Wigan’s horseshoe collection, shortly before it was stolen by Alex Ferguson

Agh, must I write about this now? 18 painstaking hours of blanking out the memory will be undone in a fraction of that time tapping away at my chocolate-stained keyboard, but what the heck. I believe there is just enough space for brief reflection before we draw a line under this matter and move on to Wemb… ah, hahah! But that is a subject for another day (tomorrow, in fact), so I shall not mention it just yet, even if I feel the constant need.

So much right, yet so much wrong. At times Latics looked at though they could stick the ball in Swansea’s net at will and this was an utter joy to witness. It was all tempered, however, by the odd piece of chaotic defending that threatened to undermine the club’s very survival in The Greatest League in the World (©The Mainstream Media), and so it came to pass. Or, should I say, misplaced pass. (Yay, enough with the poor jokes – Ed.)

I dunno what happened there as I am my own editor so there is no need to add such comments. Anyhow, the injuries issue. Barring McArthur’s early season travails and tribulations, I can hardly remember a single midfield or forward that has suffered quite as much as our centre backs have collectively this season.

Respected up-and-coming footy journalistic type Danny Jamieson recently compiled a longlist of all the players that have had spells in the centre of defence in the past nine months or so, and it’s pretty populous. I won’t recite it here or my web bandwidth will be exceeded long before I am finished typing, but suffice to say any club so unsettled in such an integral position, even the very best of the best, would suffer to some extent.

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Whelan: “No holidays until you win three games!”

I don’t normally apologise for my post title puns but in this case I shall make an exception, because that one was bad enough to make you choke on your early evening prawn sandwiches. Much like the first goal on Saturday, then.

As you might expect from a weekly Latics podcast, the Tottenham game is covered in minute detail, from the (non-)impact of Gareth Bale to Callum McManaman’s progression as a Premier League player.

After some of the usual griping, it’s time for the PWU panellists to get on their soapbox and rant because the end of the season draws near! West Brom and Swansea – two gargantuan games that could decide the fate of Wigan Athletic in the 2012-13 Premier League campaign. But then you did not need me or any other wannabe mainstream journalist to tell you that.

Just take a deep breath and keep all your digits crossed, guys.

Contents

Tottenham review (0:00); West Brom preview (28:00); Swansea preview (40:00); Wemb… oh wait, best not mention that until next week.

Get involved!

Progress With Unity is currently the only Wigan Athletic fan podcast on the web. If you would like to get involved or have any topics you’d like to be discussed please get in touch with Barry at wigan@vitalfootball.co.uk, marking your email PWU Podcast.

A friendly word of advice: bookmark the PWU iTunes and RSS pages so you don’t miss next week’s simply unmissable episode. Not that I can see into the future or anything, but there’s going to be heated debate whatever happens in the coming seven days. Will Latics remain in the Premier League this time next week? Ooh, the tension is excruciating.

New!!!!: the Progress With Unity app. Exciting eh? I wouldn’t have included so many exclamation marks otherwise. If you’re interested, there’s more info here.

Yes, made it through this whole post without mentioning the c*p f*nal! Oh, screw it…

Latics rejoin the long and treacherous path to Wembley

This week, the PWU Podcast team bring you a special ‘attempting not to tempt fate‘ edition. As you may know, the happy Hammers are in town this weekend, and will no doubt be intent on exacting revenge for the consequences of our last league meeting. Then, before we’ll have had time to even catch our breath, Tuesday will see the visit of Bradford City for the latest chapter in Wigan Athletic’s Capital One cup saga.

As intimated in the recording, I could go on record to predict two comfortable wins, but that would be stupid. Much like Michael Fish, I haven’t yet correctly forecast a scoreline this season so you can take my two 2-0 wins with a pinch of particularly salty pie filling. Wigan-West Ham is (to use that old chestnut) predictably unpredictable, and we all know how dangerous lower league sides can be.

Enoughblah. Time for… erm, more blah.

Charlie Nicholas can be found here and the RSS feed here. The PWU Twitter account is here (follow now for free Latics-biased opinion), while emergency exits are located here, here, and here.

International breaks suck. The lack of Latics action over the past two weeks has forced me to watch videos of cats falling off worktops and attempting to open doors rather than highlights from our most recent game. The only alternative was witnessing yet more rain fall on an already waterlogged Polish pitch and, well, I think I was better served plumping for the You’ve Been Framed out-takes. (A.K.A. the Belgium-Scotland game.)

Just in time to save us from this increasingly morbid state, Latics made the trip to a whole other country to face Swansea City. Hopefully the lads still had their passports at hand after a long fornight’s globetrotting with their respective international sides, as I hear those customs officials at the Cheshire border are tighter than Dave Whelan’s purse strings on a Friday evening.

Arouna Kone in particular must have found a modicum of relief in returning to club football after a quite literally riotous international weekend, while Maynor Figueroa was no doubt shaking off the jet lag from another long trip abroad. Gary Caldwell, James McArthur and Shaun Maloney also had a busy time of it against an impressive Belgium, while Jean Beausejour and James McCarthy travelled with Chile and Ireland.

Yet somehow, somehow, Roberto Martinez was able to field an unchanged starting lineup for this afternoon’s game. Not sure what he’s putting in the pre-training coffee, but it put paid to my own less than tentative prediction that Miyaichi or McManaman may start in light of fatigue.

Swansea were undoubtedly the first half’s primary aggressors, dominating possession and shot count. Shaun Maloney tested Vorm early on, but it was to be the keeper’s last real action of the half as the hosts slowly took control. Jonathan De Guzman saw one shot saved and another fly wide of Ali Al Habsi’s post, while Michu headed Wayne Routledge’s superb cross over the bar on the half hour mark.

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