No donkey: Rodallega opened the scoring for Wigan

This game was, quite simply, a must win for Latics. Anything other than three points would make the task of remaining in the Premier League for at least one more season an incredible task in all likelihood beyond a side struggling to find the target, let alone score. Though it can’t be denied our performances have actually improved of late, the wins haven’t there to back them up, rendering such games all but fruitless in the harsh reality of England’s toppermost league.

Any number of football pundits will get paid for telling you it’s impossible to win a game without scoring. I would contest this statement, as it is perfectly possible to win 1-0 having forced the other team into an embarrassing own goal, and come to think of it that wouldn’t be that bad a tactic: at least it would ultimately result in our ‘goals for’ column increasing.

Two goals in six competitive games would suggest a side deserving of bottom spot in the table, but that run did include tough encounters with Man United, Man City, Tottenham and Chelsea — and it must be stated that the league’s bottom side acquitted themselves relatively well in the majority of those games. Apart from against Man U, they were never really properly hammered. From here onwards, things become more manageable with potential point-gaining opportunities against mid- and lower-table teams.

Each and every contest from now until 22 May has to be regarded as must-win, and most importantly of all, you have to score. It seems like an awful long time since Wigan took an early lead and consolidated for what could be termed a comfortable win, and that’s because it was four months ago.

There was some hope, though. 29 goals in 31 games may represent a paltry effort when you consider today’s opponents scored a whopping 46 in the same period. Unfortunately for the Tangerines, all that endeavour only resulted in them sitting two points ahead of Latics in the league table before proceedings got underway at Bloomfield Road today. The figures (which, admittedly, must always be taken in context and with a pinch of salt) point to an equally dodgy Blackpool defence, the only reason they were just one place above the relegation zone prior to 3pm this afternoon, and provided huge incentive for a goal-starved Wigan attack line.

Latics grabbed the initiative early on with Rodallega capitalising on a defensive slip to finish well past Matt Gilks in the ‘Pool net. It was just the confidence boost they needed, and would provide the platform for a more positive result for the Latics, cheered on by a hefty travelling contingent. Blackpool would settle into their own game, however, and have a good period of pressure on the Wigan goalmouth late in the first half. It redressed the balance somewhat, but in truth Al Habsi was relatively unworked, only having to palm a cross-come-shot over the crossbar up until the 45 minute mark.

Wigan would double their lead through Charles N’Zogbia in first half injury time, capitalising on yet another mistake at the back for the Seasiders. The Frenchman beat two or three defenders before sidefooting the ball past a stationary Gilks, who could do nothing. It was another excellent finish, a world apart from some of the horrible rugby-style attempts we’ve seen of late. Two-nil was slightly flattering of the Latics, who only had one or two other shots in the duration of the half, but you could say it’s about time something went Wigan’s way.

The game was all but sealed on 67 minutes when Momo Diame saw his shot take a substantial deflection off Neal Eardley to beat Matt Gilks for a third time. Unlucky for Blackpool, but it was no more than the visitors deserved. By this point, they were totally dominant in terms of possession and a third was always on the cards.

N'Zogbia was on fine form (Courtesy Leoboudv at Wikimedia Commons)

Looking to hold their considerable advantage, Wigan went on the defensive, attempting to shut out their hosts in the remaining half an hour of play. Blackpool created a few great opportunities, but were thwarted on each occasion by either a bad bounce or Ali Al Habsi, who was on hand to snaffle the ball when needed.

You sensed, though, that Wigan could decide to start playing again at any time and the hosts’ dominance in the latter stages was somewhat unrepresentative of Latics’ control over the game. Had they not decided to change things around, looking to keep the ball rather than continue in a similar attacking vein Wigan could have had at least one more. Conor Sammon, who replaced the fantastic N’Zogbia with more than 20 minutes left, was comfortable enough holding up play and taking the ball into the corners. Jordi Gomez also featured, but would give away the free kick that ultimately led to Blackpool’s goal.

3-1, however, still represents a very good day’s work for Wigan. It wasn’t perfect –at times they seemed to miss an extra man in the opposition half and had a nasty habit of giving the ball away in the final third– but proved enough for a vital, vital win which lifts them out of the relegation zone.

The Premier League table is changing in complexion on a weekly basis, with our next opponents, Steve Bruce’s Sunderland, now actually being dragged towards the bottom three. One point in 27 would suggest a team falling off a cliff, so Roberto’s side might never get a better chance to grab those elusive back-to-back wins, at least this season. Today’s victory, combined with losses for West Ham and Blackburn (and of course Blackpool), will no doubt raise confidence and restore some faith: survival is certainly not out of the question.

Don't look back: A hole too large for Martinez to fill?

You may well say I am not qualified to comment on yesterday’s game considering I wasn’t there and didn’t even watch it on telly or listen to it on WISH.

And you’d be right, especially since I have yet to watch any highlights or take in any post-match reaction save for Martinez’s brief comments for Ceefax. To tell you the truth, I’m dreading doing so, and will wait a few days for my disappointment to wane (if it ever will) before bringing myself to watch any sort of match action.

Still, in the interests of playing devil’s advocate, let’s go ahead and offer some sort of critique based simply on the scoreline.

Well, I tend to think a 4-0 loss would say it all, really. Kind of glad I wasn’t able to see the game to save myself from yet more embarrassment along the lines of last season’s defeats at the hands of Notts County, West Ham, Wolves and Portsmouth.

You can’t help but analyse yesterday in the light of results from the preceding season. The ‘long term plan’ Martinez and Whelan have set out sees the two campaigns merge into one, big ordeal (and yes I will call it that) whereby the club takes numerous blows to the solar plexus in the hope it gets in one or two telling blows of its own. The main problem lies in the fact our opponents need to be absolute pants for that to even threaten to happen.

If, in the long term, such tactics save the club from total extinction and keep us afloat for a few more years, then fine. After all, you never know the extent of what’s going on behind the scenes, and as a mere supporter, you don’t necessarily expect to be made privy to the inner workings of your football club.

As a follower, the only thing I can comment on is what I can see, and by goodness it doesn’t look good. We knew we were in for a much tougher season this time round, and to all intents and purposes we were rather lucky there were so many poor teams in the league last campaign. 2010 will be much different, and must be the year for Bob’s bunch to come of age or suffer the consequences.

What's going on inside that business brain of his?

Progress? I see little, really. In all fairness, it’s been consistently average to poor over the course of Roberto’s reign, highlighted by the fact we were even worse yesterday than last year’s defeat to the Seasiders in the Carling Cup. Granted, nobody at the club really cares about that competition (not least Roberto) because the Premier League is where the real profits are at.

From what I’ve heard, though, it seems that this Latics side can only play one type of football, a weak, powder puff, one-tactic side that has no real depth, guts or desire. I don’t know how much of these comments are close to reality, but on the basis of last season, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were true. Aside from the win over Arsenal, which was the odd flash in the pan you experience as bottom-of-the-league-dwellers, 2009/10 finished rather disappointingly to say the least.

Something isn’t quite right, obviously. Is it the management setup? The players? The fact Little Wigan have far outstayed their welcome amongst the elite that is the Premier League? If you were to ask me, I’d say it’s a bit of each.

But all is not yet lost. There is still plenty of time to turn things round, and I have no doubt the talent is there to keep us up, just about. It’s just a question of deploying it in such a fashion to actually grind out the results, because, as I’ve said on numerous occasions, it isn’t the performances that will see us through to a seventh season in the Prem, but the points. Sadly, there are certain individuals in the DW’s corridors of power that only care about the former. Makes you wonder how much longer they have at the club.

Ishmel Demontagnac grabbed the first for Blackpool (Photo: David Penniall)

This was supposed to be the game Wigan found its feet again, but transpired to be another night to forget as Blackpool ran riot at Bloomfield Road.

Changes were expected, and Martinez certainly went to town in that respect, retaining just two of the players that started the Manchester United game. But Blackpool were not short of changes themselves, with Ian Holloway making seven changes to the team that drew with Watford on Saturday.

A matter of who would hit the ground running, then, and it was the Tangerines who managed to take the cake. Their three big attacking moves in the first half yielded an impressive three goals, whilst Latics’ own three chances only drew saves from an on-song Matthew Gilks.

When Gary Taylor-Fletcher snaffled a fourth for Blackpool with just over twenty minutes remaining, a clearly rattled Wigan side seemingly failed to even care–if the commentary of Graham Lovett is anything to go by–and the match was in danger of becoming another complete rout.

Changes were required, if only to salvage a slither of pride from a dismal evening. Hugo Rodallega, who Martinez had planned on resting for the whole of the match, looked promising in his brief substitute appearance, but ultimately didn’t have enough time to impose himself in what was essentially a lost cause. New boy Anotnio Amaya grabbed a late consolation with the final touch of the game, but it was too little, too late.

A rusty performance by a largely untested second string side, no doubt, but another rung on the ladder towards blooding a Premiership squad. Pity it resulted in such a hefty defeat. Still, I’m sure Bobby will have learnt a lot about his side – it’s just a matter of patience and rebuilding from the first level upwards, hopefully starting with a positive bounce-back performance against Everton this weekend.

• BBC Match report
• Latics official website report

Image licensed under Creative Commons by David Penniall at Wikipedia. Cheers man.

Mike Pollitt: A good chance of starting?

I think it would be best to write off Saturday as a bad day at the office and concentrate on the immediate future. After all, you don’t get relegated based on one result… at least hopefully not.

A bit of a diversion first, though, as next on the radar are Championship climbers and local rivals Blackpool in the city of the Golden Mile for our Carling Cup 2nd round tie. It’ll be a chance to give the impressive Mohamad Diame and his midfield compatriot Hendry Thomas some more much needed experience, even if it isn’t at Premiership level. It’s also an opportunity to try out some new things – since it’s unlikely that we’ll keep the same XI from Saturday, why not do a bit of fiddling a la the pre-season friendlies?

Well, perhaps not as much as in those matches, but we would do well to try and find a more stable back four. Bramble and Scharner put in much improved individual performances attacking-wise, but were left somewhat flagging by Rooney and Company (as opposed to Kompany). Now, what’s up with Emmerson Boyce? Is he still injured (unlikely since we’ve seen him warming up numerous times), or does Bobby prefer defenders with more attacking intent?

Whatever, let’s hope things are a bit more settled, because there’s another potentially tough game around the corner in the shape of Everton. But let’s concentrate on the task in hand–namely beating Blackpool–for now. Expect some of the guys on the fringe of the first team to make appearances and be fighting hard to make it into the team for Sunday. Apologies for being vague at this stage, but who knows what the backroom boys will come up with for Wednesday?

More importantly, it’ll be a case of getting our midfield and attackers to gel a bit more – maybe the biggest problem thus far. You see, this passing game that Martinez has us playing has a side effect: conceding many goals. The way I see it, it’s just a case of scoring one more than the opposition to get the three points.

Or, in tonight’s case, to advance to the next round.