Chicken and mushroom…
Is it true that Wigan being known as the Pie Eaters is something to do with a miners’ strike a century ago? I thought it would have been due to rugby league or something.
And given our recent form, we went up to the DW like we were the London Skolars facing Wigan Warriors.
But that feeling right now is one where we’ve come away from a tricky away game, with all three points.
Yes, the Latics are as shit as we are. But history should tell you that games against fellow strugglers are as equally hard as playing the top teams.
Why? Because so much is on the line. You really can’t afford to lose them, as we couldn’t yesterday.
By all accounts we deserved our 2-0 lead, and something that maybe was a direct response to Robbo’s comments after Oxford.
Or maybe it was because we were playing a formation that had some chance of succeeding in the real world?
Watching the highlights, Piggy’s first goal might have been a little offside, but I don’t care.
Decent finish too. And perhaps now the transfer window is shut, we might get a good run of form from him?
Whatever, it was nice to hear (or see, if you paid iFollow the tenner). I’d rather us not be crap to begin with, but at least play like you have an idea.
Which we did, and as the minutes ticked by, all we had to do was not drop another clanger, and…
Oh.
If Robbo gets the job full time, I wonder if he might consider putting in Tzanev instead of Walker?
Because no matter how many times you watch it, it never gets better.
And it not only almost cost us the win, it almost cost us the game full stop.
Because we then got nervy. And even more nervy. And then it was more shocking defending as it went to 2-2.
By then, you just knew that Wigan would go ahead and we’d lose.
Except they didn’t.
I have to give everyone involved immense credit for pulling ahead again after what has been too often the killer blow this season.
Maybe, just maybe, there’s a glimmer of character in this bunch after all?
It was a good bit of let’s-give-this-a-go-and-see-what-happens speculation for the penalty, and you do sense Chislett kind-of went for the foul…
Up stepped Pig for the pen. The rest is history, even down to the seven minutes of injury time.
What’s in my mind right now is another trip to Lancashire, with a late spot kick earning us a win that we didn’t expect.
It was the Great Escape (TM) under Walter, and you may remember things properly started to turn at Rochdale.
We had done likewise at Walsall beforehand, and I still remember how sore my throat was afterwards.
Some things written almost two years ago to the day seem rather familiar, which might explain why this latest rut has really pissed people off – in 24 months, not much has changed after all.
Although going on that link and seeing fans in the ground was more of a shock. We’ll be back, perhaps sooner than you think…
Yesterday wasn’t quite as dramatic as that evening at Spotland, but it was no less important.
Robbo’s post match interview was taking the patient approach, as though this is his on-the-job interview.
He sounds like he’s got a plan in mind, and judging by his comments he wasn’t getting carried away.
If he’s applied and been shortlisted, he’s already proving a strong candidate.
if the alternative is somebody with actual first team managerial experience (L1 preferably, but not vital), who has a long term plan themselves, we’d be foolish to turn them down.
We do need to start building an identity as a team, and to sort out the clear issues that have built up over the years.
If we don’t, then there’s no reason not to give Robbo the job.
I wouldn’t object if he took over, although I think he’d need to beef up his coaching staff.
He doesn’t have that feel of “interim manager”, and the players definitely responded to him/his tactics yesterday.
It might make the club’s decision making harder – do we stick with MR, and risk losing him if a new manager comes in?
But at the same time, he has been part of the coaching side of things when it’s gone to shit, and an overhaul has to mean exactly that.
Maybe that’s a tad harsh though. Perhaps Robbo was seeing what was going on, but was powerless to do anything about it?
We’ll see.
While writing about interim managers looking the part, I briefly remembered how it was the same under Glyn Hodges when Walter went to William Hill.
It’s weird that he’s now almost airbrushed out of history.
It was only eight days ago that he was preparing us for Franchise, and fifteen days ago we were also enjoying a draw at Crewe.
Yet already that seems a different era. With the same players too, under a man who may not even get the job full time.
I think we would have lost yesterday under him, and about 3-0 too.
There haven’t been any interviews with GH (that I’ve seen anyway) since his departure, and it would be interesting to read where he think he went wrong.
As a fellow hack said to me last week though, Hodges never seemed particularly good at communicating.
We’ve already moved on though, there’s less of a staleness about in just seven short days.
Perhaps most telling of all, nobody seems to be organising a whip-round to get him a watch…