The Champions League. Often touted as ‘bigger than the World Cup‘, it’s a tournament in which every footballer this side of the Atlantic aspires to compete. But it don’t half clog up your fixture list, does it? One only has to ask Chelsea, fighting hard to stay in the title race –a losing battle of…
This game, according to John Toner of 101greatgoals, represented a “unique opportunity” for the Latics. Spurs, no doubt with half an eye on Tuesday’s Champions League bout with European heavyweights Real Madrid, travelled to Wigan with just two fit central defenders and a damage limitation mentality to ensure no more injury worries ahead of their…
Photographs from the crucial Premier League clash with Birmingham City on Saturday 19 March. It was a variously tense and exciting afternoon, especially when things picked up in the second half. The best of these pics will be available on the Illarterate Flickr channel soon, so check that out if you get the chance.
2.35pm at the DW concourse, and all eyes were on West Ham’s battling performance against Champions League contenders Tottenham at White Hart Lane. It most likely will have gone unnoticed, but it was around this time that the starting lineups for Wigan’s clash with Birmingham were announced over the stadium tannoy. Had they been paying…
Isn’t it funny how one heavy loss –which, I must reiterate, was largely expected– can change the mood at a club to such an extent? Well, I say ‘club’ when I mean ‘the fans’, because after the shenanigans of last week, Roberto remained as philosophical as ever. Should we expect anything else? The guy’s a…
I swear I’ll never fully understand the mainstream media as long as I live. Prior to last week’s clash with Liverpool, every big time Charlie and rag tag red top was writing us off before a ball had been kicked. What happened? They ended up with egg on their faces as, by some fluke, Wigan…
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…
If Tuesday night was a must win game, then I’m not sure what today was. You know that expression, “a real six pointer”? Though this wasn’t one of those in the truest sense of the word, Wigan sure could have used six points, planted firmly in the relegation zone and looking increasingly hopeless as they…
Having lost against Aston Villa, I would have thought a win in this game was pretty important considering the state of the table. Recognising this fact, Martinez ditched the old 4-5-1 in favour of more attacking formations he’s been experimenting with of late, Franco Di Santo retaining his central striker position with Rodallega and N’Zogbia…
So there we were, one whole month later than originally planned, on a Tuesday evening at the DW. One thing remained the same, however – this was a significant game in Latics’ season. Villa, now with a £24m(?!) Darren Bent on board, found themselves mixing it with us at the foot of the table, but…
Considering some of the cracking football played by our hosts of late, it won’t come as a surprise that I was expecting a major damage limitation exercise this afternoon, a prediction that would (inevitably?) prove a reality. In the first half, a relatively out-of-form Latics really struggled against the quality of Fabregas, van Persie et…
It was nice to actually be able to get to a game for a change, to sample the (very tense) atmosphere of the DW once more after a string of working Saturdays. The old camera, complete with new batteries, was brought out once more for some pre-game snaps from a decent viewpoint in the East…