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i find that comment odd in light of his post match comment last night (when describing the team’s 1st half performance) that the players needed to realise “that the result is not important. It’s the performance that matters because that will get you the results”
I’ve heard some $h!te from Bobby in his time as manager but that little nugget took the biscuit
The commentator on Sky made a good point last night that “it’s almost as if it’s (the long ball) a pass that they’re not allowed to make & as a result they end up putting themselves under more pressure (by getting caught in possession). There are times when you need to knock it long to see what you can get from the knockdown & to relieve the pressure on your midfield & defence”
That was during the horrendous spell from just after they scored until just before half time
I’d hazard a guess that it’s because,like it or not, the national media who turn up to Latics’ press conferences ask him questions about the opposition because they know full well that their readers/listeners/viewers want to know/hear about City/United/Liverpool/Tottenham/Arsenal/whoever the majority of Latics’ games are against rather than hear what he has to say about Wigan Athletic.
If someone asks him about how good he thinks Man City are he’s hardly gonna turn round & say that they’re $h!te is he.
Likewise if a paper has a small column to fill or a TV/radio station has a 30 second segment to fill they are more likely to fill it with what he has to say about the opposition than him talking about filling the void left by Diame’s departure to AfricaWhat Bobby doesn’t do is openly talk about having written these types of games off as Paul Jewell used to do, which you really could see reflected in the performances (at times)
We’ve had some cracking centre halves in my years of watching Latics but the best I’ve seen is Peter Atherton by a country mile for me – absolute class.
His form, & that of our keeper at the time Phil Hughes, kept Latics in the old 3rd div in one particular season (possibly 89-90)Its not the club’s fault though is it?
After the bother at the first couple of seasons the lovely GMP have obviously said that unless the club addresses the issues they wil refuse to police the games. If the police refuse to provide cover in the stadiums the council would have to revoke Latics safety licence. As someone else has pointed out I’m sure Latics would love to get any tom, dick or harry in regardless of who they support in order to bring in the extra cash.
That said, Latics could have handled the Roy Keane incident much, much better
I’m sure you didn’t mean that response to sound as patronising as it does, therefore I’ll ignore the opening and move onto the body of the post…Let me get this straight – I wasn’t claiming that Martinez’s decisions were the right ones, I was merely saying to Yosser that you cannot be certain who will succeed or who will not, even when on paper it suggests to them being able to get a goal or two.
Boselli – yes, errors were made somewhere down the line. I wasn’t involved in the conversations between Martinez and Benson, and I doubt very much if you were. The reports about Benson advising against signing him have all come through hearsay and after the event. If Benson did leave because of his position being undermined on this signing, then I think Martinez has made a glaring error if the player is sold without playing for the club again. Neither of us however, can comment on the content, tone of, or outcome of conversations and advice we were not privy to.
Personally, I always thought Boselli showed signs of being a good player, and got slated on this board for saying so at the time – but, I’m not a scout, coach or a football manager. When, however, you heard the club were signing a prolific goal scorer from Argentina, who was just behind Tevez et al in the pecking order, did you honest not think there must be a goal or two in there?
Jason Scotland – not the Championship’s top scorer, but one of them? Potato fooking pataataa.
I’ve just Googled it and he was second – with 21 goals instead of 25. A massive 4 goals behind Ebanks Blake in Scotland’s first season at that level. The point is, he can score goals and in 90 games for Swansea, he scored 45 goals playing predominantly as a lone striker. Had he never been signed you’d have had people on this board asking why we’d never considered signing him. We did, and unfortunately it didn’t pay off.
Bear in mind that Martinez was just about to manage a team in the Premier League for the first time in his life when he signed Scotland. When you need goals, who better to turn to than the star striker from your last club?
Sammon, in my opinion, has the first touch of Peter Sutcliffe on occasion. He is however enthusiastic, and makes some good runs.
Di Santo has much more ability (but again, that’s just my personal opinion). Everyone writes about how hard Sammon works; do you not think that Di Santo also works hard when he’s on the pitch? Watch him – he never stops running. This argument however, is not who runs the most, but where are the goals.
You said you’d like Sammon to play the lone striker if Martinez persists with one up front. He hasn’t been playing one up front for weeks. It’s been two, and sometimes three.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing a Boselli given another go – up front with Di Santo or Sammon and/or Moses, but I doubt very much if he wants to come back to England other than to clear his locker permanently.
Apologies for sounding patronising – you’re right that wasn’t the intent.
Of course I wasn’t privvy to any discussions between Bobby & Benno – I should have put “assuming the stories are true”. I’m as certain as I can be however that there was a big disagreement there though.
Did I thik there was a goal or 2 in him when i heard latics were signing him? Initially possibly, but then I looked at the stats & saw he’d had a poor goals return from his previous stint in Europe & that, bar the one previous season, his goal scoring record in Argentina wasn’t too hot either. That was tempered with an undoubtedly fantastic season with Estudiantes prior to joining though. In truth I didn’t know what to expect – i did however contact the South American football blogger on the BBC website & ask about him & his opinion was that he wouldn’t be a success, pretty much for the reasons I attributed to John Benson in my last post. Think he wrote (amongst other things) something along the lines of “he’s not a grafter & needs others to put chances on a plate for him. He gets that at Estudiantes as they are one of the top sides – I’m not sure he’ll get it at Wigan”
Anyway, my point being that you can watch a player for a relatively brief period & know what they’re capable of doing & what they aren’t capable of doing. Bobby watched Boselli extensively but couldn’t see that he wasn’t up to the physical demands of English football or playing as a lone striker – other’s who had seen him could see that. You therefore have to question Bobby’s judgement on this “big time” & i think that was the initial poster’s pointOn Scotland, I made the point when he signed that my big concern was whether a 30 yr old who was effectively a lower division/scottish league journey man was suddenly good enough for the top flight. In other words there had to be some reason why despite being in the latter stages of his career no manager had ever thought him good enough for this level. Those concerns were proved correct but Bobby’s words on signing him were (presumably after a question from a journalist that hinted at those concerns) were along the lines of that he had no doubt that he had the attributes neccesary to be a success in the top flight. I also had the concern as to why (despite his goals tally) that he was really unpopular with the Swansea fans many of who accused him of being lazy? Again therefore you have to question Bobby’s judgement when someone who he “had no doubt” would be a success was a complete flop from the word go
I agree that Di Santo has much more ability that Sammon & if Bobby played 2 up front then my personal preferences would be for Di Santo & Rodallega but do i think he works as hard as Sammon in pressing the opposition back line? No, not at all – well he does in parts & then just seems to give up. I don’t think Sammon is the best footballer of all time but of the strikers Latics have he is the most suited to that lone striker role.
Oh & I’ll ignore the patronising tone of your penultimate paragraph as I’m sure that wasn;t your intent ;) & just say that regardless of the recent tweak in formation it is still a lone striker system. Moses & Gomez aren’t operating as forwards by any stretch of the imagination & their positions are much more fluid. Sammon/Rodallega/Di Santo when used as the spearhead so to speak are the only striker/forward on the pitch
I agree with your last paragraph in that I’d like to see Boselli back if he were to be played in a traditional 2 or 3 up front system. That’s never gonna happen though whilst Bobby’s in charge
That would be a relatively cheap way to sort out this once proud and progressive club.Seen enough now….watching Latics is like watching paint dry. :angry:
There were plenty on here & on other Latics forums that wanted Alcaraz booted out of the club for spitting on a Wolves player.
So to replace Bobby with a self-confessed & unashamed fascist (i thought his fascist salute after scoring for Lazio in the Rome derby was a particularly nice touch)? No thanks – on this score I’d rather Latics got relegated than have Di Canio in chargeThe only thing i have ever seen in Stone is a holiday inn and a shite load of speed camerasI ran the line at a Stone Dominoes game at the start of the season & had to run that gauntlet of speed cameras on my way to the ground. I thought east london had a lot on some of the ring roads but I’ve never seen owt that like in my life!!
Just coz I expected it (I had money on Swindon to win) doesn’t mean that it’s acceptable
Personally I’d like to see Bobby make some form of effort in the cup competitions – success breeds success & a possible good victory with a full strength side would have instilled a bit of a feel good factor about the place. All Saturday’s defeat does is add to the general aire of defeat & malaise about the place. So as expected as it was, it still annoys me
On top of that its slightly depressing to get the realisation that the strength in depth of the squad is so woeful that it can only muster up 1 effort on target against a 4th division side. I know that team isn’t used to competitive football together but it still had enough players with regular first team experience (Caldwell, Boyce, Al Habsi, Watson, Di Santo, McArthur & later on Gomez and Moses) for that not really to have been much of an excuseSo expected? Yes. Acceptable? Not in my book no – regardless of whether we stay up this season or not (as this seems to be the yardstick for some as to whether its alright not to make any effort in the cups)
A valiant attempt to defend Bobby’s record on that score but:
1) He spent over £6mill on bringing in a striker that his direcor of football told him was neither suited to his system or the English game. Whilst I’m not trying to argue that John Benson was the Oracle of footballing knowledge it does show that, especially as Bobby put his foot down on this one & essentially pushed Benson out of the club, that his judgement on whether a player had what it took was pretty bad on that score
2) Jason Scotland wasn’t the top scorer in the Championship when he was signed. One of em admittedly but not tht top scorer. You do however have to question the judgement of a manager who didn’t think that there was a reason a 30 year old hadn’t been identified by any other club as a potential premier league striker prior to him reaching the twilight of his career
3) Franco Di Santo’s goal record was shocking prior to him coming to Latics yet our manager still spent a substantial amount of cash bringing him to the club & though he had the attributes to play as a lone striker. Not whilst I have a hole in my ass he doesn’t!!That said, I like Conor Sammon. If Bobby persists with 1 up front then for me, of all the strikers at the club, Sammon has the attributes best suited to that role.
“This is their chance to really show what they can do.”
If it’s anything like the “development squad” performance i saw last month against Liverpool then I won’t be holding my breath
As for SAFC247 – unfortunately the criteria for getting promoted & continuing to play in the top flight isn’t who you think is fit to “grace” the division
Last time I checked it was down to gaining enough points to get promoted from the division below & getting enough points to stay there. Something which in the 6 seasons Latics have been in the top flight they have managed better than Sunderland in 4 of them. How that must smart!!!
Counter to your claim that Sunderland had an average of 25k in the 1990’s – in the 10 years prior to leaving Roker park your club never got close to that figure as an average. Go back even further & in the previous 30 years they only managed to breach that figure 9 times so you don’t need me to tell you the average over that period wasn’t 25k either.
As for 40k-50k in the ground prior to the safety measures introduced after Hillsborough. Well that was in 1989 & you average that season was 14878 & between the end of WWII & leaving Roker park you topped 40k as an average 8 times in 50 years
Nice to see you don’t let the truth get in the way of a good yarn!!!A Wigan RL supporter accusing Latics of diddling their crowd figures upwards?? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
What possible benefit could Wigan Athletic get from doing that?? On the other hand if they had to prove that they only spent a certain percentage of their income on salaries then I could understand them diddling the gate figures ;)Personally i have never seen the point in Wigan been in the premiership due to the fact that you are a rugby town with little support, but credit given where its due Dave Whealan has worked wonders getting you to the premiership and keeping you here for so long.Quite a decent post unfortunately rendered meaningless by such a puerile, idiotic & ill-informed comment
