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Tuned in and watched it on Sky. Wasn’t sure what to expect or what we would get. Here’s my ramblings about today.
FIRST HALF
I was very impressed with our sharpness and our passing and movement. We were by far the better team and could, and should’ve been 4 up at half time, possibly 5. Every player impressed me. Chris Sze looked like a man on a mission. Max Power and Jensen Weir were great in the middle. Connor Barrett was bombing forward at every opportunity, as was Fraser Murray. Dara Costelloe was getting into good positions. All that we absolutely lacked was that killer touch at the end of it. But massively positive.
SECOND HALF
In the age old Wigan way, we came out for the second half and seemed to take a foot off the gas for 20 minutes. I am not sure if this is a coached thing, along the lines of “let’s keep it steady first 20 mins of 2nd half” or not. ( I am going to ask my cousin who has coaching links in non-league circles to see if it’s a coached thing, or our players doing it themselves)
But we allowed Barnsley back into the game. That said, Murray should’ve made it 2 nil with his one on one. Definitely need to get a striking coach in. Can we not get Ian Wright or someone in for a few days with them?
(Mr Pigden, his teacher, taught him to watch and learn off Jimmy Greaves. Finishing advice never goes out of date!)And we had some knocks. Unbelievably, Sze, Perkins and Costelloe all limped off with knocks. As we were forced into changes, it soon became apparent that of you scratch away at the squad, after the main 11, there is not enough strength in the rest of the squad. We are 4 or 5 players short I think, for sure. The remainder of the match accentuated this. Surely Gary and Perks can see it too? We were quite under the cosh late on. No surprise when it went to pens, which are always a lottery. 5 fantastic penalties from each side, let’s be honest. Mellish went for power and the keeper guessed right. Unlucky.
Not too disappointed. With the squad as it is, do we need to add to game commitments and playing more 2 game weeks? No. Hopefully whilst we have a night off, our Saturday opponents will be playing us on the back of a long midweek away trip. Thats the way I am looking at it, anyway.
So, far more positives than negatives. But we can also see we are that little bit short. If we can get these few extra players in, some extra quality, I think we can have a very good season. We were MILES better than Barnsley, who were booed off at half time, such was our dominance. Another thing I have realised this season is that there are going to be a lot of young players in most clubs squads. I think that’s the way football has gone.
Overall, enjoyed watching us today and am looking forward to the first home game. Hope we can get a result at Cambridge, next week. Oh and lastly, I think the kit looked really nice, today. Looks very smart.
I think a lot of the clubs in L1 are experiencing the same as us in terms of lower squad numbers and budgets, and it’s going to be more about coaching power than spending power.
Like you I was pleasantly surprised at how poor we made Barnsley look.
I think we can have a much better season than we were expecting.
If we play on the front foot like we did first half, we will win more games than not. Need a bit more depth in the squad, which I think GC knows and will bring in. I’d like another experienced head for balance in the squad. Obviously a goalscorer. But looking at the PFA trial game from last week, Daniel Johnson is available and I think he could offer us some wiley experience. I think he would be decent to have to bring on to see a game out. No strikers in it though, they’re all 35 year old journeymen.
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