Al Habsi was the undoubted saviour of a point for Wigan

Ali Al Habsi was once again the hero as Latics picked up another useful point against top-four challenging Liverpool. Though the visitors largely bossed proceedings, the game could have gone either way thanks to the Muscat-born shot stopper, who made eight saves to keep his side in the contest. Most pertinent was his right-handed punch to keep Charlie Adam’s 51st minute penalty from finding the back of the North Stand net, though it was his performance over the 90 minutes that earned him a deserved man of the match award.

The Wigan starting lineup remained unchanged once more, with David Jones covering at left back alongside Figueroa, Caldwell and Alcaraz. Diame and McCarthy took up position in the heart of midfield, while Jordi Gomez had free reign in the centre of the park. Much as on Saturday afternoon, Conor Sammon played a bustling ‘battering ram’ role, paving the way for the fresh legs of Rodallega and Di Santo to push for late goals.

It was all Liverpool in the first half hour, penning a nervous Wigan firmly into their own penalty area with some relentless attacking play. Al Habsi was made to earn his money with a string of saves during a hectic period which saw the hosts’ goalmouth peppered. Henderson was the first to test the Wigan keeper, his right-footed shot fisted away for a corner. Dirk Kuyt was next to produce a strike of note with a short-range effort just to the left of Al Habsi, who managed to shovel the ball out for David Jones to clear. Wigan’s clean sheet was still intact, for the time being at least.

Liverpool’s best chance of the half fell to Glen Johnson, who was also foiled by the on-song Latics keeper. The England international latched onto a Wigan clearance and worked his way past McCarthy before playing a quality one-two to find himself one-on-one with Al Habsi. Luckily for the home side, the Omani closed down well to block the effort and deny Liverpool a deserved goal.

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Pepe Reina in the Liverpool net didn't have all that much to do

We’re now on a rapid road to the all-important closing stretch of the 2010-11 Premier League season, a series of 8-10 games which could see Latics hang on for their very lives or, conversely, roll over like a subservient dog begging for its belly to be tickled. Will we be up with the big boys come August of this year, or skulking around in the Championship bemoaning our bad luck? Well, on the evidence of today, it’s hard to tell.

Before those crucial final clashes, we’ve first to see out some rather tough tasks which will be the litmus paper for what’s to come. There’s Man United, Man City, Tottenham and Chelsea all waiting in the next month, but today Latics made the relatively short trip on the Wigan Northwestern-Liverpool Lime Street service (which was probably late again) to the home of the Beatles, Cilla Black and of course Paul O’ Grady. Well, he was born in Birkenhead, actually, but it’s in the Liverpool general area in much the same way Skelmersdale is part of Wigan. Perhaps.

Wigan’s league position would suggest we’re in danger of falling away, leaving us in the situation of having to beat one of the aforementioned big boys to keep in touch. How close did the Latics come to achieving this in their first test this afternoon? Well, if you read on you might find out.

Knowing how important each and every result will be from hereon in, it was vital Latics remained positive to snatch any potential points on offer. A full-strength Wigan started in just that manner, putting the ball about in the Liverpool half with promise. As the opposition found their feet, however, the visitors would see their time on the ball curtailed by an in-form Reds side, Raul Meireles pouncing upon Wigan’s failure to get the ball out of their area. From a deflected Aurelio cross, the ball landed perfectly at the Portuguese’s feet for a volley past Al Habsi’s right hand, a quality finish on par with some of the proverbial bunnies he’s been pulling out of the hat of late.

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That picture, as if you haven't seen it enough already

They say everyone has their fifteen minutes of fame. Unfortunately, in my case, it’s more slight notability, not for my rapidly deteriorating Wigan Athletic weblog, but as the creator of that Howard Webb image. You know, the one on all the back pages of today’s papers and all over the national newswires?

All I can say is thank you, Ryan Babel. The FA and Howard Webb may not be happy, but I’ve been walking around with a crazed grin on my face the whole day, garnering a fair few strange looks at work and on the bus. I could tell them why, but who would believe me? And why on earth would they care?

As some form of proof, click the above thumbnail for the full quality image resourced from my original Photoshop file. The reason I downscaled the picture (the low resolution jpeggedness is perhaps most evident in this enlargement), originally posted on my now-defunct Retro Yakking blog back in 2009, was for web optimisation but also to mask the fact it’s a pretty poor image edit. I knocked it up in half an hour or so, hence the obvious ‘shop quality.

Much like Babel himself, I owe an apology to Howard Webb. Also much like the Dutch international, the picture was created and posted in the heat of the (albeit rather extended) moment, in my case following Manchester United’s 5–2 defeat of Tottenham in April 2009. In the aftermath of a memorable game, I posted an article –tongue-in-cheek, of course– suggesting he might just have favoured the Red Devils just a little bit in his awarding of a generous, and highly important, penalty to the hosts. Check out this quote, which might well have been misattributed to Mr Webb:

Manchester United were never going to win without a twelfth man, so I took it upon myself to become an honorary Man U man for the evening. Can’t say I liked it much — mixing with the peasants was an unpleasant experience — but you have to do what you have to do.
– Retro Yakking, 26 April 2009. ©Blogdog, formerly Today.com

It was all in good humour. If you’re reading this, Mr Webb, please understand there are no hard feelings, just a cheekiness and eagerness to poke fun – the very ethic of Retro Yakking. The blog’s host went offline in the latter half of last year and with it went all my posts for the company, including the one containing the offending picture. However, it seems a bunch of Tottenham fans picked up on it the moment it was posted and spread the thing (abomination?) around the internet. When Mr Babel entered ‘Howard Webb Manchester United’ into Google Image Search, one of the first results would have been my poor Photoshop, which he promptly tweeted.

To be honest, until someone mentioned the incident at work I’d forgotten all about it. It isn’t one of my better image edits, slightly worse than, say, this:

Who ate all the pies?

So you can probably imagine how surprised I was to see the Webb image again. Anyhow, I bet you never expected a post such as this, eh? Breaks the monotony of the match reports blog this site has become, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Finally, I also feel I must apologise for playing a small part in Babel’s FA reprimand. But Ryan, I thank you for brightening my day, nay, week.

Dan ‘Harry Yack’ Farrimond

• Gallery of newspaper appearances, because I’m anal and egotisitical like that

Another day at the office, another goal for Hugo Rodallega

We’d had our warmups in the form of Hartlepool, Preston and Swansea in the Carling Cup, but tonight saw Latics’ first midweek Premier League game of the 2010 season. It was a biggie, too, and no matter how much we tried to put it out of our minds (“bloomin’ great, another hammering,” mutter), it always loomed large on the horizon. I mean, it’s Liverpool, how could it not be huge?

Of the so-called ‘Big Four’, Liverpool is the team we’ve had most success against since our promotion to England’s top flight in 2005. More often than not, this matchup has yielded some intriguing and often exciting encounters – one need look no further than this time three years ago when the spectacular Amr Zaki almost propelled Wigan to new heights at Anfield. I wonder what happened to that bloke?

And of course, who could forget our win at the DW last season, a moment that will live long in any Latic’s memory? Hugo Rodallega might not be “a patch on” Harry Lyon, but he helped us beat the five-time European champions (not forgetting the small matter of a UEFA Cup), and that’s definitely something to be proud of. Maybe in ten years’ time we’ll be seeing websites dedicated to Rodders, no doubt with a plethora of Only Fools and Horses puns.

As expected, the visitors came at Latics from the word go, eager to gain the initiative. That they did on 7 minutes, courtesy the in-form Fernando ‘Nando’ Torres — his first away goal in the Prem for more than six months — from the edge of Al Habsi’s penalty area. I like this idea of naming players after restaurants, it adds the human element to some of these £100,000-a-week superheroesque figures we call footballers. Man, if I had £100,000 I could retire tomorrow – as long as I didn’t blow it on a Lambo or something first.

But never mind how much these guys are being paid, even if it’s somewhat relevant: I’d guess Liverpool’s player wage budget is far greater than that of Latics, to the extent Chris Kirkland has recently been reduced to begging for bus fares on Library Street. Well, it looked like him anyway…

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