Alex Whalley

A good source tells me 5 new players in Jan. He has been wrong before, won’t give any names and won’t let on who’ll be leaving but 5 new players will do for me!

We have a team that needs a real big mix-up. In my opinion we only have Bramble (on his day), Thomas (for his determination and tackling), Diame (for his composure and general good play), N’Zogbia (for his skill, crossing and pace), Scharner (for his tackling, determination, work rate, heading and ability) and Rodallega (for his goals and general play) who are good enough to play week in week out. That means we need a new keeper, right back, centre back, left back and right winger. It has also been reported Scharner and N’Zogbia may be leaving along with Figueroa who isn’t the best left back anyway so that wouldn’t be a big loss providing we get a replacement. We have 2 out and out strikers at the club 1 of which can’t score so what happens in January is the key to how we do for the rest of the season.

We are a selling club, I can see 3 or 4 going and possibly 5 or 6 coming in IF Whelan gives Martinez the cash. I have said 3 or 4 players leaving as in regular players (Zog, Figueroa, Scharner and 1 other…… possibly Hugo???). All I know is we need more than 2 or 3 players to turn this team around, 1 solid centre back, 1 right back, a central midfielder (defensive), a central midfielder (creative/attacking), a right winger and 2 strikers (1 striker, 1 to play off him). Also, if the players stated do leave we must replace them, we’ll just have to see what happens.

I think we could possibly lose Figueroa, Scharner and N’Zogbia because of the interest in them and the fact we’re a selling club and nothing convinces me anything regarding ambition has changed.

I think Gomez and Scotland are getting far too much stick, Rodallega was awful in the 1st half, gave the ball away on numerous occasions but nothing mentioned, as soon as Scotland does something wrong everybody lets him know about it, very unfair and we as fans should be behind our players, not picking up on all mistakes.

As for the dead-wood, I think we need to sell the likes of Bouaouzan, Kingson, Kapo, De Ridder, Cho and Edman + any others I may have missed. A possible loan move for the younger players (McCarthy, Cywka, etc). I agree that we should only sell players that WILL be replaced, we don’t have a big enough or strong enough squad to be selling fringe players.

I think Tamudo is a sealed deal from Espanyol, I also think there may be renewed interest in some of the players we were looking at in the summer (Crusat, Elyseu + others) and I am behind Bobby and trust him 100% to bring in the players he needs providing he is supported by Mr Whelan.

They say it takes a new manager 3 transfer windows to build his team, he has had 1, January will be his 2nd and the summer will be his 3rd and hopefully this time next year we’ll all be talking about how well we’re doing and how far our fans favorite manager, a true Wigan legend has brought us in a short spell.

Roll on January! I bet Roberto can’t wait, he will know exactly what he wants and more importantly what he needs and fingers crossed he’ll keep our big players and build a team that will consistently perform.

That’s true and a very good point has been made.

DW has not exactly opened his cheque book and told Bobby to go out and spend, he has not been given much money at all and next month should see Bobby get rid of some of the dead-wood (sell or loan) and bring in some players who will change our season around (hopefully).

He is interested in Heskey and Tamudo, both are 30+ but Bobby knows they have the experience we need. We have a squad full of young players (counting 25/26 and under as relatively young) and only a few older heads including some who just aren’t good enough.

In my opinion, Bobby will have had the 1st half of the season to weigh up his squad and he should now realise who is and isn’t good enough. Players such as De Ridder, Kapo, Koumas, Cho, etc etc have only featured on the bench at best and if any have made the 1st team they haven’t proved anything and have therefore been dropped (Koumas).

He has signed good players in Thomas and Diame and he must try to keep hold of players such as Scharner, N’Zogbia, Figueora and Rodallega as for me, these are our 4 strongest players.

We are in desperate need of a centre back (maybe even 2) as we are leaking goals and looking very poor defensively, we need cover at right back (Johnny Palacios has been mentioned over and over again in the build up to Jan), we need a creative player in midfield + 2 forwards (a winger and a striker or 2).

For me, Boyce and Scotland (2 regulars over the last few months) should be squad players and the likes of Melchiot, Bramble and Thomas need to have competition as they can have the odd bad game (quite regular recently) and they will start again the following week. They would only be squad players at other rival clubs so why are they guaranteed a start at Wigan? Hopefully come Feb they won’t be and players will be made to fight for their place and work for the shirt.

Bobby has a great tactical brain, I think we all know that and alot of people are questioning the staff, the players and the manager himself but you must look at the bigger picture, he’s only been in the job a matter of months, if at the end of the season we avoid relegation that will be enough and he can build on the team once again at the end of the season ready for next year.

We were s**t at the back end of last season Jan onwards, I wanted Bruce out and Martinez in and i’ll stick by that! I was made up when Bobby was announced new manager and i’m still happy he’s back home now. This is where he wants to be, where he belongs and we should all be behind a true Latics legend!

I thought the team as a whole played very well but to say Bramble was immense is a little over the top, 3 or 4 times he sliced the ball when trying to clear and he looked a little nervous but on the whole a clean sheet and he and Boyce dealt with Bent very well, thought Boyce was the stand-out defender personally.

I can’t stand the c***s near me who are on Scotland’s back from the off and believe me there are a lot of them! Everything that he does is wrong, someone plays a shit ball to him and he’s a lazy fat b*****d, he plays a ball to someone and they don’t control it or read it and he’s a s**t fat b*****d, on numerous occasions yesterday Hugo and Diame (2 examples) gave the ball away time after time and not a word/groan was heard but as soon as Scotland gives the ball away, loses possesion or makes a mistake half the stadium is groaning and moaning, yes he’s not scored yet, yes he’s not the best striker in the prem but he is a Wigan player and we should be encouraging him. That shot he had that hit the post was one of the best efforts i’ve seen a Wigan player have in a long time, the ball was played behind him, he was falling back and being closed down by 2 defenders and still managed to catch the ball perfectly and was literally an inch away from his 1st Wigan goal, almost paid me back for putting him in my fantasy team but instead him going off resulted in just 1 point! TUT TUT Jason!

Thought the goal was a fantastic typical Hugo goal, pure class with a touch of quality and outstanding by Charlie, man of match for me.

Credit to Paul Scharner, 100% for the full 90 mins and although our 2 centre mids weren’t at their best they kept Sunderland quiet and did well on the whole. Diame will score soon, I can see it and I doubt it will be a tap in either!

Roberto again proved he has what it takes to hit back from a dissapointing result and has shown us the fans he is the right man for the job. Can’t wait for the Birmingham game, hopefully another good performance and a few goals to take our goal difference a little closer to +

My team for Brum:

Kirkland

Melchiot
Boyce
Bramble
Figueroa

Thomas
Diame

N’Zogbia
Scharner
Scotland

Hugo

I would go Hugo up top with Scotland playing wide, there is no doubt he can do a job but I would try him from the wing with a bit of power and a good eye for a pass (as proved at Burnley). I would have him on the right with Charlie on the left as we played better that way and I think Hugo is more of a goal threat down the centre with Scharner just behind. In my opinion, Scotland should defo stay in the starting XI because I don’t think Sinclair is the answer (as proved at Pompy – awful) and Gomez just doesn’t seem to have anything about him.

Roll on Saturday!

GMTV this morning stated over 1,000 travelled from Wigan, not sure where they’ve got the figures from as on our official site i’m sure we only took in the region of around 500 tickets.