed to feet to run with.

Pilkington every time he got the ball he tried to play it rather than hoof it. Decent cross for Clarke and came closest to scoring when ball take off his head at last second at back post.

Windass showed both sides if his game today the skill, movement and pace to hurt teams and the powder puff physicality that is so frustrating. Time and time again rather than even attempt to challenge for a ball he just let their centre half have it without challenge or just did a really soft foul - anything but try to win the ball. He desperetly needs to man up a bit - I'm not expecting him to be a bruiser like his dad as it's not his game but he's got to at least attempt to challenge for these balls when they come his way. Good to see him get another goal and he has by far the best movement off the ball. Work in progress but he is getting better.

Clarke was feeding off scraps out numbered and not able to win the long balls but to be fair most long balls went nowhere near him they were so inaccurate. Worked harder than he did last week but we gave him zero service.

Massey came on to waste time so can't comment on him.

Overall 2 points lost in a game there for the taking but the way we approached it meant we were lucky to get a draw. Think we were playing for a draw and never really went for a win - it's pointless going away with that mentality. We a chance to pull clear we didn't really look like we could be bothered to take.

Rotherham will feel worse than us with the result but the draw did feel like a loss to me to be honest. It was just so bad - we tried to play a little bit at the end and could've won it, if we'd have shown any real intentions all game and made them worry about us rather than just drop to their level we could've maybe pulled to the edge of safety. But as is the story of our away form all season negative long ball rubbish. Fortune favours the brave and away from home we are cowardly.

Still not sleeping in her cot King ??

Fair points with Baningime, admittedly he didn’t look that strong and arguably didn’t look like he was too keen to be on the ball. I still don’t think he did anything to disgrace himself though and he looked fairly composed when he did get the ball. He made some decent tackles as well and it is his first game.

Yeah, Windass annoyed me today. I saw him back out of at least 3 tackles/headers that he could’ve attempted. To be honest I thought he could’ve put in more effort to stop them getting the cross in for their first goal as well. Excellent goal at the other end though so you can’t criticise too much.

Pilkington was our best non-defensive player today in my opinion.

Fox, like you say, looked in great form before the injury. Glad there’s no permanent damage.

I always think Naismith looks a threat going forward to be honest. He has some tricks in his locker, dribbled well, and can cross. It’s just when he has to defend that he gets caught out, but understandably so as that’s not his natural position. It may sound controversial and I may be wrong, but play him at winger and we’ve got a Championship level player there.

I’m not sure if Cook is the right man for the job anymore, to be honest. The tactics just aren’t working and there are no excuses now as we have the quality to play along the ground.

 

[Made in Wigan]

A few negative comments on the Everton kid. I don't disagree with them as he did look like a fish out of water. In his defence I doubt he'll have ever seen such a style of football in his life.

 

[exiled tic]

Another sniping comment, it's a thing eh ?
Maybe you would like to share some original thoughts or points once in a while so others could take a turn popping off a smug retort ?

Why is that sniping? He omits a team seven points behind us after his meticulous calculations to make the situation look worse than it is! So maybe it is him doing the sniping!!

 

[walgarthjohn]

Why is that sniping? He omits a team seven points behind us after his meticulous calculations to make the situation look worse than it is! So maybe it is h

Why is that sniping? He omits a team seven points behind us after his meticulous calculations to make the situation look worse than it is! So maybe it is him doing the sniping!!

like i keep saying every one to there own thoughts , I think Reading will get out of it

 

[Th10]

Decent point, if we’d actually gone for it I think we’d have won.

Cook seems to prefer more defensive minded central midfielders and wants to play 2 to allow our full backs can get forwards. I wish he’d just play with 1 sitting and allow a more creative to push on a bit. We are just becoming very predictable and direct. Perhaps Powell in there when he’s fit and allow Windass to carry on in the No.10 role?

 

[walgarthjohn]

Why is that sniping? He omits a team seven points behind us after his meticulous calculations to make the situation look worse than it is! So maybe it is him doing the sniping!!

Never mind some are happy with the away form Worse record in our history some thing Cook should be proud of

 

[walgarthjohn]

COOK saying Rotherham unplayable today for gods sake its Rotherham not Norwich

 

[exiled tic]

Never mind some are happy with the away form Worse record in our history some thing Cook should be proud of

No one is happy about our away form but also realise that we are in a position that the teams below would dream of!!Yes our away form needs to improve but thankfully our home form and the fact 4 teams are worse than us will see us through,and Cook said on Wednesday that the recruitment will be stepped up in the summer so we do have something to hope for!!

 

[walgarthjohn]

No one is happy about our away form but also realise that we are in a position that the teams below would dream of!!Yes our away form needs to improve but thankfully our home form and the fact 4 teams are worse than us will see us through,and Cook said on Wednesday that the recruitment will be stepped up in the summer so we do have something to hope for!!

hope your right