wigan v city official match thread

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Santa Cruz jogs around like he is on fucking holiday.

has he done anything for US this season?

Don't know but he will win you those tight away games at Wigan.

Anything for a dig.

We had 10 men. Away from home.

But I suppose if we had a three pronged attack of Ade, Tevez and RSC supported by Ireland, Petrov and SWP and then conceded on the break you would have been chuffed cause at least we went for it?

We wouldn't have been down to 10 men if Hughes had set team positively and encouraged them to play positive football and not get involved when Wigan inevitable try get rough with us.

Is that what you really think or should we wait till the emotion of the game has gone to get your considered view?

I think the 10 men situation was a simple mistake by Zabba in attempting a challenge he shouldn't have done being on a yellow. Also seemed to me that the team was set up positively with 2 up front and 2 attacking wide men. That's positive isn't it. Shame is that quite a few didn't play well on the day.

[david yearsley]

We wouldn't have been down to 10 men if Hughes had set team positively and encouraged them to play positive football and not get involved when Wigan inevitable try get rough with us.

Sorry mate but I don´t get that - Wigan are a very big , athletic, strong and awkward side and I´ve always believed you have to EARN the right to play - Wigan are not just gonna let anyone do that although it´s important as ever to get the first goal which we didn´t today

[citytilidie]

i think its simple that ireland needs to start

[The Original Special One]

Santa Cruz jogs around like he is on fucking holiday.

has he done anything for US this season?

Don't know but he will win you those tight away games at Wigan.

Bit harsh given he had 10 minutes in which to do anything - and we only had 10 men.

Wasn't impressed with his half arsed jogging around though, he still doesn't look match fit.

well, he DID give away the ball very sloppily in midfield which but for a rare timely interception by Lescott would surely have led to a goal for them

[Tokyo Blue]

Behave, no way was that a penalty. If that had been given against us there would have been uproar on here.

did he get the ball then?

I thought so. He did pull SWP back with his arm but that was way outside the area. a good five or ten yards outside. But that was the only way he was ever going to win the ball so I'd have given City a free-kick.

I am quite disappointed with Zabaleta. No tactical nous whatsoever. Leaving the fact that he was on a yellow card aside, in that position he should be looking to force Scotland wide, not diving in on him. Absolutely dreadful defending.

A right-back with a brain in January, I think.

Given the circumstances (ten men, injuries before and during the game) I am fairly happy with a point.

[Beefymcfc]

Starting the game minus argueably our 2 biggest performers of the season, away from home to a Wigan side who actually can play football, whilst going down to 10 men and losing our talismanic centre striker to injury and to a real Bogey team; well, I think I'll be happy with a point thank you very much!

The team realistically picked itself today and I was expecting a win prior to the sending off of Zab. Shame the little Argie seems to have a rush of blood just when I'm feeling good. Is it like a disease thing, and Dunney passed it on when Zab arrived?

[Somerset Blue]

Interestingly, a lot of people on here thought we would struggle against Wigan and they were right. Poor performance. Zab's first yellow definitely wasn't, but he should have got over that and not made that challenge that rightly got him send off - there was a certain inevitability to the whole thing. We just didn't look like we were up for it today. So, a point gained on a couple of rivals, two points dropped to others. I'm inclined to look at it as two points lost.

[Grob]

Shame.

Zabalettas first booking was a poor decision. The second one was moronic from the player. Deserves dropping for that. Cost us dearly.

SWP was fouled and it was a pen.

How the ball did not drop to Tevez or Ade after the Barry header was unfathomable.

Considering we didnt play well, had a player sent off, our main striker took a knock in the game and our form player and captain did not play, thats not a bad point.

We must get better for next week.

Special mention to Niall's contribution to this thread. Hugely enjoyable

[Original Dub]

Hardly suprising the usual doom mongers are doing their bit... well one is!

NQDP you won't ever be taken seriously if you keep this shit up. First of all you say we were set up 'negatively'. That set up was FAR from negative, just like it was far from negative against West Ham. Why can't you just be realistic and say that although the team was set up in the right way, we underperformed in the first half and looked far better in the second half until one player made a ridiculous decision which gave the momentum back to Wigan.

It was a real shame that Zabba did what he did because HE cost us the 3 points, not fucking mark hughes.

I've actually never heard you blame the players' performance, bad refereeing or bad luck for not getting the result we all hoped for. It is ALWAYS the manager or the way he 'set the team up'.

Yet when we win you talk about the players' performance, good refereeing and how the luck was with us.

I don't want a fucking hughes out debate by any means but its farcical to blame the manager for us ending up with ten fucking men. Zabaletta put us in the precarious position we found ourselves in. Alan Wiley kept us in that position by not awarding a DEFINITE penalty and second yellow card for Thomas.

We would then have been 2-1 up playing an equal amount of men.

I have stated FACTS there.

Will you please do me the courtesy of directly addressing these facts because it might help explain your rants so that they don't seem as much of a blatant bias against Hughes?

[10.Goater_Legend]

In January we really need to go into the market for a top class RB imo. I think Zaba's up for it don't get me wrong, but having another RB will make Zaba even better. Micah to me is a liability, he did alright today but I think his days maybe numbered with City.

As for the result, It looked to me like we could of gone on and scored another 2 goals untill Zaba went off, then we had to play very deep with 10 men. Personally would have taken Petrov of rather than Tevez as he looked very dangerous on the break. All in all two points droped tbh but we would have lost that last season and had some of our best players out through injury aswell as going down to ten men, so not that bad a result, it will do.

We still need an improvement in all round performances on the road though.

[10.Goater_Legend]

Hardly suprising the usual doom mongers are doing their bit... well one is!

NQDP you won't ever be taken seriously if you keep this shit up. First of all you say we were set up 'negatively'. That set up was FAR from negative, just like it was far from negative against West Ham. Why can't you just be realistic and say that although the team was set up in the right way, we underperformed in the first half and looked far better in the second half until one player made a ridiculous decision which gave the momentum back to Wigan.

It was a real shame that Zabba did what he did because HE cost us the 3 points, not fucking mark hughes.

I've actually never heard you blame the players' performance, bad refereeing or bad luck for not getting the result we all hoped for. It is ALWAYS the manager or the way he 'set the team up'.

Yet when we win you talk about the players' performance, good refereeing and how the luck was with us.

I don't want a fucking hughes out debate by any means but its farcical to blame the manager for us ending up with ten fucking men. Zabaletta put us in the precarious position we found ourselves in. Alan Wiley kept us in that position by not awarding a DEFINITE penalty and second yellow card for Thomas.

We would then have been 2-1 up playing an equal amount of men.

I have stated FACTS there.

Will you please do me the courtesy of directly addressing these facts because it might help explain your rants so that they don't seem as much of a blatant bias against Hughes?

Good post, agree that Zaba cost us the three points today.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Anything for a dig.

We had 10 men. Away from home.

But I suppose if we had a three pronged attack of Ade, Tevez and RSC supported by Ireland, Petrov and SWP and then conceded on the break you would have been chuffed cause at least we went for it?

We wouldn't have been down to 10 men if Hughes had set team positively and encouraged them to play positive football and not get involved when Wigan inevitable try get rough with us.

Is that what you really think or should we wait till the emotion of the game has gone to get your considered view?

I think the 10 men situation was a simple mistake by Zabba in attempting a challenge he shouldn't have done being on a yellow. Also seemed to me that the team was set up positively with 2 up front and 2 attacking wide men. That's positive isn't it. Shame is that quite a few didn't play well on the day.

No. That's not positive. Having no players in the middle of the park attacking and generally having only 4 players attacking. Unless I ended up in time machine and woke up in year 1984.

I know Hughes is your best mate but when we are set up negatively, you shouldn't be tryong to claim otherwise.

Oh, and being happy with a point at Wigan with side worth 200m is losers mentality imo. Something I thought we were trying to erase.

[Original Dub]

Anything for a dig.

We had 10 men. Away from home.

But I suppose if we had a three pronged attack of Ade, Tevez and RSC supported by Ireland, Petrov and SWP and then conceded on the break you would have been chuffed cause at least we went for it?

We wouldn't have been down to 10 men if Hughes had set team positively and encouraged them to play positive football and not get involved when Wigan inevitable try get rough with us.

Is that what you really think or should we wait till the emotion of the game has gone to get your considered view?

I think the 10 men situation was a simple mistake by Zabba in attempting a challenge he shouldn't have done being on a yellow. Also seemed to me that the team was set up positively with 2 up front and 2 attacking wide men. That's positive isn't it. Shame is that quite a few didn't play well on the day.

No. That's not positive. Having no players in the middle of the park attacking and generally having only 4 players attacking. Unless I ended up in time machine and woke up in year 1984.

I know Hughes is your best mate but when we are set up negatively, you shouldn't be tryong to claim otherwise.

Oh, and being happy with a point at Wigan with side worth 200m is losers mentality imo. Something I thought we were trying to erase.

You're funny.

[shawzy]

Santa Cruz jogs around like he is on fucking holiday.

has he done anything for US this season?

Don't know but he will win you those tight away games at Wigan.

Anything for a dig.

We had 10 men. Away from home.

But I suppose if we had a three pronged attack of Ade, Tevez and RSC supported by Ireland, Petrov and SWP and then conceded on the break you would have been chuffed cause at least we went for it?

We wouldn't have been down to 10 men if Hughes had set team positively and encouraged them to play positive football and not get involved when Wigan inevitable try get rough with us.

Fookin hilarious.You will blame our boss for anythin wont you...Giv me some of that wacky backy your havin

[Douglas Higginbottom]

OK it looks like we will have to wait until you calm down and can think straight. Having 2 attacking wide men does not mean we are only attacking with 4 players! I think Barry was in the box quite a lot, and we saw Zabba and Bridge in support of the front line whenever possible. The plan is to attack as a team and defend as one. Unfortunately we are not playing great as a team yet apart from some good spells which don't last long enough.

I actually thought after we scored , although still not playing great ,it felt like we would go on and win until Zabba made his mistake.

[Original Dub]

He's our resident comedian at this stage.

[Grob]

No. That's not positive. Having no players in the middle of the park attacking and generally having only 4 players attacking. Unless I ended up in time machine and woke up in year 1984.

I know Hughes is your best mate but when we are set up negatively, you shouldn't be tryong to claim otherwise.

Oh, and being happy with a point at Wigan with side worth 200m is losers mentality imo. Something I thought we were trying to erase.

At least that makes Chelsea bigger losers than us.

Wait, but theyre currently second?

Confused

And how can a team with Adebayor, Tevez, SWP, and Petrov in it away from home be described as having a negative setup?

Surreal

[Kyle]

Now I wouldn't describe us as being set up as negative, but like I said at half, I agree with NQDP that we needed someone in the middle of the park. Barry and De Jong were not coming forward in the middle and that space did hurt us today, as it did against Villa. Notice exactly where Petrov was on his goal, arguably one of a few good chances and he took the strike exactly in the middle of the park where we should have had Ireland or Tevez. A 4-2-3-1 does make much better use of all the open areas on the pitch. Now i'm not putting all the blame on Hughes, but whenever we have played 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 we have gotten better results.

[Grob]

I actually thought after we scored , although still not playing great ,it felt like we would go on and win until Zabba made his mistake.

Your not on your own Doug. Everyone else also felt and feels that way.

[10.Goater_Legend]

I think saying we weren't positive today is amazing tbh lets look at the line up we played...

Zaba - Full back who gets forward
Richards - Obviously stays back as a centre-half
Lescott - Same as Richards
Bridge - Full back who gets forward
de Jong - defensive as it's his job to pretect the back 4
Barry - Box to box midfielder
Petrov - Very direct winger
SWP - Bombs into the oppisition box (very nearly got us a pen doing so)
Tevez - World-class forward
Adebayor - World-class target man

So by my rekoning that's 3 players today who's all round game was meant to be defensive ("negative") and protect the goalkeeper and not get forward as much as the other boys.

We played a very positive line-up today, Zaba getting sent off fucked it up and that was the only time we had to go "negative" with Kompany coming on.