Wigan Athletic vs Bristol Rovers matchday thread.

I’ll be out in the garden pruning I expect .....

He's had hardly any time on the training ground to get to know the squad but I hope it's not safety first midfield stodge for the second away game on the trot against a bottom team. Garner's away record this season was better than his home record and I think he would have got a result at Swindon to pull us away from the danger zone. You can say what you like about his results but to me it was part and parcel of building a decent top half side going forward, a side that would yo-yo between mid table and bottom half while gelling but would not be serious relegation contenders. If bringing on defenders to release the wingbacks from their shackles when you have the likes of Westbrooke and Oztumer on the bench was Tisdale's statement of intent going forward then we're in for a torrid time.

Not confident with this match - we hardly ever win at Wigan.
However this is probably our best chance for a long time and so hopefully we won’t lose
1-1 for me

Bore draw.

Wigan 1 - 3 Rovers. Hanlan with an early strike and Sammy with two in the second half. Own goal by Ehmer for theirs.

So far Wigan have played 4-2-3-1 in 7 matches and 4-4-2 in 4 matches this season. They haven't had many goals however one to watch is Joe Garner with 3 so far (an experienced CF)

Joe Garner (2) , Lee Evans (1.9) & Kyle Joseph (1.7) take the most Shots per game
Gas comparison: Hanlan 1.8, Sam Nicholson 1.5 & Luke McCormick 1.4
Key passes per game for Wigan are low, they have come in from the midfield of Gary Roberts (1), Lee Evans (1), Matthew Palmer (1) & Viv Solomon-Otabor (1)
Gas comparison: Westbrooke 2.1 & Josh Hare 1.6
At the other end of the pitch Chris Merrie (2.7) and Tom James (2.4) have the most Tackles per game
Gas comparison: Cian Harries 2.2 , Alfie Kilgour 1.8 & Josh Grant 1.8
Clearances per game wise they have Nathan Cameron (6), Adam Long (4.8) and Daniel Fox (4.5)
Gas comparison: Cian Harries 5.8, Max Ehmer 4.8 & Jack Baldwin 4.6

*Please note - League stats only


+ Strengths

Protecting the lead

Strong


- Weaknesses

Finishing scoring chances

Weak

Defending against attacks down the wings

Weak

Stopping opponents from creating chances

Weak

Aerial duels

Weak


Right now I am a little unsettled.  I didn't expect to see Westbrooke on the bench in the last two games nor did I expect us not to use Ozzy against Swindon.  We seemed to want to go there with the sole purpose of not conceding a goal, so holding our wingbacks from bombing forward and playing a deep shielding midfield.  We did revert to a back four which might lead the way for this against Wigan.  I just hope we understand that these are the 'on paper' winnable games so blooming well treat them like it.

Formation wise... your guess is as good as mine - have picked my version of the 4-2-3-1 which i think PT is a fan of using.  This pick is more what I think we could see if we had a mix of experience and youth.


-----------------------Jaakkola-----------------------
---Hare------ Ehmer ----- Baldwin -----Tutonda----
----------Upson ------------ Westbrooke ------------
---Nicholson----------------------------McCormick---
-------------------Ozzy--------------------------------
-----------------------------Hanlan--------------------

So this is trying to fuse the experience with some youthful attacking element.  Hopefully playing Upson and Westbooke means that we might be able to pick a shorter pass with the willing runners ahead of them.  I have gone for Dave at RB but i think in that role any of the three could be good or bad.  I like the fact that Tutonda can drive the ball out so have picked him.

For what it is worth, Max Ehmer and Josh Grant are on 4 yellow cards and I think its 5 for 1 one match ban.  Haven't got a clue if this means we might save them for a 'harder' match or whether we take on each game as it comes and put the perceived best team out regardless.

What do you think? What would you do?

Not confident of getting a performance or result tonight, but if we don’t at least put out a lineup that shows intent to win the match then the alarm bells will be ringing for me.

Difficult to predict this one.... Under Garner, whilst his results this season were 'hit and miss', I did think we were progressing (albeit slowly) and my main criticism was that we weren't urgent enough or had enough penetration going forward, we tended to over pass it around at the back when there were times when a few passes at the back and a diagonal or quick through ball was on This made us to predictable and tended to allow the opposition to always get back into shape. But if he was still in charge I would be confident that we would win.

We're now under Tisdale who I do believe will end up being a good appointment (gut feel), but he hasn't had any real time with the squad and the players will probably still be unsettled with some trying too hard to impress (ending up making mistakes) and some unhappy with what has happened and some who will play cautiously as they don't want to make mistakes and find themselves out of the team. Obviously there will be those who had not featured who will be hoping for a second chance. Also Tisdale will have slightly different ideas to Garner and so will be trying to influence things but there may be some mental conflict in the players having been 'trained' a certain way / style. With all this in mind and it also being against a team who are fighting at the bottom, I'm predicting a scrappy game.

I'm hoping for a narrow win (can't see us spanking them) but I do think it will be a score draw at best (we always look like we'll concede at the moment!)

Hoping 2-1 or 1-0 win - think it will be 1-1....