It’s chaos in Ken’s as I forget to claim my toasted
cheese sandwich while talking to Mike about his new pop-up comedy club (not
known as West Ham United) earning a blast from Carol and Billy. And then it’s chaos on the streets outside the East
Stand as half the season ticket cards haven’t been uploaded. My card works but
Fraser has to go to the ticket office to get a paper ticket. Lisa is with us, receiving reports from Crawley versus Swansea from Matt Van Percy.
Big Sam makes nine changes from the side against
Sunderland giving starts to Spence, Potts and Hall. Apart from Al Habsi it’s a
Wigan reserve side too. It all starts well for the Irons as McArthur slices the
ball straight to Maiga who scores with a confident finish after seven minutes.
But then we let in three before half-time. McManaman crosses
from the left and £6m Argentine striker Boselli beats Tomkins to the ball to prod
home. Centre back Ramis is allowed to stroll through from the half way
line without being challenged, Potts backs off, and Ramis shoots home from the
edge of the box. Boselli then beats West Ham’s feeble offside trap and chips over
Henderson.
Hall shoots just wide before the interval, but Wigan’s
passing game is much better than ours — a sign of just what a good manager Martinez
is.
Fraser says I Get Around, revealing he’s seen the
Beach Boys the previous night. Wouldn’t it be Nice if we could score, I
suggest.
Sam moves Potts to left back and McCartney to centre
back and our performance improves slightly in the second half. Though it’s a
mystery why we don’t have any first team players on the bench to rescue a game
like this. Hall hits the bar, Spence wins the match of the match award for some
good runs forward. Big Sam brings on endless left-sided players in Taylor and
Fanimo but no-one will pass to Jarvis, who makes semaphore signals on the flank
without effect. The game's settled on 84 minutes. Gary O’Neil goes down holding
his knee but the ref fails to stop play and Wigan win a penalty when Henderson
brings down McArthur. Dylan Tombides gets ten minutes of action on his debut but has no
time to make any impact in a capitulating side.
The Wigan fans cheer at the final whistle and head off
for their taxi. It’s not a great way for Mark Noble to celebrate signing his
new contract. Fraser says it’s the most indefensible thing he’s seen since
Jeremy Vine danced on Strictly. At least we get a seat in the Black Lion
afterwards.
“We couldn’t defend a fish supper,” says Big Sam.
Though why would you want to defend a fish supper? He continues with an honest
analysis: “There were howling errors from our
defenders in all four goals, it was comical. All the good work we might have
done with the ball meant nothing in the end because out of possession we were
just rubbish. It was an embarrassing defeat. They can't come knocking on my
door about not playing now. They've got to take responsibility for their
performance. They should have given me a lot more value for my money than they
did."
With experienced players like Noble,
Jarvis, Tomkins, McCartney, Vaz Te and Maiga in the side we should have done much
better. A worrying sign that we don’t have the strength in depth of Wigan. Sam
needs to get that fish supper down to Chadwell Heath, put it on the goaline and
instruct his charges how to defend it.
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