Victor Moses: Out of luck

Ever wondered exactly why the Carling Cup exists? Neither have I, really, but it’s interesting to learn England’s League Cup was created as a midweek competition for teams with floodlit grounds. It may seem a gimmicky premise, but these days there’s a Europa League spot up for grabs so you can’t really label it a Mickey Mouse Cup, as it was known for so many years.

A quick look at Latics’ previous games in this competition revealed a distinct pattern: three home games against teams in lower leagues, three wins. Only the Hartlepool tie could be termed comfortable, however, so luck of the draw was certainly on our side. This changed in a moment when we got Arsenal in the Quarters, but hey, at least we were pretty much guaranteed to be put out by a Premier League team now, sparing us the shame of a giant killing. If such a thing could ever exist in the Carling, for which only the top four divisions are eligible.

So how would Martinez treat this trip to London? With an important Premier League game against Stoke imminent, would he succumb to temptation and rest his star men, or play his full strength team and give it a right good go? Past experience would have suggested the former, and I wasn’t at all surprised Bob decided on exactly that. A loss on Saturday, as I alluded to the other day, would stick us right in the swamp again.

Antolin Alcaraz, returning from a one-game ban, was paired with Steve Caldwell at the back, whilst Watson, McArthur and Thomas were all handed starts. Mauro Boselli, who scored in his last Carling Cup outing against Swansea, was preferred to Franco Di Santo up front, which would seem to suggest the Ten Million Dollar Man is below his fellow countryman in the pecking order, at least for the moment. Victor Moses was also given a chance after a long string of substitute appearances, and not before time I’d say. Al Habsi, Gohouri, Figueroa and Stam completed a vastly rejigged Latics line-up.

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Wigan will beat Arsenal? A load of old balls. Balls, geddit?

“Oh, good,” I thought, “Arsenal are being so nice as to play the bungling Sol Campbell in the centre of defence to allow us a sniff of a chance.” It was only that, though, a thin sliver of light peering over the top of the mountain you could just about make out if you squinted.

In reality, though this was a far from full strength Arsenal team, I think most if not all present at the DW Stadium fully expected The Gooners to paste the ailing Latics into a fine pulp which they would then use to plaster ten foot posters of Arsene Wenger all around the borough. Probably not of him doing his now trademark arm waving motion, however, because that makes him look too much like a chicken.

This was the same team that struggled to hit the target against Portsmouth, with the notable exceptions of Moreno back in for Scotland and, most tellingly, Ben Watson returning to the first team in place of the sulking Paul Scharner. After the antics of Wednesday, speculation over his future at the club has been rife, with reports of a bust-up with Martinez dominating the back pages of local papers and garnering some column inches in certain national ones as well.

Thus, it wasn’t really a surprise to see Scharner omitted from the teamsheet. His replacement, called back from a loan spell at West Brom at short notice, had been gifted a chance to prove to Roberto he has a role to perform in this Latics side.

On a personal level, I don’t see what Watson did wrong to deserve being hauled out to Championship clubs for the most part of this season, a viewpoint somewhat justified by his welcome presence in the centre of midfield yesterday. He was many peoples’ man of the match, in fact, and no doubt will now be above Scharner in the pecking order not only for that centre-of-the-park controlling role but the half time Jaffa Cakes as well.

As for the big Austrian’s future, who knows. I would say it isn’t looking likely he’ll renew his contract when it expires at the end of the season, not at this rate anyway. Perhaps the aforementioned West Brom beckons, or maybe even retirement?

That’s a talking point for another day, however, especially since the events of Sunday afternoon far outshadowed any negativity built up in the past week. Many people, myself included, were so incredibly dejected by Wigan’s inability to put away what was essentially a Championship reserve team we wouldn’t have ever foreseen the unprecedented scenes that unfolded late in the game at the Dee Dubya yesterday. And what a magical fifteen minutes they were, too.

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Van Persie: below his usual high standard

Before this afternoon’s game, all the talk was of Robin Van Persie. I have no idea why, because he was perhaps the single worst player on the field today — worse even than vast majority of the Latics players — kicking thin air and falling over at the slightest hint of physical contact. For this reason, here at JWAW towers we shall henceforth refer to him as ‘Van Pantsie’.

As it transpired, his team-mates more than made up for things, and Arsenal could most likely have beaten Wigan with ten men today. It was a relative unknown that grabbed the headlines in the form of Thomas Vermaelen as Arsenal’s Belgian central defender bagged himself a brace. After the second goal went in just a few minutes after the half time break, Wigan went completely flat and there was an air of resignation; after the third goal, even more so.

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