The Tigers traveled to Wigan for a televised game that proved by far the least entertaining game we've seen this season. City performed poorly from the first whistle but we rode our luck and looked a decent bet for at least a point before conceding another suicidal goal. This won't make for a pretty read but it'll be a lot prettier than the game.
With Ashbee, Gardner and Cousin unfit to play; City started with Kilbane in the centre of midfield and named captain. He was as out of his depth as a goldfish in a shark tank. Manucho started alongside Fagan up front and Marney returned. The fact that Marney was overlooked for the armband shows how upset PB was with his sending off the other week. With hindsight, Garcia would've started in the centre of midfield because until he moved in there, we were wretched. The performance was far worse than that in the 0-5 defeat to the Wiganers in August and in the first half an hour, they created far more chances than in the whole of the previous game too. Allowed to play with time and space and gifted possession time and again, they looked a decent side. All of their early pressure game from our mistakes. Marney tried to beat Brown when he was the second last City defender from goal, lost the ball and we were lucky Mido wasted the opportunity. Poor play from Geo cost us possession as did another poor pass from Marney and a silly cross field pass from Fagan. Aimless balls out of defence, careless passing in midfield and poor decisions up front meant we were constantly on the back foot. Rodagella teed up Mido for another miss; a cross across the box somehow missed everyone and went through Dawson's legs and Duke saved well when Rodagella went through one on one. It was hideous. Mido bullied Turner and Zayatte, who looked third rate. Mendy didn't make a pass, a break or a tackle all through the half. Ricketts and Dawson were exposed easily. Manucho was the only City player to win any sort of ball on the ground, which says everything you need to know about the midfield. Marney obviously realised City needed some presence in the midfield in Ash's absence, but charging around aimlessly trying to kick people wasn't the way to go about it. The shape of the team should've been fine. The forwards had enough pace and power to cause trouble, we had a threat from wide, we had two steady midfielders who can pass the ball well and our trusty back four. Unfortunately, almost everyone had an off day. They had Titus Bramble and Emerson Boyce at centre back. Both are fair players on their day and Bramble is a little better than most would have you believe but a top class centre back pairing they are not. All they had to do throughout the first half was head the ball out and then wait for us to give it back to them. Our midfield pairing was outplayed by Michael Brown and Ben Watson. Again, two decent players but compared with many in this league, pretty average. When Brown is the best passer on display, there is something wrong. Dawson had to leave the pitch towards the end of the half, replaced by Garcia with Mendy moving to right back and Ricketts to the left. Just shy of half time, Zayatte and N'Zogbia were injured in a thundering challenge. With the makeshift midfield looking ropey and our first choice defence being stretched even before Dawson's departure, it was a blow.
Zayatte somehow passed fit to start the second half and City improved steadily. Fagan saw plenty of the ball throughout the half, with mixed results, but with Manucho coming into the game and Geo having more impact, we were able to put Wigan on the back foot. Their chances became more sporadic but still looked pretty gilt-edged. Our first decent effort came after almost an hour of football when a lovely Marney corner was met powerfully by Manucho at the near post but was tipped over by Kirkland. A foot either side of him and it was in. At the other end, a scramble in the box fell to Watson but Duke saved bravely at his feet. When Zayatte was finally forced to go off after an hour, Folan came on up front, Fagan moved right and Garcia went into the centre of midfield. Kilbane moved to left back and Ricketts to the centre. It was a Peter Taylor substitution. Garcia gave us a bit of drive in the midfield for the first time all afternoon pushing on in possession and, get this, passing the ball to the feet of the other players on his team. Despite enjoying some better possession, getting the ball into some good wide area's and having a decent target in the middle, we were never able to put in a decent final ball to worry them. After yet another let off when Figueroa headed against a post, you wondered if it might be our day. We'd played poorly but survived and looked to be through the worst of it. The half had been far less hectic than the first period and since most of the action took place in our box, that was welcome. In fact, the most action of the half came from Chris Kirkland who spent his time saving imaginary shots. It looked like a goalkeeping form of epilepsy. Then came the self-inflicted sucker punch. A long throw from Figueroa was punched out by Duke. It wasn't a great punch but fell to a City shirt on the edge of the area so was good enough. It fell to Marney, who instead of hooking it clear or flicking it on with his head, chose to chest it down … in the penalty area! Ben Watson pounced on the mistake and lifter the ball over the now stranded Duke and the hapless Kilbane into the net. It was fitting for Mothers Day. A gift; wrapped and delivered. We didn't ever look like getting an equaliser but tried anyway. All we did was exhibit plenty more poor decisions and continue failing to deliver a decent ball in. Injury time was extended when the referee had to be substituted after injuring his foot. His replacement Mike Dean was greeted with chants of "Your not fit to referee" from all 26 of the home fans, obviously the result of some previous. His only real action was to rob us of a great attacking position when Melchiot assaulted Kilbane in the air 5 yards from the area. He didn't give a free-kick, stopped play for both players to receive treatment and then gave a drop ball and allowed Wigan to kick it back to Duke. The Wigan fans were right, it turns out, and Mr. Dean only needed three minutes to prove it. An equaliser would have been welcome but undeserved.
Duke had a fine game and did nothing wrong again. He was agile and brave and made good decisions, particularly when Rodagella twice ran clear. Rather than charging from goal, Duke stood up and made Rodagella think and he won the battle twice. His short distribution made his City's best passer of the game by far. Ricketts and Dawson both struggled with little cover in front of them. Rickets had the more difficult job, facing N'Zogbia and Figueroa in tandem in the first half. He did about as well as possible and then did a fine job at centre back. He looked very comfortable in the position again. Turner didn't look fully fit and struggled badly against Mido who won almost everything in the air as well as conning several free-kicks out of Turner. He made one terrific block to stop a cross finding Mido unmarked in the first half and did well after the break. Zayatte looked a little erratic again. When he wins the ball, he's fine but if he doesn't, he leaves himself out of the game in some odd positions. In the first half as a ball fell to Rodagella on the left, he dived into a tackle and got nowhere near leaving us in serious trouble. Like many others, he's got to make better decision.
Midfield was a real Achilles heel in the first half as they failed to put any pressure on the ball when we didn't have possession and lost it too easily when we did. Bryan Hughes did a steady job at Arsenal and I've no idea what our management team were thinking when they decided that Kilbane was the better option. Hughes is light weight but Kilbane makes him look like Makalele in the midfield. Positionally, he was nowhere, he didn't make a tackle, he didn't track runners and he passed poorly. To be fair to him, he did a better job at left back though that isn't saying much. His set piece delivery was terrible too. Marney spent the first 60 minutes flitting between running around like a headless chicken and disappearing altogether. When paired with Garcia, he improved slightly and came into the game when others were tiring as he often does. Surely there isn't still anyone anywhere in the world who thinks Ashbee shouldn't play every minute of every game? Mendy was a waste of space again on the right. After 5 minutes, Dawson had to tell Ricketts to tell him to get tight on Figueroa when he came forward but he never did. Terrible in possession and oblivious to anything that went on off the ball. When he went to right back, everyone looked a bit worried and when he was booked for a wreckless challenge about 45 seconds later, it appeared for good reason. However, he did a good job. He was helped by N'Zogbia' injury but he was able to use his pace to stop anyone going past him and he cut out the constant supply of crosses that had come in during the first half. Geovanni did quite well but wasn't able to get on the ball as much as he has recently or run at them with much success. He held onto the ball too long at times and was robbed, causing a problem for our defense. He looked lively in little patches and appeared to be the one player who might unlock them but it never really happened for him. Garcia did a fine job overall. He made a couple of mistakes within about 30 seconds in the half but otherwise was very strong.
Manucho was the best outfield performer. He was the only person who won any ball and about the only one who kept a hold on possession. He worked hard coming off the front line and battled well in the air. He showed a threat attacking crosses at times but we just don't deliver the ball from open play. Similarly with Cousin, we have a massive aerial threat that just isn't utilised. Fagan worked hard as usual but had a mixed day with the ball. Half the time, he looks like a world beater and the rest, he's awful. He gave us some great touches and linked play well and then at other times, he ran down blind alleys, gifted them the ball and got too involved in petty squabbles. For the second game in a row, he had to be removed before he got sent off. That isn't good enough. Folan did OK when he came on. He threatened with his pace but struggled against their stronger defenders who were able to outmaneuver him.
The result wasn't terrible. Wigan are a good side and we have a little bit of breathing space. I'd have taken 1-0 beforehand with a makeshift side. However, the performance as a whole was a long way below the acceptable level. As the game panned out, we should've been fighting and scrapping to hang on to a valuable and undeserved point but threw it away without so much as a whimper. The truth is, Wigan were missing some key players and were in the mood to be generous with their finishing. If we'd played at even 75% of the level we did at Fulham, we could've taken all three points easily. Portsmouth at home will now get the "must win" treatment and there'll be a lot of pressure on the team that Browny will have to work hard to lift. The situation comes about because the players keep chucking away points. We should have had one today, two more against Newcastle, one against Spurs and one against Blackburn and that's just recently. The situation would look a whole lot different if we'd performed properly when it mattered. I still don't think we'll go down but we definitely could. If we do, there can't be any excuse. Most of the damage is self inflicted.
Ratings: Duke 7, Ricketts 7, Dawson 6 (Garcia 7), Turner 6, Zayatte 6 (Folan), Mendy 6, Geovanni 6, Marney 5, Kilbane 5, Fagan 6 (Halmosi), Manucho 8.