One Way Wigan

Okey, Be Honest... How many of you had actually written Wigan Athletic off at the start of the season? I'll put my hands up because I did. By March I thought they were dead and buried. They were bottom of the league and had picked up a measly 20pts from 27 games. This was as a result of a incredibly poor run of form picking up just 4 wins all season. They being beaten heavily every week. Attendances were falling (of whatever attendance they originally had). At this point in the season which Sir Alex Ferguson calls "Squeaky Bum Time". Something had to give.

Let's not be too harsh on Wigan. They have been playing some awesome football at times. It really has been their finishing that has let them down. They have had an incredible 401 shots on goal all season. They have only scored 32 goals this season and conceded 58. This comes at an goal scoring average 0.97 goals per match. This is poor seing as they are letting in on average 1.71 goals a match. The only side that has a worse record this season in the Premier League is Wolves. For all these stats Wigan have been passing tremendously well under Coach Roberto Martinez and have started banging the goals at completely the right time. 

However although they looked in deep trouble towards the middle part of the football season. A recent flurry of 5 wins in 10 games has though lifted Wigan out of the Premier League relegation zone. Infact they did a very similar run last season and survived relegation. 

Part of this amazing revival was tactical genius from Roberto Martinez. Normally a side will play 4-4-2 formation in the Premiership but Martinez decided to be bold and different and move to 3-4-3 formation which has worked tremendously. To help you image this here is the line up for Wigan on the 16th of April.

                                Al Habsi

              Alcaraz        Caldwell        Figueroa

Boyce     McCarthy                McArthur        Beausejour

       Moses          Di Santo         Jordi Gomez

This worked really well and has completely caught the likes of Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal by surprise. As a team they have been solid and everyone knows their job and how to do it. They are a well organised side. Not only have they been solid and feisty but individual performances have played a part including young Victor Moses who has been superb in a attacking sense scoring 4 goals and having 6 assists in a struggling side. Possibly a prospect for England? Also Gary Caldwell who has been superb in organising the Wigan defence and has really played with his heart on his sleeve for Wigan. A must for Scotland on a international level I think. Finally credit should be rewarded to Roberto Martinez for his style of play and brave tactics. Well Done Wigan.

POS		LP	CLUB	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1		(1)	Manchester United	34	26	4	4	82	28	54	82
2		(2)	Manchester City	34	24	5	5	85	27	58	77
3		(3)	Arsenal	34	20	4	10	67	43	24	64
4		(4)	Tottenham Hotspur	33	17	8	8	57	38	19	59
5		(5)	Newcastle United	33	17	8	8	50	42	8	59
6		(6)	Chelsea	33	16	9	8	56	38	18	57
7		(7)	Everton	33	13	8	12	38	34	4	47
8		(8)	Liverpool	33	12	10	11	40	36	4	46
9		(9)	Sunderland	34	11	10	13	42	41	1	43
10		(10)	Fulham	33	11	10	12	43	43	0	43
11		(11)	Norwich City	34	11	10	13	47	58	-11	43
12		(12)	Swansea City	34	11	9	14	38	44	-6	42
13		(13)	West Bromwich Albion	34	12	6	16	40	47	-7	42
14		(14)	Stoke City	33	11	9	13	32	45	-13	42
15		(15)	Aston Villa	33	7	14	12	35	48	-13	35
16		(17)	Wigan Athletic	34	8	10	16	33	58	-25	34
17		(16)	Queens Park Rangers	34	8	7	19	38	57	-19	31
18		(18)	Bolton Wanderers	32	9	2	21	36	65	-29	29
19		(19)	Blackburn Rovers	34	7	7	20	45	73	-28	28
20		(20)	Wolverhampton Wanderers	34	5	8	21	34	73	-39	23
POS		LP	CLUB	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS