Parting of the Red Sea: glum faces all round for the 'Pool

Let’s get this out of the way first of all – Liverpool were, by their standards, rubbish. Their passing was sloppy — amongst the worst I’ve seen at the DW this season, in fact — their finishing and will to win largely lacking.

That’s not to say the Reds didn’t have their fair share of chances last night. The only problem was they couldn’t hit the target, and may I say (in a rather biased fashion) that it was nice to see someone other than Wigan struggle to do so at the DW Stadium. Perhaps the biggest culprit of all was Fernando Torres, who, in his five opportunities, never even managed to challenge Chris Kirkland. Two of them, on another day, he may well have slotted away to help Liverpool bury little Wigan like they ought to have.

I say ‘ought to have’ in a partly ironic fashion, as on balance, you’d have never known which team were battling for a top four place and which were fighting against relegation. In truth, Latics were deserved winners and the more likely to score all night, even if Liverpool did have some similarly decent opportunities.

Right, that’s out of my system now. This particular match report will differ from 90% of those that adorn the front pages of tabloids and fansites nationwide in that it will actually focus on the Wigan perspective, and how wonderful it is to grab a crucial, crucial, crucial three points. In fact it was so important I decided to repeat the word ‘crucial’ a couple of times there.

As I sit here, the ‘analysts’ on TalkSport are picking apart the substandard Liverpool performance, but I shall completely ignore that, for it smacks of paint-by-numbers journalism ever so slightly. Also this is a Wigan blog, so I dunno what else you might have expected from a bunch of biased northerners.

Enough of the big boy butt kissing, already!

Aquilani didn't quite have the effect these Liverpool fans hoped he might

As Roberto Martinez beamed post-match, this win has been coming for quite a long time now. The recent run of unfavourable results hasn’t necessarily reflected the behind-the-scenes effort at the club, and contrary to what some people might have you believe, the backroom boys been working their socks off to keep Latics in the Premier League. Of course there were a few sub-par performances in there, characterised by a string of missed opportunities (Bolton at home, Birmingham both home and away, Blackburn home), but the odd bit of luck here and there wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Last night, however, all the bad feeling towards referees, Martinez and the Latics players that had built up in the past few weeks was, for a brief moment, forgotten – even the kid with the ‘Martinez Out’ sign seemed to be revelling in the moment, and why not? Wigan completed their first win over a member of the ‘Big Four’ (soon to be ‘Big Three’?) with the whole spectacle broadcast live on television to boot. It may have been a Monday evening when the majority of us have work the following morning, but I’ll bet you any money those Wigan fans that did fork out the £28 or so were extremely happy they did.

On balance, Wigan were the brighter and livelier of the two teams, particularly in the first half. Although they only had one shot on target to show for all their good pressure, that isn’t much of a change from recent performances: the crucial aspect here is that Latics made the chance count. Sure, Hugo Rodallega’s sidefoot past Pepe Reyna may have been a bit scrawpy and relied on a momentary lapse of concentration in the normally steadfast Liverpool defence, but we’ll take ‘em however they come at this stage. Besides, we were overdue a scrappy goal. Actually, we were overdue any goal full stop.

Though you may not have noticed it (heheh), there were actually two teams in this contest, and Liverpool, though off-colour, weren’t completely without presence. Steven Gerrard found himself with the goal at his mercy midway through the first half, but only managed to skew the ball well wide of Chris Kirkland’s right hand post. Fernando Torres had earlier hit the outside of the upright, but that, along with a clutch of yellow cards, was all Liverpool had to show for their efforts in the first stanza.

So Wigan went into half time 1-0 up against the five (or is it six?) time European Champions. Not too bad for a rugby town with no supporters and a crummy stadium. But the game was far from over, as anybody you could have cared to ask would vouch for – we’ve had too much heartache at the DW this season for us to be too confident with a one-goal advantage going into the break.

Surely Liverpool would improve in the second half. Well, in actual fact they did slightly, but the inability to complete a pass that dogged them in the first half persisted throughout the remainder of the game.

That wasn’t their only problem – a buoyant Latics side high in confidence seemed to be winning all the 50-50s and sneaking in to steal the odd ball they perhaps shouldn’t have, but I think we’ll put that down to good pressurising. McCarthy, Diame, Rodallega, Moreno and later Scotland and Moses all played their part in keeping the Liverpool side pinned in their own half as Wigan shot out of the blocks to put their opponents under pressure from the moment Andre Marriner blew his whistle to begin the second half.

Loving the limelight: Dave Whelan was keen to make a TV appearance

As expected, Liverpool came right back at Wigan as they searched for that elusive equaliser, and managed to build up a couple of decent spells of pressure, including a string of corners. None of them managed to pierce the Wigan back line, however. In fact many balls into the area were simply headed away or pushed too far for anyone to get onto the end of, resulting in much needless backtracking and the chance for the likes of Boyce and Figueroa to get their foot in. As previously stated, the boot was now well and truly on the other foot as Wigan were the ones with a lead going into the final fifteen minutes of the game.

Though Diame and Rodallega had to be subbed due to niggles, Wigan continued to look good in the Liverpool half, even if the vast majority of the side were hanging back to try and prevent a last-gasp Liverpool goal. The only remaining moment of alarm came in the final minute of injury time as the ball seemed to get stuck in the Wigan penalty area, but a needless foul on Paul Scharner, the ten billionth of the night, gave Latics a reprieve and things were all but over.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard had a night to forget

A job well accomplished for Wigan, who performed well as a team. Each played their part in repelling the might of the European contenders with Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres et al kept out for almost 100 minutes by a solid collective effort by all concerned.

Aside from the extremely handy three points, there is the added bonus of Wigan beating the mighty Liverpool for the first time, a moment that will live long in Latics lore even if the 2009/10 campaign ultimately ends in failure for Bobby’s boys. But right now there is no such pessimism, with all thoughts of relegation temporarily pushed aside as we pull four points clear of the dropzone.

In a few days time thoughts will inevitably turn to Saturday and an equally important showdown at the Reebok Stadium, but for now, we should dwell on Monday’s glorious events as you never know when, or even if, such an evening should come along again.

The sun always shines at the DW

As a Wigan Athletic supporter, this weekend has been somewhat depressing for me. Not only am I suffering from the final throes of laryngitis, but just to rub it in we’ve had the town’s sunniest weekend of the year, throughout which I have been forced to watch other teams battling it out in both the league and FA Cup on the boob tube.

Yep, for some reason we’re scheduled to play on a Monday night this week. As I sit here goofing off, erm, I mean typing away on my keyboard, the sun is shining through the blinds and I’m once again forced to stay indoors. By the time 7PM rolls around, it’ll no doubt be minus 3 degrees as I make my way down to the DW for a game that should have been played in glorious sunshine on a Saturday. I like those days, they’re the ones I remember the most; the 3-1 victory over Reading that clinched top flight football; our first Premier League game against Chelsea; the time I missed McCulloch put us 1-0 up against Forest because I was down in the concourse getting a drink (which I had, like, three sips of)…

Well, maybe not all of Latics’ most memorable moments have been blessed with blazing sunshine on a weekend afternoon (Highbury 2006, anyone?), and I’m not saying the weather actually has much of a bearing on how much I enjoy a game, I just find it hard to get motivated for these incessant weekday evening matches.

No doubt today’s attendance will suffer as a result of its Monday scheduling, and the fact it’s on Sky TV doesn’t help much (actually, it’s on ESPN in case anyone’s interested).

Still, the opportunity to drag ourselves from the doldrums with a result against a team in the top half of the table, no matter how remote, offers a sliver of hope amongst the doom and gloom of commercialisation and the fact you might have to take Tuesday morning off work (wait, that’s supposed to be a bad thing?). I bet you’d like to say you were there the time Little Wigan beat the Mighty Liverpool, 36 times champion of Europe and originator of some of the finest exponents of the beautiful game this side of Balaguer?

Well, I know the chances are small, but there’s always some hope. Who knows, maybe this will be the day we turn things around and pull ourselves clear of the dreaded drop zone. Wishful thinking? I do a lot of that, so forgive me.

I suppose the point I’m trying to make is that even when things aren’t looking too rosy and we’re likely to get hammered once again, we ought to get behind the team, because what else can we do? Sit at home and finish off a six pack of Carling? Well, we could if we wanted to but that ain’t our style. Forget the fact the £30 match admission fee is more than half your weekly income and try to enjoy things for once.

Cheer up, it might never happen. Relegation, that is. And who knows? Maybe we’ll be in for a pleasant surprise this evening.

Relaying of the much-maligned DW Stadium surface gets underway today and should be ready for next Monday’s visit of Liverpool. And not before time, you might say.

In seasons past, we’ve seen the pitch suffer badly around this time of year. You can point to any number of factors: poor weather, undersoil heating malfunction, moles etc. I will also concede that it doesn’t help that we have to groundshare with a rugby league team, but that isn’t the root of the problem.

And to be honest, I don’t think I could tell you for sure exactly what is causing the pitch to break up year upon year. After all, there are plenty of other northern clubs — Burnley, Stoke and Preston to name but a few — who’ve managed to keep their pitches in decent condition despite inclement weather, and they’re run on similar budgets to the Latics.

The ’sabotaged’ undersoil heating theory

Perhaps the technology involved in the DW undersoil heating system was cobbled together with the lower leagues in mind, because even though Dave Whelan had ambitions of the Premiership back when the stadium was completed in 1999, I wouldn’t be surprised if he pinched the odd penny here and there. Good old Uncle Dave, ever the tightwad Northerner.

However, I’m inclined to blame this failure on the now slightly dated and probably very rusty technology rather than an inability to foot the heating bill or even bunch of Bolton fans with spanners. Besides, do you not think we’d have heard about that by now? There’s a deadly anti-Trotter forcefield within a one-mile radius of the stadium that’s only turned off when we play Bolton. They’ve got a similar one at the Reebok as well – it’s called the car park.

The ‘too much sand’ theory

Aw come on, it isn't that bad.

The wonderful Wikipedia journalists at Sky have mentioned the high sand content in the DW surface doesn’t exactly help the pitch hold together very well. Can you blame us Wiganers for dreaming of the seaside? On more than one occasion last year, the powers that be lorried half of Blackpool beach to Wigan town centre, building a large sandpit just outside Hampson’s.

Maybe afterwards, the whole lot was ‘illegally’ dumped (read: fly tipped with permission) in the centre circle at the DW – Big Dave and his penny pinching again? Nah, don’t be so cynical.

The ‘there is no conspiracy’ theory

On this occasion, I would say a combination of bad luck and bad weather have worked against us. The particularly cold winter we’ve just experienced has seen more snow fall in Wigan than there has been in the entire decade, and the poor old undersoil heating has really taken some stick over the last few months. In fact, it’s a surprise the thing never broke down before it did, and when it finally gave up the ghost last month, the groundsmen were fighting a losing battle to keep the surface at Arsene Wenger standards for this month’s three home games in a row.

So there.

Why would Roberto Martinez, a manager who’s made it clear how passing is an integral part of his tactics this season, want the DW to be in such a state that every time the ball hits the ground you need a crowbar to get it out again? Go back to reading the Daily Mail, there are no conspiracies here.

Paul Scharner had a terrible first half

An improved second half performance couldn’t quite grab a vital point for Wigan at St. Andrews. In fact, things could have been even better considering Birmingham’s average second half, which saw Chris Kirkland tested only once, but Latics once again struggled to create opportunities.

A draw would have been very handy, but as it stands Wigan lie just a single point above the relegation zone with a tough test to come against Liverpool next Monday. The sheer frustration of the Tottenham and Bolton contests spilled over into another game without a goal and, more worryingly, little to no efforts on target.

As the commentators were quick to point out, when you’re at the bottom things seem ten times harder, and though Wigan had the majority of the 50/50 decisions in the second period, they could not capitalise on their good fortune. Again.

Wigan’s best chance came in the latter part of the game as Hugo Rodallega forced Joe Hart to advance from his line and make a solid save. It was a nice move that pounced on a Birmingham defensive mistake as McCarthy played in Hugo who got a decent effort in, but the Birmingham keeper was equal to it.

There was another good chance for either Gomez or Rodallega, who somehow managed to get in the way of each other, but that was it in terms of opportunities. It seems they’ve dried up in recent times, at the exact point we don’t want them to – not even the best efforts of the two young men Moses and McCarthy could create anything other than the odd tame effort rolling out for a goal kick. A pity, because as the game wore on you increasingly thought Birmingham were there for the taking: any dominance they’d built up in the first 45 just fizzled out as Bramble and Caldwell extinguished all potential attacks from City’s impotent front line.

Initially quite solid, the Birmingham backline looked increasingly shaky

It was the same story at both ends, with plenty in the way of smooth passing moves and decent spells of possession but no real firepower in front of goal. Wigan finished by far the stronger as they looked to push for the second, but Birmingham managed to hang on in the last 25 minutes and net all three points.

The first half was a different story, with Birmingham bossing both possession and chances. Wigan had opportunities of their own, but thanks to Chris Kirkland entered the final minute of the half with their clean sheet intact. Just when you thought it was mission accomplished, a challenge on the edge of the Wigan penalty area from Mario Melchiot saw Keith Fahey go flying, and the poor Wigan captain looked shellshocked when he finally realised the referee had given a penalty. It probably was, but contact was minimal considering Fahey’s wonderful impression of Amy Williams.

McFadden put it away, and that was that for the first half. Wigan, who’d up to this point been playing a 4-5-1 with Paul Scharner the playmaker, switched to 4-4-2 and introduced Scotland and Moses. It seemed to work, as the second half was much brighter with Wigan having more and more of the play as the game progressed… but no goal.

Overall, an excellent defensive performance, decent midfield controlling, but no experience to put the ball in the net. I’m struggling to think what else Wigan could have done, but it all comes down to not actually scoring, which must by now be completely baffling Martinez and the Latics management.

The boo boys can console themselves in the fact that, thanks to other results falling our favour, things aren’t much different than they were going into the weekend, which gives us a bit more time out of the relegation zone. Well, hopefully we won’t fall into it at all, but at least there’s a bit of breathing space there.

I swear, Alex, I have no idea where your biscuits have disappeared to...

Is Roberto Martinez in training to be the next Alex Ferguson or what?

Seasoned football watchers will be well versed in the big Scot’s blame-shifting tactics; the referee wasn’t fit enough to keep up; the fourth official didn’t add enough/added too much stoppage time; the grass was too long; somebody stole our half time Jaffa Cakes.

The problem is, Manchester United are one of the best sides in the country and Fergie can get away with it because he’s just so awesome. When Roberto Martinez attempts it, it looks, well, foolish. Unfortunately it smacks of desperation, something we really do not need to be making obvious to our fellow relegation battlers who will no doubt see this as weakness.

Mind you, it’s not as if Bob could focus on his team’s performance which, for the most part, wasn’t quite there. Much like against Bolton and Notts County (to name but a couple, actually), Latics had their best spell of pressure for about 25-30 minutes in the second half, and this would have been fine if it resulted in a goal. Problem is, it didn’t.

The first half, by contrast, was more circumspect. Wigan more than competed, but then we did at White Hart Lane in November and we all know what happened after that. Sorry for bringing that up yet again, because even though I didn’t/haven’t seen the game on Sky Sports yet I’m guessing Andy Gray et al did that enough yesterday afternoon – and all week, come to think of it.

Spurs probably had the better of the early stages with Wigan just coming into things in the latter part of the first period. Rodallega drew a fine save from Gomes and N’Zogbia sent a shot just over the Tottenham bar, which I suppose was a creditable effort. No goal, though, and Tottenham had one of their own on the 30-minute mark when Jermain Defoe broke free of the Latics’ offside trap to tap in at the back post. To be fair to the Wigan defence, they kept their line well and on this occasion just couldn’t keep up with Defoe’s pace.

Speaking of Defoe, he was visibly riled up by a challenge from Gary Caldwell shortly after, and both men can perhaps count themselves lucky they didn’t find themselves in ref Alan Wiley’s notebook. In fact, it’s a wonder there weren’t a few more bookings as the tackles flew in left, right and centre (but mostly centre) from both sides. Not that things were unduly heated, just a might physical.

I do Wigan a disservice, actually. They gave it their all, and whether it was fallout from a tough contest on a heavy pitch against Bolton or just plain bad luck, it just didn’t happen. Again. Even with the earlier introduction of Victor Moses and the best efforts of Rodallega and co., all Latics could muster in the second half, efforts-on-target-wise, was a cross come shot fumbled by Gomes in the Spurs goal.

Chris Kirkland was called upon late in the second half

The hosts became increasingly desperate, pushing forward for an equaliser as time was running out. Unfortunately it only let in first Defoe, then Crouch — both expertly handled by Chris Kirkland — and finally Pavlyuchenko, who came from the bench to make it 2-0 with fifteen minutes to play, and the game was already over when he grabbed a second deep into injury time.

There was a somewhat unusual (and perhaps unwarranted) hype surrounding the afternoon that built an expectation for Latics to somehow emerge with a win. Whilst hope springs eternal, and with this Latics team there’s always the chance (there’s a Lawro-ism if ever I heard one), even the most hardened Ticsmen will concede that realistically, Wigan weren’t likely to salvage much, if anything, from the game.

This didn’t stop the floods of complaints from the ‘casual’ Liverpool and Man United fans on an afternoon out — yes, they were in the West Stand and I did hear them constantly asking what the Liverpool score was — that they were glad they don’t have a season ticket at the DW.

This is unfortunate, as days like this are obviously not going to help in the pursuit of building up a future supporter base. But come on, they’re used to watching a team with the cream of European talent and billions of pounds to buy the best of the best – we struggle to get even one decent player a season, and even then we flog them to Man United.

I feel we’re simply going through a bad patch at the moment, and that sooner or later we’re bound to find the back of the net again. There’s no doubt time is beginning to run short now, but at this stage we’re still in a better position than Hull, Wolves, Burnley and poor old Portsmouth. The onus is on them to do something, and as long as we stay out of the relegation zone for the remainder of the season, it’ll be mission accomplished.

It’s been a week to forget for the Latics, who’ll be glad of six days’ break before the next test: Birmingham away. Alex McLiesh’s side are virtually assured of staying in the Premier League now, but will complacency set in and allow Wigan to steal the points? We can only hope.

The final word in this report must go to James McCarthy, who gave an excellent impression of himself in the centre of midfield and hardly put a foot wrong all afternoon. For me, he was the Latics man of the match, and I can just see him becoming an Ireland/Scotland regular in years to come; he’s still a teenager, and has plenty of time to improve even further.

Just thought I’d finish on a success story there to lift the gloom of a six-game stretch without a win for the Latics. Things could always be worse – you could be a Portsmouth fan.

If you cast your mind back to November, you may remember a very special match preview for what proved to be a highly notable game in this season’s Premier League. Those who haven’t completely blanked the weekend from their minds (and I’m very sorry for once again evoking repressed memories here) will remember that Dan Fitch of tottenhamblog.com very kindly provided his thoughts in the build up to our previous encounter with Spurs.

Well, the JWAW readership enjoyed that feature so much they asked, nay, demanded Dan return to comment on the rematch at the Dee Dubya. Actually, it was Mr. Fitch himself who posited the idea of a similar interview for this weekend’s encounter – the vast majority of Wigan fans have spent the last three months pretending Tottenham don’t exist, and who could blame them?

Nevertheless, I think we’ve sufficiently recovered from the events of that fateful afternoon at least to the extent we can forgive and forget, chalk it up as a freak result and apply any other coping mechanism your psychiatrist could care to mention.

I think we’re gonna have to sooner or later, as there’s no escaping the fact a team that put nine past our defensive line in their last encounter with us is visiting the borough this Sunday afternoon. And we’re going to have to play them again.

~ ~ ~ ~

JWAW: Dan Fitch, editor of tottenhamblog.com, the last time I spoke to you was before what has since been termed ‘the incident which must never be mentioned again under penalty of stoning’. However, much as it pains me, I think we’d better address the issue of that game sooner rather than later because I feel it’s looming over us like a four match ban for punching someone when the ref isn’t looking.

Dan: Yes, we somehow beat you 9-1, which I can only apologise for. As you will have noticed from our recent results, it was completely out of character for us.

I’ve still no idea how it happened really, as at half time I was thinking that 2-0 would be a good result. It was just one of those days when every shot seemed to go in.

I think that you were a victim of playing far too openly against us. Teams like Wolves and Hull have got results at White Hart Lane, by merit of just putting everyone behind the ball, whilst Wigan tried to play football. It’s to your credit, but I imagine is reasonably annoying from your perspective.

Do you think a win of such magnitude filled Spurs with a renewed/continued flair and self-assurance, or did it have the inverse effect and create a sense of overconfidence that ultimately led to one or two disappointing performances?

It certainly didn’t seem to help us, as afterwards we went on a four game run without a win, culminating in a home defeat to Wolves.

This side, like many Spurs teams before it, doesn’t have much bottle and the weight of expectation after such a big win, may have counted against us.

To what extent has the loss of Aaron Lennon dented your charge for the top four? Would you say you’ve struggled to fill the void created by his absence?

We’ve really missed Lennon. First we tried to play Modric and Kranjcar on the flanks, but were far too narrow. Then Bentley came in and whilst he’s played well, we still really miss the pace of Lennon and (a couple of years ago I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever say this) his crossing ability.

They say that there’s an outside chance that he might return against you. If he does play, at least you can rest safe in the knowledge that Erik Edman is now safely away from your left back spot.

What about other injuries? How are you coping with the loss of Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King’s recurring knee problems?

Woodgate being out hasn’t been that much of an issue, as Dawson has really stepped up this season and made one of the centre back roles his own. King is more problematic, because he can’t play more than once a week. This has meant that whenever Ledley’s fit, Bassong has dropped to the bench.

Bassong has looked solid this season and sometimes he hasn’t deserved to be dropped. It can’t do much for his confidence or our hopes of building stability within the back four.

If it was any other player with these injury problems, then I’d say that they should just be the understudy to our regular central defensive partnership. With King though it’s different, as he’s the best Tottenham defender that I’ve ever seen and yes, I am including Judas in that.

It’s looking like a real scrap for that final Champions League berth, especially with Manchester City struggling to take advantage of their games in hand. Is your initial prediction of 6th still likely, or do you think you’re still in with a good chance of grabbing a European place?

I think 6th, or even 7th seems most likely. Everyone is still dropping points, but I just can’t see us being consistent enough to capitalise upon it. Perhaps when Lennon’s fit…

Even if we finish 7th though I’d still expect that to be good enough for a Europa League spot. Villa play United in the Carling Cup and though a lot of big teams have gone out of the FA Cup, I still wouldn’t be surprised if the finalists came from within the top seven.

It seems Harry’s laid out his stall to take the FA Cup seriously, unlike certain other Premier League managers and supporters this season. In your opinion, which should hold a higher priority for Spurs at this stage, the cup or the league?

It’s actually quite ridiculous that everyone is so fixated on finishing in such an arbitrary position as 4th. We finished 3rd in 1990, but back in those days it was no reason to crack out the bunting.

Winning the FA Cup again would mean more to me and perhaps the general public would be supportive of us getting to Wembley again, now that Chas and Dave have split up.

Having said that, 4th place is sadly more important these days because it would allow us to recruit better players and make larger steps forward. There should be no priorities though. We have a big enough squad to compete on both fronts.

I’ve heard one or two rumbles that fans are not so happy with Big Harry at the moment. If you did finish just outside the European spots/failed to win the FA Cup, would you still be happy with the progress you’ve made this season, or do you think you would subscribe to the ‘Redknapp Out’ brigade?

A lot of Tottenham fans aren’t happy unless there’s a revolution every couple of years and there’s a new messiah to look towards.

I have issues with a lot of Harry’s decisions, but despite his faults, you can’t really claim that he’s doing a bad job with any validity. We’re now in February and within a couple of points of a Champions League spot. If we were offered that at the start of the season, everyone would have taken it.

Who would we get to replace him anyway? Unless you can bring in a Mourinho or a Hiddink, then we’re better off just building some much needed stability at the club.

Latics have had three penalties this season, scoring one and missing two. This has cost us two points in the long run, points that would have been very welcome in the almost inevitable relegation battle to come. I see most of Spurs’ missed pens have come in the cup this season, so at least they haven’t been too costly in terms of your overall league position. However, is this inability to score from 12 yards a worry as you look to mount a serious challenge in the league run-in?

Yes, because it has wider ramifications. Defoe and Huddlestone have recently missed penalties for us. These players have had good seasons and have both represented England, so it’s not technique that is an issue here, but a lack of bottle.

When the going gets tough, Spurs collapse. That’s why I can’t see us making the Champions League, because even if we hang on within touching distance, eventually there will be a crunch match and we won’t be mentally tough enough.

What are your hopes for this weekend’s game? Are you confident of bouncing back from a couple of less than convincing performances or do you fear the worst?

Yes, I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if you reaped some revenge. Forget 9-1, I’d be doing handstands if we edged it 1-0. I can see it being another draw.

Any players we need to keep an eye on this Sunday?

Our only attack minded player who is really playing well at the moment is Gareth Bale. I’m so pleased for him, because he’s clearly always been a talented player, but he’s had his doubters at Spurs.

He’s now proving those doubters wrong and was brilliant last week against Bolton. I hope your right winger is good at tracking back.

Good luck this weekend, because on the evidence of the pitch at the DW on Wednesday, you’ll certainly need it.

Yes, I’d heard about the pitch. Long balls up to Peter Crouch it is then.

Thank you very much once again for taking the time to be interviewed, Dan!

~ ~ ~ ~

Keep an eye on Dan’s blog for a reciprocal interview addressing, amongst other things, Roberto Martinez’s Premier League debut season, the signing of Victor Moses and of course ‘that game’. He carries out similar interviews for each of Spurs’ games, so his site is certainly worth a look, even if you aren’t a Tottenham fan.

• For the Latics perspective on this weekend’s game, see JWAW’s match preview at tottenhamblog.com (coming soon)

"Those moles are back again, Gaffer."

Frustration reigned at the DW Stadium for both the Latics and the Trotters as the sides played out a no-score draw in front of a decent Wednesday night crowd. The club’s promotions drew an above average attendance for this hard-fought Lancashire derby, which saw both teams create few chances and even fewer shots on goal.

The cynical may point to the badly worn DW Stadium pitch, ravaged by rampaging rugby men just five days earlier, as the primary reason for the lack of goalmouth action. Indeed, there’s no doubting that, at times, the pitch was a great hindrance, slowing the game down and causing miskicks aplenty for the likes of Zat Knight, Gary Caldwell and Titus Bramble. In fact, there wasn’t a single player who could say they really felt in control of the ball on the bobbly surface, and the almost inevitable long hoofs upfield were… surprisingly limited, actually.

For all Latics’ midfield dominance in the middle part of the game, they just couldn’t squeeze out the opportunities. Charles N’Zogbia hit Jussi Jaaskelainen’s crossbar on twenty minutes after rampaging down the Bolton left and getting a cross come shot to dip at just the right moment; Hugo Rodallega found himself through on goal with just minutes left of the first half, but a last-minute saving tackle denied him the chance of a cross to a waiting Marcelo Moreno.

The second half saw Hugo nod wide then blast an overhead kick way over the crossbar, but that was it in terms of chances for the Latics. Bolton had the better of the game in that department, especially in the game’s closing stages: Matty Taylor missed a couple of good, close-range chances that would have all but snatched the points.

Mario Melchiot returned from injury for Latics

Roberto Martinez listened to the criticism of his negative tactics against Stoke and made a surprise change just ten minutes into the second half, which saw Titus Bramble (niggling injury?) replaced by Jason Scotland.

Paul Scharner moved into the vacated centre-back position for the Latics, who immediately set about controlling the ball in the opposition half. Despite having three attackers on the pitch, Bobby stuck with the same, roughly 4-4-2 formation he had played up to this point, with Rodallega dropping back to a left midfield-come- forward position.

But it was encouraging to see Martinez going for the win, even if Wigan continued to struggle in the opportunities department. Charles N’Zogbia looked the most threatening, making his usual runs with the ball from the midfield and cutting across the Bolton penalty area. He saw most of his shots blocked, however, and nobody else ever really threatened.

Bolton gained some control as the game wore on, and looked the more like scoring in the final ten minutes of the game. This was despite the introduction of Victor Moses, who made two promising runs down the left hand side. He even had a chance to win the game for the Latics, but the acute angle proved too much and he only succeeded in finding the side netting as the game drew to a close.

As much as the club has tried to emulate this by carrying over the Flag Day thing, they shouldn’t need to. After all, it’s Bolton, our closest rivals geographically and who knows, perhaps in the table as well by the end of this season – if we can’t get ourselves motivated for this game we never will.

I have to take my hat off to the club, however, in their continued merchandising and promotional efforts this season. Perhaps the most pleasing is their gesture of allowing supporters with half season tickets to attend tonight’s game as a virtual bonus fixture. See, this game was originally scheduled to take place on 21st December, before the half season tickets came into effect for the 26th.

All of this makes me wonder how Latics can continue to offer such great promotions when they’re probably losing money on the vast majority of them. Add to this the fact the two home FA Cup ties probably cost the club money to host, especially with the low gate receipts, almost to the point where it’s actually more financially beneficial to go out of the competition. Actually, there’s a conspiracy theory and a half for the Daily Mail readers out there.

Anyway, tonight’s match is a big game for both teams, who will both think they are capable of grabbing the all important points.

A renewed optimism, no matter how small, surrounds The Trotters’ season with the appointment of Owen Coyle and the “Megson Out” brigade are very slowly starting to trickle back into the fray. There are injury concerns for Bolton, who’ll be without Gary Cahill, Ivan Klasnic and Gavin McCann. They do, however, welcome back Jack Wilshere and Vladimir Weiss for this encounter.

Meanwhile, the Latics are in the middle of sticky patch which has seen them lose to Notts County and Everton and draw with Stoke and Sunderland in the past month, a relatively busy period for the club fixture-wise.

James McCarthy is rated 50/50

James McCarthy, who sustained a hamstring injury in last week’s game against Stoke, is rated 50/50, with Jordi Gomez waiting in the wings to take his place. Personally I hope this doesn’t happen and we don’t see Gomez for the duration of the ninety minutes.

Three points are certainly up for grabs, and tonight’s encounter has the potential to be one of those barnstorming bottom-of-the-table clashes played with plenty of physical presence on a wearing pitch. With Martinez favouring the long ball in recent times, a good old fashioned Lancashire derby is on the cards, and even though there are some Champions League matches taking place this evening, nobody in Greater Manchester gives a monkey’s.

Oh yeah, and look out for me at tonight’s game – I’ll be the one with the Union Jack flag (yeah, I always have to buck the trend, don’t I?) in the West Stand.

Further (Latics-biased) Bolton/Tottenham preview at Notapatchon

Flag day promotional pic: Official Latics site