Wigan Athletic 0 v 1 Sheffield United
16th December 2006
Wigan Athletic suffered a pointless four days by the time 5.50pm arrived this afternoon. Pointless, goalless and winless is also the situation with regards to the last four games at the JJB Stadium as well. Worryingly, the team doesn't look very confident at all and this time Paul Jewell can't blame the fans for another 'dispirited' (his words, not mine) performance.
Only Australian midfielder Josip Skoko and Chris Kirkland came out of this game with any credit, with the rest of the team simply not turning up on the day. This Wigan Athletic team, on paper at least, should have taken the Blades to the cleaners, and whilst we all know football isn't played on paper, the truth of the matter is that Latics' squad of millionaires REALLY should have been good enough against a Neil Warnock outfit containing, at best, Championship quality players all over the field.
A dour first half of football that would have shamed some Conference teams didn't produce a single worthy effort on goal and the only decent CROSS of note was produced by Steve Quinn in the second minute of the two minutes time allowed by Northamptonshire based referee Mr Walton. Incredibly, Rob Hulse connected and slammed the ball past Chris Kirkland for what turned out to be the games only goal.
And as if things weren't bad enough for the fans, within seconds of the first half ending they had to endure a 'Wham' tribute act called 'Bad Boys' as the half time entertainment! I can only suggest that they were absolute pap and the real bad boys were getting a half time rollicking from an irate Paul Jewell.
Henri Camara failed to return for the second period having been replaced by David Cotterill. And even though the second half did produce football of a slightly better quality, and I stress the word 'slightly', the Blues still didn't look good enough to score against the team predicted by most pundits to go down this season. The Blades were even awarded a penalty by the referee who after consultation with his assistant on the right hand touchline then reversed his decision. This should have been the catalyst of a Latics revival, but that wasn't the case.
A lacklustre Kevin Kilbane, who couldn't convert Latics' only chance of the game into a goal was replaced by Svetoslav Todorov for the final ten minutes of the game. However, by then the Blades had an almost ten man defence, and quite understandably were determined to hang on to what they had got.
Paul Jewell intimated earlier this month, that should December prove a bad month with regards to results going against Latics that he would bring in up to five or six new players in January.
I reckon he should reconsider this statement and opt to bring in an entirely new team who will want to play for the club, because quite frankly, that shower out there did not want to do so today.
WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, (David Wright 65), Fitz Hall, Arjan De Zeeuw, Leighton Baines, Lee McCulloch, Denny Landzaat, Josip Skoko, Kevin Kilbane, (Svetoslav Todorov 79), Emile Heskey, Henri Camara, (David Cotterill 46). Subs not used, Mike Pollitt, Andreas Johansson.
SHEFFIELD UNITED, Paddy Kenny, Chris Morgan, Rob Kozluk, Claude Davis, Derek Geary, Steven Quinn, (Chris Armstrong 70), Phil Jagielka, Michael Tongue, (Nick Montgomery 70), Keith Gillespie, Danny Webber, (Leigh Bromby 88), Rob Hulse. Subs not used, Colin Kazim-Richards, Christian Nade.
Goal scorer, Rob Hulse 45 mins
Booked, Chris Morgan 68 mins, Claude Davis 73 mins
Referee, P Walton
Attendance, 16,332
Wigan Athletic suffered a pointless four days by the time 5.50pm arrived this afternoon. Pointless, goalless and winless is also the situation with regards to the last four games at the JJB Stadium as well. Worryingly, the team doesn't look very confident at all and this time Paul Jewell can't blame the fans for another 'dispirited' (his words, not mine) performance.
Only Australian midfielder Josip Skoko and Chris Kirkland came out of this game with any credit, with the rest of the team simply not turning up on the day. This Wigan Athletic team, on paper at least, should have taken the Blades to the cleaners, and whilst we all know football isn't played on paper, the truth of the matter is that Latics' squad of millionaires REALLY should have been good enough against a Neil Warnock outfit containing, at best, Championship quality players all over the field.
A dour first half of football that would have shamed some Conference teams didn't produce a single worthy effort on goal and the only decent CROSS of note was produced by Steve Quinn in the second minute of the two minutes time allowed by Northamptonshire based referee Mr Walton. Incredibly, Rob Hulse connected and slammed the ball past Chris Kirkland for what turned out to be the games only goal.
And as if things weren't bad enough for the fans, within seconds of the first half ending they had to endure a 'Wham' tribute act called 'Bad Boys' as the half time entertainment! I can only suggest that they were absolute pap and the real bad boys were getting a half time rollicking from an irate Paul Jewell.
Henri Camara failed to return for the second period having been replaced by David Cotterill. And even though the second half did produce football of a slightly better quality, and I stress the word 'slightly', the Blues still didn't look good enough to score against the team predicted by most pundits to go down this season. The Blades were even awarded a penalty by the referee who after consultation with his assistant on the right hand touchline then reversed his decision. This should have been the catalyst of a Latics revival, but that wasn't the case.
A lacklustre Kevin Kilbane, who couldn't convert Latics' only chance of the game into a goal was replaced by Svetoslav Todorov for the final ten minutes of the game. However, by then the Blades had an almost ten man defence, and quite understandably were determined to hang on to what they had got.
Paul Jewell intimated earlier this month, that should December prove a bad month with regards to results going against Latics that he would bring in up to five or six new players in January.
I reckon he should reconsider this statement and opt to bring in an entirely new team who will want to play for the club, because quite frankly, that shower out there did not want to do so today.
WIGAN ATHLETIC, Chris Kirkland, Emmerson Boyce, (David Wright 65), Fitz Hall, Arjan De Zeeuw, Leighton Baines, Lee McCulloch, Denny Landzaat, Josip Skoko, Kevin Kilbane, (Svetoslav Todorov 79), Emile Heskey, Henri Camara, (David Cotterill 46). Subs not used, Mike Pollitt, Andreas Johansson.
SHEFFIELD UNITED, Paddy Kenny, Chris Morgan, Rob Kozluk, Claude Davis, Derek Geary, Steven Quinn, (Chris Armstrong 70), Phil Jagielka, Michael Tongue, (Nick Montgomery 70), Keith Gillespie, Danny Webber, (Leigh Bromby 88), Rob Hulse. Subs not used, Colin Kazim-Richards, Christian Nade.
Goal scorer, Rob Hulse 45 mins
Booked, Chris Morgan 68 mins, Claude Davis 73 mins
Referee, P Walton
Attendance, 16,332
Labels: Wigan vrs Sheffield United
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