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Was surprised how poor Wigan were after spanking Villa last week. Expected a lot more from them. 

 

We won at a canter but should have buried them 3/4-0. It was one of those games where I thought we were going to do a ‘Wednesday’ and concede a late equaliser after dominating for the most part. 

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Fletcher won everything. And Nuhiu too when he came on. Normally our big man wins about 1 in 5 long balls.

It could be that the Steves had researched the opposition and realised that Wigan's central defenders aren't very good. 

So was yesterday indicative of a change to playing to exploit opposition weaknesses or a more general change to long ball style? To be fair, we had already started to reduce the fannying about at the back before Jos left.

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I'd imagine, on average, those 300 or so Wigan fans in the Lepp would be able to form much more coherent and insightful assessments of a match (like this person's) than our fans, on average, would from an away match.

 

Main reason being about 80% of us will be p1ssed as a fart.

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17 minutes ago, torres said:

It’s not long ball is just lack of faffing about with it 

 

After we scored we played some very good stuff for 15 - 20 minutes 


Long ball to me is hoofing it straight down the middle to a big forward hoping he'll win it when he's surrounded by 2 or 3 defenders. I didn't notice us doing that yesterday. A lot of the passes to Fletcher were to him dropping a bit deeper and we always had someone in his vicinity.

The goal came from 2 or 3 very quick passes which left Fletcher with 20 yards of space to run into and when he shot he could just as easily have put Boyd in with a shooting chance. We always had someone to pass to and we passed much more quickly and pressed higher for most of the second half.

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1 minute ago, the mighty wednesday said:


Long ball to me is hoofing it straight down the middle to a big forward hoping he'll win it when he's surrounded by 2 or 3 defenders. I didn't notice us doing that yesterday. A lot of the passes to Fletcher were to him dropping a bit deeper and we always had someone in his vicinity.

The goal came from 2 or 3 very quick passes which left Fletcher with 20 yards of space to run into and when he shot he could just as easily have put Boyd in with a shooting chance. We always had someone to pass to and we passed much more quickly and pressed higher for most of the second half.

In a way I think we might have got lucky with the goal...Because what kind of team plays so far back giving a striker 20 yards of space , he could have nipped home had a cuppa come back and scored, any team would have closed down the moment he got the ball.

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1 hour ago, deano said:

I wouldn't say was long every time, thought we mixed it up. 

 

Yep exactly, the only long balls were when the keeper/defense had the ball and Fletcher completely destroyed their CB and won it every time, when we had the ball in midfield we played through the middle/flanks in a passing style.

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12 minutes ago, Tamworthowl said:

It could be that the Steves had researched the opposition and realised that Wigan's central defenders aren't very good. 

 

Good point.

 

Could be that (and Fletcher has plenty in his locker to get the better of those type of defenders). 

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13 minutes ago, stocksyuto said:

So it’s possible we are back to playing long ball

 

 

Did you watch the game? We're not back to long balls, we're just back to when the keeper/defenders have the ball clear it upfield instead of fannying around with it! :)

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6 minutes ago, stocksyuto said:

In a way I think we might have got lucky with the goal...Because what kind of team plays so far back giving a striker 20 yards of space , he could have nipped home had a cuppa come back and scored, any team would have closed down the moment he got the ball.


You may well be right there but the fact that Fletcher wasn't always doing the same thing makes it harder for defenders to know what to do. Having said this it was the speed of those 2 or 3 passes which found Fletcher in all that space. On another day we could have passed it to him more sedately giving the defender time to close him down. Some forwards would have been almost following the defender about trying to "win their duel " instead of finding space.

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1 hour ago, Kopparberg said:

 

Tend to agree. Sending it long is less risky, and really, that’s what most fans want to see. 

It’s the right call for our squad but it’s not how I want us to play and it will never work if we happen to go up , we need defenders who are comfortable in possession in the long run .The punt up to our big man everytime is too one dimensional for me 

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38 minutes ago, Jonboy27 said:

There is a difference between long ball and being direct. Mixing the play - like we did yesterday and since Jos left - plays more to the strengths of our players. Why would you make life hard for yourself in trying to play out from the back with players that are not comfortable in doing so ?

 

Couldn't have put it better myself..... Also it might have been far easier for Dawson too as he got pelters for it when he was just doing as he was told.  The rest of his game is fine and his shot stopping is great...I did feel sorry for him the abuse he was getting from round me was ridiculous... I do love Westy though..got a man love thing going on!

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That was the one main change for me today and it shows that the current management team aren't set in their ways, I was fearing the worst after the Hull game.

 

Bullen had us winning again using the "long ball" up to fletch then playing from there. Then they changed things in the Hull game to playing out from the back again. Now they've gone back to the more direct option and it looks a million times more effective. Might not look the best but keep sticking with what works I say. 

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There is a vast difference between the 'long ball' and the hoofed ball' The first is directed  to a forward player or a position he is able to run onto. The hoofed ball is simply a long clearance anywhere. The long ball can be very effective when used correctly, not when the forward has to contest for the ball.    .

Also the idea of shooting from outside the box is excellent, if the shot's on target

There is nothing in the rules, nor the coaching manuals, that says a player must be in the 6yard area before he shoots. We are often too overawed by the trickery. Football is still a basic game. 

 

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