How Long Before “Bottom Four Bob”

Let me help you with your dilemma, in the past you have only ever listened to anyone who sings from the same hymn sheet as youself, irrespective of whether or not they are “respected ex-professional pundits” or “know-nowts from Preston”

Let me help you with your dilemma, in the past you have only ever listened to anyone who sings from the same hymn sheet as youself, irrespective of whether or not they are “respected ex-professional pundits” or “know-nowts from Preston”[/quote]

The day I need your help for anything is the day I pack it all in ;)

All your travel agent work over and done with now? Back to the day job of being a gobshite now, is it?[/quote]

Being a “gobshite” may be my day job, I am able to step in and out of that mode when it suits, I find that way far superior than it being a life mission statement as in your case.

To be fair it was only seen on rare occasions prior to the cup final.[/quote]

Martinez set out to play good football. To be fair, with his squad, it was not sufficient to overcome enough Premier League teams. But I don’t think that another style would have been any more successful.

The cup run was a glorious exception. Martinez produced a startling performance in the Cup Final from the rag-bag of players at his disposal. They were then obviously at an enormous disadvantage in the crucial Premier League game against Arsenal.

But would you have swapped survival for winning the cup? Would you have been happier if Martinez had left us for Liverpool twelve months earlier? Or for Aston Villa a year before that?

Anyway, he’s now showing that his philosophy can produce attractive and successful football. But from Sunday’s performance, it seems that the team still has his philosophy at heart.

Best wishes for Christmas and a good run in the New Year.

Almost fckin caberet.

Might go piking tomorrow as the Ribble is flooded.

Smelt smell like cucumber you know.

Poly ball.

To be fair it was only seen on rare occasions prior to the cup final.[/quote]

Martinez set out to play good football. To be fair, with his squad, it was not sufficient to overcome enough Premier League teams. /quote]

Barnsley, you really do have a bad case of Bobbyitus and just continually gloss over the facts. Don’t blame the squad; he built it over 7 transfer windows and claimed he only needed 4 windows to get the right team. The expectation on him at Wigan was not a Champions league spot ( unlike Everton ), it was merely to assemble a side to compete with the average teams in the lower half of the division – he FAILED. He made some useless signings; some that he bizzarely never gave a fair chance to play. His stubborn approach to tactics, actually cost us too many points in the end. And now for the revelation – How we won the FA Cup. You’ve heard it before – the players were told to go out and play football and enjoy themselves because we didn’t need to play safety first, protect a point rubbish. Hey presto it worked. But Bobby wasn’t brave or bright enough to apply that to at least one league game that might have saved us from relegation. Then his super sized Ego ( must be through his association with Griff )leads us to believe he couldn’t possibly manage in the Championship. Not once in four years did you ever hear Bobby openly accept any blame for a poor result or bad performance; it was either bad refereeing decisions, injuries, bad luck, lack of budget, etc, etc; but never Bobby. From Legend to Judas in four disappointing years ![/quote]

Obviously no bitterness in that retort

Griff, when are you going to move house to a PR post code area, you seem to be as obsessed with the PR postcode crew as Barnsley is with RM.[/quote]

PSSTT,Horc. I live in PR9 but don’t tell anyone :lol: :lol: :lol:

It’s not quite as simple as that. There were two notable cup victories, against Everton and Manchester City. In both games, special circumstances affected both teams.

After the home defeat to Liverpool, 4-0 with Suarez scoring a hat-trick, Martinez had to make some changes. For the cup tie at Everton, he introduced Robles for Al Habsi, Alcaraz for Caldwell, Gomez for McArthur and McManaman for Di Santo. For his part, Moyes unwisely brought in Heitinga and Phil Neville. The replacements wanted to make an impression, while Neville had a shocker. Wigan raced into a 3-0 lead. Neville was replaced at halftime and never appeared for Everton again.

The players kept their places for the next league game, and an unchanged team beat Newcastle 2-1. Martinez put his trust in this team and made it his model for the rest of the season.

For the Cup Final, Martinez had to build a team without Caldwell, Figueroa and Beausejour. His choice of McArthur and Espinoza as wingbacks was inspired. Manchester City played with the rumour hanging over them that Mancini would be sacked at the end of the season. They never hit full stride and Wigan deservedly won.

Whether they won or lost the Cup Final, the game at Arsenal – just three days later – represented an enormous challenge for Wigan. In the event, it proved too much for them.