Wigan Athletic (H)

[Winchester White]

4 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

My thought was that a lot of players under performed compared to their usual levels.  To be clear, I DON'T CARE 😀 but I honestly thought we won that game with the following players not quite at their usual standards, and its great to know we will play better if we need to: 

Johnston (2nd half); Simons (unusually sloppy at times); Erhahon (decent physicality but can be better in possession - we missed Sheehan in some ways); Cozier Duberry, his least impressive game (still great to watch but not usual "different class"), Conway - the first time I've watched him and thought he wasn't our best player over 90 minutes, gave the ball away quite a bit.

For balance - take a bow Cogley and Gale - obviously Gale was our best player in the first hour, but Cogley played 100 minutes and would be my MOTM, even his poor cross in the 1st half led to a goal!

I would agree with most of this. We didn't really play down the right much so I wouldn't be so hard to criticise imo, he was shouting for the ball every time.

[only1swanny]

JohnsTon was knackered by the end. 

That collision of heads was brutal, the noise alone made me feel sick, and he seemed to struggle after that point despite being cleared to carry on. 

[Leyther_Matt]

Nice to see Forino get a mention from Schumacher on GMR although I thought Johnston was similarly colossal. Hope someone got a photo of him screaming in one of their lads faces after one of the blocks near NSL.

Anyone else seen the video of one of their players coming off the team coach to lob a bottle at the fans waiting behind?! If a fan does that then he’d be getting a knock on the door in the morning

[London Wanderer]

I could watch that 4th goal over & over.

Two calamitous errors. School boy stuff would be a compliment.

Tinpot Wigan at their best. 

Our wingers have had a fair bit of criticism in recent weeks, often unfairly for bonkers reasons like ‘they cut inside too much’. They were superb today, mixed it up a lot & can only push on from here. Even the selfless runs & movement from Duberry whilst Gale was shining, made all the difference. 
 

What a player Burstow is.
 

And feels like more to come from others in the squad . Really hope we can push on from here & this is things clicking . 

Edited September 20, 2025 by London Wanderer

[L/H White]

Just now, Leyther_Matt said:

Nice to see Forino get a mention from Schumacher on GMR although I thought Johnston was similarly colossal. Hope someone got a photo of him screaming in one of their lads faces after one of the blocks near NSL.

Anyone else seen the video of one of their players coming off the team coach to lob a bottle at the fans waiting behind?! If a fan does that then he’d be getting a knock on the door in the morning

I've seen 2 videos and it was deserved really 

Handbags 

[ianofcleveleys]

A great day, simple as. Tremendous performances all over, hard to pick a MoM. Gale unplayable first half, Forss solved the no10 issue, Burstow took his goal superbly. 

Simons and Erhahon totally ran the show for an hour

Also worth saying, we defended what they had to offer very well, Forino and Johnston headed and blocked umpteen corners and crosses.

Been a while waiting for us to have 20k fans taking the pics out of their lot for an hour. They were rank, typical Lowe outfit. 

[Tonge moor green jacket]

5 minutes ago, London Wanderer said:

I could watch that 4th goal over & over.

Two calamitous errors. School boy stuff would be a compliment.

Tinpot Wigan at their best. 

Our wingers have had a fair bit of criticism in recent weeks, often unfairly for bonkers reasons like ‘they cut inside too much’. They were superb today, mixed it up a lot & can only push on from here. Even the selfless runs & movement from Duberry whilst Gale was shining, made all the difference. 
 

What a player Burstow is.
 

And feels like more to come from others in the squad . Really hope we can push on from here & this is things clicking . 

They cut inside too much?

Virtually everyone has seen this

SS acknowledged it.

Two today came from crosses being cut back. As we have done previously too.

But aye, it is a bonkers reason to be critical.

[Spider]

Imagine wanting to look for negatives today.

Some folk are just weird

Up the fucking whites

[only1swanny]

9 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Nice to see Forino get a mention from Schumacher on GMR although I thought Johnston was similarly colossal. Hope someone got a photo of him screaming in one of their lads faces after one of the blocks near NSL.

Anyone else seen the video of one of their players coming off the team coach to lob a bottle at the fans waiting behind?! If a fan does that then he’d be getting a knock on the door in the morning

They had to move the mascots as they wanted to practice long kicks, their 2nd keeper then decided he wanted to stand right next to the kids again resulting in them nearly getting got..

[royal white]

Our front line knew they were in for an easy day after the first 5 mins. Great display. 

[frank_spencer]

Tickle is an outstanding keeper and we would've had more against most other goalies in this league. I was surprised Wigan had kept hold of him over the summer.

[ianofcleveleys]

41 minutes ago, thebells said:

Excellent today, but have been all season. This team is outstanding and with every passing week I’m more and more convinced we’ll go up automatically. 

Forss is a level above and Burstow remains the 20 goal man people often claim we don’t have. 

Gale was the main man though. It was clear from the 7th minute after he’d got in twice that Wigan were in trouble. Why on earth Ryan Lowe didn’t look to solve that problem I don’t know. Fully expect 7 points from next 3 and we’re right in the top 3 or 4 then after 12 games. 

It’s going to be a good season. 

The difference with this side, as it evolves, is it's sprinkled with players who have played or been brought up at a higher level, rather than Evatt's fixation with chucking money at lads with no pedigree above this Division and a ceiling at this level. 

Forss had the nouse and that bit of extra class to be the perfect foil for Burstow, who, like Simons, shows those bits of quality that mark him out as one who's come through a higher class system. Similar with ACD and to a degree Gale, who destroyed them down that side today

[Tombwfc]

51 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

So he isn't just a lump to come on then, as you said.

Simple really. 

 

Have a go at reading it again.

[Johnnyrotten]

10 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

A great day, simple as. Tremendous performances all over, hard to pick a MoM. Gale unplayable first half, Forss solved the no10 issue, Burstow took his goal superbly. 

Simons and Erhahon totally ran the show for an hour

Also worth saying, we defended what they had to offer very well, Forino and Johnston headed and blocked umpteen corners and crosses.

Been a while waiting for us to have 20k fans taking the pics out of their lot for an hour. They were rank, typical Lowe outfit. 

Yes I should have mentioned Forino along with Cogley, outstanding heading and defending generally.  

I think Toal offers something extra in possession but credit to Forino's bravery and commitment today. 

[wanderer1984]

😎

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

That fourth goal 😆😆

[Johnnyrotten]

5 minutes ago, frank_spencer said:

Tickle is an outstanding keeper and we would've had more against most other goalies in this league. I was surprised Wigan had kept hold of him over the summer.

Gifted us the first goal and I know we had a few shots on target but not sure any L1 keeper would have let any of those in would they?  Looked a bit slow off his line 3 times in the first half when we should probably have got round him, admittedly I'd probably need to see them again, just first impressions.

[onefinfrandsen]

2 hours ago, auckland_bwfc said:

3 years of turmoil left my bones and DNA every time the ball hit the net today.

Epic. 

Long time since I felt so much joy celebrating a goal when the first went in. 1 to 11 were outstanding but special mention to forino and also cogley who was so positive and was back to his best today. Think I’m in shock after witnessing that result.

[ianofcleveleys]

11 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Yes I should have mentioned Forino along with Cogley, outstanding heading and defending generally.  

I think Toal offers something extra in possession but credit to Forino's bravery and commitment today. 

Cogley was a lot better today, what I liked a couple of times was how positive he was with his passing, seeing a more ambitious ball, going for it and executing it. 

On the other side, Max has an uncanny ability to see an opportunity get in and nick the ball off a winger, then turn it into attack. 

[Ani]

Think fair to say in the manager battle. SS won hands down. The ease with which we got the ball in space to the wide men was so easy.

Really pissed with their goal as everything when flat from there. We defended corners superbly but we gave 16 away ! Their goal was their only shot on target 👍👍.

Just so much relief to get that monkey off our back, but we need to (and will) back it up next week.

JDC proved a lot of people wrong today. 
 

Think we could have added the extra man in midfield a bit earlier, but fuck me if that is the worst thing today it ain’t a bad one is it ? 

[Ani]

I never so as much rain as there was on the M62 coming back. Biblical.

 

[Tombwfc]

41 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Its getting wierd now.  But I was right behind that shot and it wasn't saveable, realistically. 

 

Conceded 15 shots on target and 8 have gone in. And I can't remember them all but my guess is most, if not all, of the seven saves have been very routine.

He might be shit, I don't know. But at the minute it's bad luck more than anything.

[onefinfrandsen]

2 hours ago, L/H White said:

Worst team I've seen this season 

We made them look very ordinary, especially first half, great to see us really up to the task.

[Lostock Whites]

Lots and lots of thoughts, but for right now I just want to say.

Chris Forino, what an absolute UNIT!

Him and Gale have been getting better and better in recent games and were both immense today.

Burstow and Forss are levels above the strikers we've had of recent years.

GET IN! 

 

[Wanderlust]

37 minutes ago, London Wanderer said:

Our wingers have had a fair bit of criticism in recent weeks, often unfairly for bonkers reasons like ‘they cut inside too much’. They were superb today, mixed it up a lot & can only push on from here. Even the selfless runs & movement from Duberry whilst Gale was shining, made all the difference. 
 

It’s a different proposition for wingers when there are two in the middle and it’s taken until now for SS to drop Randall and McAtee and go with Forss alongside Burstow with midfielders pivoting behind to provide new options for them. In previous games they’ve generally been double marked and had little choice but cut inside at times. Today they had central targets which blows away the defensive tactics that have kept us out so far. It gave them freedom and at times they were even operating in tandem on the same side which was a joy to behold.