Roberto ought not be discouraged
Well, the less said about this the better, one would think.
The way Wigan played attacking-wise, you would have said they certainly didn’t deserve to be pummelled by so many goals. With a slightly dodgy defensive performance, though, there was always the chance we were going to be punished severely. It wasn’t always that way – the first half passed by with no goals and Wigan actually in the ascendency as the 45-minute mark came.
Man U created a hatload of chances, but up until the first goal had only managed to find Chris Kirkland’s gut numerous times. Lucky? Probably. It could easily have been 2-0 Man U at half time.
For 55 minutes, Wigan looked competitive and came from the half-time break looking very promising. Alas, ’twas not to be, as the floodgates seemed to open, unfortunately. You could sense that a collapse was coming after the second goal, which turned into an almost complete capitulation by the third. After that, well, it ceased to be a contest.
On the plus side, nobody expected Wigan to win here, and at least they gave it a really good go. Gomez in particular looked threatening, and N’Zogbia caused the Manchester United defense some real problems. At one point, you thought the way things were going we might just sneak a victory here.
I do not think Martinez should be deterred from continuing in much the same vein – after all, this was Manchester United. Granted, a Man U side that had just been beaten by Burnley, but those kind of weird results do squeeze through the cheese grater at this stage of the season. But I have to say I much prefer it to hoofing the ball up field to your big attackers as a general tactic, not naming any names (cough, Steve Bruce).
Just a few immediate after-match thoughts, but I think we’ll let the dust settle on this for a while. And oh yes, and despite the fact he scored today, Berbatov has not done anything to persuade me he is not a complete donkey. Sorry, Dimi.
A very lobsided view mate. I thought it was a good open game today. Man United should have been a lot more than 2-0 up, but Wigan should have scored at least once. I think 3-1 for United wold have been no suprise. I think what we all saw in the first half was that Wigan could not make the most of sloppy periods in United’s passing game. United presented Wigan with too many chances to break away, but support for the breaking player never arrived. Also I feel you are extremely wide of the mark to criticise Wigans defensive dispay. By doing that you take away the superb efforts of Bramble (3 times he saved what looked like certain goals) and Kirkland (again made at least three important stops that could easily have been goals)
Still, United fashioned a host of chances, as seen when the first half highlights were replayed. In the second half they were superb I felt. The game never had the feel of an absolute walk over because Wigan have some good players who tried to keep going. I think that WIgan are on the threshold of becoming a very useful team. They have some lively and dangerous players and players who want to work hard. Given a little time I think Martinez will get things right for you. As for United, I feel this result will set them on their way. The next two games will be tough, but if they get through that it will be plain sailing until the other side of Christmas. You could see today some moves of pure beauty and class – one was actually for Berbatov’s goal. I really believe that they just need to learn how to play again. The removal of Ronaldos raw speed power and trickery could really open up a beautiful passage of attacking fluency and finishing if Rooney, Berbatov and Owen can now build on this.
A good game and a great atmosphere at a smashing little club (no offense intended) and stadium.
* I think 3-1 for United wold have been no suprise.
I mean at half time of course. Wigan didn’t threaten too much in the second half – a good header well saved by Foster was probably the closest.
Hey Mico, cheers for stopping by! It is, of course, much appreciated that you decided to leave your thoughts here.
‘Tis a somewhat lobsided article, but then you might expect that from, a, erm, Wigan blog, maybe. 😉 Man United get their fair share of biased coverage anyway, so it’s nice to speak for the minority.
Seems strange, Scharner had a lot better game than on Tuesday, Bramble managed to find his passes but jeez, I’ll actually settle for them just keeping the goals out cheers. On this level, was it improved from midweek? Not sure, well we certainly shipped three more goals anyway.
On the subject of Berbatov, he is no way going to win Man United the league or anything this season, or any season. He’s just a big lazy lump in it for the money 😛
Whats this crap about Berbatov? In the second half he was the architect of most United attacks, – scored one well taken goal AND had the assist to Rooney second. In the first half he provided the pass to Scholes who really should have scored…
One swallow doesn’t make a summer, mate.