They play some of the ugliest soccer in the Premiership. Their field surface is undoubtedly the worst in the Premiership and sits in one of the league’s smallest stadiums, which is also shared with a rugby club. They have no star players to speak of, and are run by a 71-year-old chairman with questionable savvy, to say the least. With all that said, Wigan Athletic continues to surprise outsiders by surviving in England’s top flight, and will look to do for a fourth consecutive season after finishing 14th last year with 40 points.
Steve Bruce is a very underrated manager who has crafted a nice career for himself in taking, and I mean no offense here, low-profile, low-prestige teams (Sheffield United, Huddersfield Town, Wigan, Crystal Palace, and Birmingham City) and exceeding expectations. He’s had to work for everything he’s achieved, starting in the Championship and eventually working his way up to the Premiership.
Without his rearrival at Wigan after leaving Birmingham late last November, the Latics would’ve been relegated. They were going nowhere under Chris Hutchings, and Bruce proved to be the master of the 0-0 draw and 1-0 victory. His club went unbeaten in five of their last six games a season ago, and had another unbeaten stretch of four games prior to that.
Because of Wigan’s location — they’re based in suburban Manchester, where they fly under the radar and are overshadowed by United, City, and even Blackburn — and unattractive style of play, Bruce didn’t get a lot of credit for the job he did, but he’s a capable manager and the club is in good hands with him at the helm. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not the type of guy who can win you something, but he’s a survivor and a fighter and his players take on their manager’s approach.
Bruce doesn’t have much of a transfer budget to work with; he’s bought Olivier Kapo, a talented attacking midfielder he had at Birmingham last year, and Lee Cattermole from Middlesbrough, but he’s sold a few spare parts to do so (Andreas Granqvist, Julius Aghahowa, and Andy Webster) and often uses loan deals, as he did with striker Amr Zaky from Egyptian side Zamalek, and free transfers to bring in players. Cattermole and Kapo will both see plenty of playing time in midfield, if not start, while none of the departed players had a role of any real significance. Zaky will replace Marcus Bent as Emile Heskey’s partner up front.
Especially now with those two on board, midfield is Wigan’s strongest asset. Michael Brown is one of the dirtiest players in England but can be a solid central midfielder when his mind is right. Wilson Palacios was one of last summer’s best signings and fellow Spanish-speaker Antonio Valencia can play on either wing and is good on both. Jason Koumas can make plays from the right side and provide a spark off the bench when called upon. Kevin Kilbane played mostly at left back last year as the club struggled to find a replacement for Leighton Baines, but is a natural left-sided midfielder. Antoine Sibierski is still useful as an attacking midfielder and will provide valuable depth behind Kapo. Dutchman Daniël de Ridder, another summer signing, is another versatile player like Valencia. The once-extremely promising career of Ryan Taylor has been curtailed by injury problems, but he’s a terrific set piece taker and can play right wing and right back.
Projected Starting Lineup (4-4-2):
GK: Chris Kirkland
RB: Mario Melchiot (captain)
CB: Emmerson Boyce
CB: Paul Scharner
LB: Kilbane
RMF: Valencia
CMF: Cattermole
AMF: Palacios
LMF: Kapo
ST: Heskey
ST: Zaky
Out of teams 11-20 last year, Wigan had the best defensive record with only 51 goals conceded. They’ll be in every game, home and away, but they need to get over the hump on the road and pick up some more points there to avoid another relegation fight.
January is the toughest month on Wigan’s schedule, with away dates at Manchester City and Aston Villa and home games against Tottenham and Liverpool.
Bruce’s boys will welcome Arsenal and Manchester United to the JJB Stadium in successive weeks in the middle of April before closing the season out with five manageable games, three of which are certainly winnable (Bolton, @ West Brom, @ Stoke).
Aside from January, there is no difficult stretch of any length, but there isn’t an easy patch either. This team likely won’t have much consistency over the course of the year; you’re not going to see any long winning streaks and you also likely won’t see them fail to pick up points in a three or four-game span.
Bottom Line: Steve Bruce is as experienced as they come in leading this type of team. Having been one himself, and a successful one at that with Manchester United, he’s a player’s manager and doesn’t have large egos to tread carefully around. Wigan won’t get blown out too often, and they won’t pound anyone into the ground either. You may not be happy with the brand of soccer Wigan plays under Bruce, but it’s effective, and it will keep you in the Premiership for another year.
Tomorrow we move closer to the middle of the table with places 14 and 13, where the threat of relegation shouldn’t be a problem.
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Michael - The only reason we started with Kilbane at left back is because we had no one else to go there. Our previous manager chris hutchings had the clairvoyance to sell our only left back and not buy a replacement.
When erik Edman arrived he was given a starting role after he had gained match fitness in the reserves and when he was fit he was our first choice left back until he got severly injured, Kilbane filled in again until we were safe as even though we had figueroa as a left back we were not in the position to risk a player who had never played in the premiership before in a precarious situation. When Figueroa played against man united in the last match when we were safe he put in a very good performance and is a good prospect of challenging for the starting place, i think very few wigan fans would call Kilbane our first choice left back or left winger, but we all praise him for his effort but he isnt getting any younger and i will say (though i maybe wrong) that he will not get much of a look in this year. So yes Kilbane started 30 games at left back, but unless you really watch the team week in week out and watch the developments of the team as a fan would it gives the impression that Kilbane was first choice left back.
I think Edman is the first-choice, but as you said, he’s injured right now. That’s why I put Kilbane in my projected starting lineup. I understand he’s a natural left winger and is getting on in age, but he’s the best they have at left back until Edman returns.
You’re more than entitled to comment, free speech and all that, it’s your opinion, but “Ugliest soccer” - if this is genuinely what you think, explain what you mean.
To me, ugly football is Arsenal’s Fabregas losing the ball to Emile Heskey, then pretending Heskey hit him in the face to stop play, Chelsea’s Alex punching Michael Brown in the chest to stop him taking the ball past him and Man U’s Ronaldo banging the grass with his hands in a tantrum because Palacios’s fancy footwork had tricked the ball off him (again).
This is Wigan we’re talking about, who came to the premier league through hard graft and determination, no media darlings, so you won’t see these things replayed on MOTD, the ref won’t blow the whistle, nobody’s going to report this in the press e.g. saw match highlights of a game we won against Blackburn, only the Blackburn goals were shown, so I guess it’s understandable you have no clue how we play!
Don’t get me started on Michael Brown, because for the one time Alex “punched him”, Brown has done something equally dirty and reckless five times over to other players.
I did see the Wigan-Blackburn game in full, and yes, it was a great spectacle. When I mean ugly soccer though, I mean that for most of last season, Wigan couldn’t string more than three or four passes together on that slop of a field. On the road, they sat back and played for a draw, content to hoof it up to Bent and Heskey all day.
You all are right, when Valencia and Palacios played in the second half, they did bring their Spanish flair and brought class and quality into the side. Kapo will add more of that this year. I expect Wigan to play a more attractive style this season, but it was awful to watch at times a season ago. It was effective, yes, and I never denied that, and I’m all for doing whatever it takes to get a result. I respect hard work and determination just as much as anyone else, believe me. I would rather play ugly and get something positive than play like Arsenal and win nothing.
I think everyone is taking too much offense with the comment I made; I wasn’t being critical, I was just stating my opinion. Ugly doesn’t mean ineffective, it just means ugly, and that’s what Wigan was for the majority of last year.
Blimey - a slightly xenophobic over reaction from the tixmen I’m afraid. Chill out people - this is embarrassing.
What’s all this about Ryan Taylor leaving???
You shouldn’t write articles about things you know nothing about. The piece shows a genuine lack of knowledge of Wigan Athletic and seems to be based purely on assumption and other inaccurate news articles.
We don’t pretend that we are the biggest, most glamorous team in the league. But to go from where we have come from to where we are now in the space of the last 25 years in a real life fairy tale.
We have defied the odds and no one gives us an ounce of credit or respect. We are the victims of more poor, lazy and plain vindictive journalism than any other Premiership team.
This is not helpful when we are trying to build our fan base and break free of the stereotypes and false impressions created by the media.
That’s why us Wiganer’s take things like this so personal.
We have sorted out the pitch problems that hampered us, tied down all our key players, brought in some extra quality and have built an excellent squad over the past 6 months. This is going to be an exciting season for Wigan. Expect to see us fighting for the top half of the table.
if u actually have been keeping up to date with the news about wigan, u would know that kilbane is almost certainly NOT going to start as our first choice left back but instead Figueroa will be and then when Edman is fit, will be challenging him for that spot.
we are gonna do well this season just u wait and we’ll shut up ‘journalists’ like urself who dont know how to appreciate football
I do appreciate soccer, I’m sorry if you can’t see that.
Excellent Michael. I cannot believe there are so many latic supporters around. Nice you managed to get them stirred up.
Looks like Wigan’s best squad since they were promoted. Fairly big too. Wonder if Bruce is going to trim a few players. Surprised Camara and Seberisk (and Bramble) are still hanging on.
i dont think there will be much more trimming going on, we cut the deadwood out with getting rid of olembe, skoko and somehow getting rid of aghahowa to kaysperior. Bruce has never seen camara play as he was on a season long loan at west ham last season so i think he will wait before making judgement, Sibierski i personally wouldnt keep as although he scored ssome important goals for us last year he is low on fitness and Bramble is a good defender its just he is prone (happened 2 times last season) to lapses in cocncentration, we at Wigan are a much more forgiving crowd than say the barcodes in newcastle and i think bruce can still improve him.
I think you touched a nerve by calling the football we play “ugly”, simple would probably have been more apt, we dont try for the flair approach, and nothing gets me more annoyed when arsenal keep passing the ball along their back 4 for5 minutes at a time. I don’t really think we can be critiscized for our pitch, if you want a poor pitch look up Chelsea v Charlton at Stamford bridge a few seasons back, it looked like a beach.
The masters of grinding out 1-0 victories are undoubtedly Chelsea.
The point about our stadium as well being shared with Rugby, well Watford did it a few seasonsd back, Reading do it, and even the promoted Hull City do it.
Fun read. I like the debate regarding the starting 11. First time I can remember Wigan having such a deep squad.
Ugly football is a bit unwarranted. I admit Wigan will put 11 men behind the ball when up against the big clubs. But sometimes they play quite nice football. Particularly during the first PL campaign.
Regarding the pitch, last year was a one time problem. I dont recall much complaining in the previous few years.
Siberski, I thought he was already cut loose. Kind of glad he is still on the squad. Has a talent for coming off the bench and getting a goal.
I think this bloke is just a bit of a moron. We played some great football last season, especially down the right, and u say we havn’t got a star player. Kirkland was awesome last year and also valencia. You must have missed your specsavers appointment mate. Have you been put up to this by Rodney marsh? lol
about putting 11 men behind the ball against bigger teams, prior to bruce’s arrival we always used to get tonked usually by 4-0 or similar, when bruce took over we kept our normal 4-4-2 formation and we drew 1-1 at liverpool, 1-1 at Chelsea and 0-0 at home to Arsenal and we were quite unlucky against man united but at least we put up a fight
Michael,
you may say that Wigan played ugly football last season. Don’t forget that we had the knife on our throat almost all the season after Hutchings bad run.
I my country (I’m no Brit) we call it pigfotball which we unfortunately had to play for not jeopardize the Premier League status.
I have hope that you find Latics play more attractive football in the coming season.
IMO:
WIGAN, THIS SEASON
Zaki, star player, and Heskey upfront.
With De Ridder and Valencia swapping on the flanks we will be a constant threat in attack.
And Scharner and Melchiot as key players in a solid defense.
WIGAN goes Europe:
Mark my word, dear Michael …
Do you take it back Michael?
Thats all I want to know? How about a new article?????? Maybe do a little research first!
Much love
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