RoyalBlue
The only reason Pog should get as low as 3 is his stupidity in getting sent off. He worked his balls off during the time he was on the pitch, hassled defenders and held the ball up pretty well but he was left as isolated as a sodding hermit and McDermott and his so-called teammates are responsible for that. WTF is Pog meant to do when the ball knocked long to him and there isn't a teammate within thirty yards of him?! What's more, when he does hold the ball up he has to wait an eternity for other players to make their way forward and, even then, it's usually only one or two!
Pog aside, in the first half the only two players who really looked up for it were Feds, Akpan and Kebe. The latter did brilliantly to keep nipping in and nicking the ball off Wigan players.
A few of you whiners (not you, RB) would do well do re-read the posts in the live match thread. Up until that first Wigan goal there is a lot of praise
for Leigertwood, Akpan, Kebe, Feds. Pog held the ball up brilliantly in the first half (and I am not a Pog fan), and apart from the first few minutes
we closed down, got in their faces and worked our socks off.
Two different styles but we were playing well against a side which has some excellent players and is well-managed. There was a great tackle to stop Pog,
Kebe's shot was going in but curved the wrong side of the post. Their first goal was a bit random, and the scorer knew very little about it.
Up to 42 minutes I was more than happy. I thought Wigan looked great going forward but were vulnerable at the back when pressured. L'wood,
Kebe, Karacan, Akpan, Kelly, Pog were all playing well up to that point but having to chase very hard and likely to tire after the hour,
OK, a slightly unlucky soft goal but we really went for it, looking for the equaliser. I'd bet on us to go 1 behind and win 2-1 even though
I really thought we'd lose against a classier, more Prem-experienced side.
The second goal, though, that was suicide. I have no idea why Harte didn't simply dink it into the Wigan area. He had time
and space and we had players up. An equaliser then and we'd have competed for the rest of the game.
The goal itself was a combination of errors, players under unnecessary pressure, and it killed the game.
Coming out 442 smacked of desperation, and was simply wrong. The first-half team needed 10-15 minutes of calm, keep it to no worse
than 0-2 and maybe get one back. McD's mistake IMO. No matter what people say about 442 (and generally I'm a fan) against Wigan it's
virtually guaranteed to fail.
Losing the third goal effectively means we LOST a point as it meant Wigan gained 3 points on us AND reached our GD.
For me, we now have to beat, and I do mean HAVE TO, Villa and must not lose to Saints but we also have to get a shock result
away from home and draws away. I don't see it and I still think we could finish bottom. Only a result at Everton (unlikely) will
make me start hoping again.
But my point is for the first 42 minutes we DID compete, did harass the opposition and, with an ounce of luck could
have gone in at HT ahead, or, at worst, on equal terms. What p!sses me off greatly is the automatic player-hate and
the readjustment of the realties. Pog was playing very well in a thankless role up until his moment of stupidity. Legs
IMO held us together, again in a thankless role.) Without him it would have been a cricket score.
First half Karacan was everywhere including, occasionally in from of the Pog. Kelly was solid, Akpan showed loads of promise.
OK, on 42/45 minutes it all collapsed but we weren't that bad. Down to 10 men we could have shipped ten goals. We didn't.
