Andy Munro on Blues’ defeat to Wigan.
We huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow the Wigan house down. Yes, they timewasted, spoilt and sat back but, in fairness, they only did what most teams playing with ten men for 80 minutes would do.
Our inability to break them down exposed our shortcomings in attack as well as showing up a paper thin squad that isn’t helped by injuries. In the end Wigan’s goal was an accident waiting to happen, although we certainly deserved something out of the game.
However, we are where we are although I do think John Eustace made the wrong decision in altering our shape in trying to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at the Lactics. Troy Deeney looked less of a threat than the Juke whilst the lanky Sam Cosgrove spent more time crowding out our play out wide than getting in the box to try and convert crosses.
Jonathan Leko also over-complicates matters and often either beats himself or sends in some horribly wayward crosses.
Bright spots were hard to find, although Ruddy and the back three in front of him were solid and Jordan James did his best to unpick the opposition, as did Juninho Bacuna but it was just too congested in the final third and left Bluenoses wishing that the game had been an open eleven against eleven.
Still, we move on and hope for two things – a pacy forward and a takeover. Despite all the paper talk both still seem long odds against.