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Wigan Athletic boss Roberto Martinez will stick with his style of game as they battle away from the dropzone.
The Latics drew 0-0 with Bolton Wanderers last night.
“The only way of winning a football match is by being good at what you’re doing,” the Wigan manager said.
“It’s pointless going into the game and trying to be a completely different side just to try to get the three points.
“There are three or four teams who will try to play their way out of trouble, while there are other teams who will adopt the very physical and direct approach of trying and keep a clean sheet and playing percentage football.
“There is no right or wrong way to do it, but it is possible to play your way out of trouble – without a doubt.
“What is important is that you have belief and togetherness as a club.”
That last sentence, Have i missed something, We dont have it and havent had it all season
Nowhere in that sentence does Roberto actually say we do have it. He’s just saying it’s important that you have it.
“”The only way of winning a football match is by being good at what you’re doing,” the Wigan manager said”
But to be frank Griff, for the majority of the season it has been plain to see that Latics do not come under this category coz:
a) the players either cannot play the way he is asking them to play (possibly coz they don;t have the skill levels) or
b) the way he is asking them to play isn’t working coz it isn’t good enoughEither way he should be able to see that & rather than keep banging his head against a brick wall tactically have the guts & nouse to change things round to a system, formation, tactics etc.. that suits the players
[quote=”TyldesleyLatic”]””The only way of winning a football match is by being good at what you’re doing,” the Wigan manager said”
But to be frank Griff, for the majority of the season it has been plain to see that Latics do not come under this category coz:
a) the players either cannot play the way he is asking them to play (possibly coz they don;t have the skill levels) or
b) the way he is asking them to play isn’t working coz it isn’t good enoughEither way he should be able to see that & rather than keep banging his head against a brick wall tactically have the guts & nouse to change things round to a system, formation, tactics etc.. that suits the players[/quote]
I agree with you on a) and the only defence of this policy that I can offer (and I have offered it before) is that he perhaps believes that this system is the one most suited to the players he has available. Until we see him regularly play a different way, we’ll never know. But ask yourself this: if we suddenly went to 4-4-2 do you think we would immediately climb into the top half of the table? Possibly, probably not.
As for b), Liverpool, Man United, Man City and many foreign teams are living proof that the system works, albeit with better players. Which brings us back to a) :)
Edit: I would add that this stubbornness to play the same way will ultimately make or break Bobby’s time at Wigan.
Is it any coincidence that most of the top managers from the history of football have realised that you need to be able to adapt to certain situations, with a varied style of play, rather than one ‘set’ style?
I am thinking of examples. One is that David Fairclough goal for Liverpool against St Etienne in 1977. He ran onto a long punt up field, to score. There is also some famous footage of the late, great, George Best running onto a long ball against Chelsea, with Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris attempting to scythe him down, but him keeping his feet and scoring. So that is both Bob Paisley and Matt Busby’s teams benefiting from the ‘long ball’. We benefited ourself in the same way, with that Robert’s goal at Highbury, didn’t we? You see, in that first season, we knew WHEN to play, and when NOT to play pretty football.
Then you come to the opposite. Brian Clough is a legend in football, make no mistake about that. Yet it was his stubborness, and ‘set in his ways’ mentality that got Nott’s Forest relegated in 1993. They had a good side at the time, I saw them in 1992, and with Teddy Sheringham, a young Roy Keane, and Stuart Pearce as captain, they had some decent players. Yet the insistance on playing the ‘right way’ saw them relegated. West Ham were similar, a few years ago. “Too good to go down”, they said. Er, no.
Playing a set-style is all fine and well. But once your opponent doesn’t let you play that set style, you are done for. Has anybody else noticed how N’Zogbia is a major threat in the first half of matches? But then he is quiet in the second half? Does that not suggest that we are too reliant on him? Too one dimensional? Once again our team is ‘lob-sided’. No way is Rodallega a left-sided player…..so why keep on playing him there? It’s doing the team no good, or the player. We were always lobp-sided with McCulloch, but at least he gave us some ‘bite’ and some more aerial strength, didn’t he?
“As for b), Liverpool, Man United, Man City and many foreign teams are living proof that the system works, albeit with better players”
I’m not just talking about the formation but the way that you play that formation
This 4-5-1/4-4-1-1/4-3-3 or whatever the hell you wann call it can be a really aggressive attacking formation if you play it in a certain way. If you don’t then it can produce some of the most tepid & turgid football you are likely to see
For most of this season its been the latter at LaticsAgain though that could be down to the quality of the players
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