Wigan vs. Tottenham, Jan 11, Pre/During/Post Match thread [R]

[Phillyspur]

Wigan's good form in the league - 5 wins out of 6 - has taken them up to 7th, 8 points ahead of us. Zaki and Heskey are fit again, so a much stronger team than we saw in the cup last week. A tricky away tie, for sure.

On the other hand, they have never beaten us, and Defoe is available. Will Harry field a 4-4-2 and go all out for the win?

[vasilli07]

For an away game, i wouldn't mind going with a 4-5-1 with Defoe upfront. Wigan will attack us, we can play a counter-attacking game.

[calmanalysis]

I hope Harry disregards reputations and sticks with a midfield of:

O'Hara - Modric - Zokora - Lennon

That, in my opinion, is the best (four or five man) midfield we can play with the current crop of players we have (not including Stephen Appiah). Once Jenas is match fit I'd play him left wing instead of J O'H.

[SpursGlory]

Wigan in 7th only 7 pts off Arsenal with a game in hand. :eek:

Can't over state how important it is for us to get 3 pts out of this one. With Pompey, Stoke and Bolton coming up we need a good run going into the Arse match. Business end of the season and it's time to push up the table dammit!

COYS!

[Aud300]

Tough away tie but how much better have we looked playing 4 - 4 - 2 instead of 4 - 5 - 1. I agree with that midfield that was posted eariler. Bentley is completely out of form right now. Plus is Defoe cleared to play ?

[SpursGlory]

Other results have gone our way... we must take advantage of this fixture. A win over Wigan would lift us from 18th to 11th... just in front the Toon by goal difference. I'd like to see us push for a 7th place finish which after the pathetic start would be impressive and is certainly within our reach.

COYS! C'mon 'Arry let's get it done!

[Hauler]

I think we can win if we play a solid defensive lineup. Hoping Ledders will be in that lineup.

[AllWhitebeliever]

Come on you guys, only seven post?!

Well, I am up on the other side of the world watching the game.

Where is everyone else?? :confused: Still on Holidays? Even less of an excuse because you could sleep in.

COYS

[sendorange]

No idea what the lineup will be, apparently Jenas and Thudd are fit and Harry pretty much wrote Bentley out of the side yesterday. I'll hazard a guess at:

-----------Gomes

Corluka--King--Woodgate--- Bale

Lennon -Jenas-Zokora--Modric

----Pavlyuchenko--Defoe

Possibly he leaves Jenas out for O'Hara and shifts Luka into midfield. It's a difficult choice not to leave Bale exposed against Valencia their RW, but also not to be too light in the middle. I'm not sure about Jenas filling in on the left but that could be a choice for this game.

[vasilli07]

I think O'hara did well in his last game to get a start. When he came on, he provide more cover for us. So i would name the same midfield which ended the last game.

Lennon--Modric--Zokora--O'hara

[vasilli07]

Official starting XI

Wigan vs Tottenham

Wigan: Kirkland, Melchiot, Scharner, Bramble, Figueroa, Valencia, Palacios, Cattermole, Taylor, Heskey, Zaki

Subs: Pollitt, Edman, Kilbane, Brown, Boyce, De Ridder, Camara

Tottenham: Gomes, Zokora, Dawson, Woodgate, King, Bale, Corluka, Modric, O'Hara, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe

Subs: Cesar, Bentley, Huddlestone, Lennon, Jenas, Bent, Campbell

Referee: Andre Marriner (W Midlands)

________________________________________________

I assume this is the formation we are playing...a 4-1-2-1-2 formation. Once again, GDS is left out. He will probably be gone this month if we can get a left winger. And look at the number of english players we got on the bench. This is what i called a real english club.

-------------------Gomes------------
Corluka--Dawson--Woodie--Bale
---------------------King-------------
-------------Zoks----O'hara--------
-------------------Modric------------
------------Defoe---Pavy-----------

[vasilli07]

For those who needs a stream...i using the Sports Channel 1 [EN] stream

http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=28127&part=sports

[calmanalysis]

5-3-2? Something new to discuss!

Edit: Maybe not!

[vasilli07]

Hmm...seems like a 3-5-2 instead...Corluka and Bale as wingbacks instead of fullbacks.

---------------Gomes------
-----Dawson--Woodie--King
Corluka--------Zoks--------Bale
----------Modric--O'hara---
----------Defoe--Pavy....

The commentators just commented...the change is due to our midfield being overrun in the match against Burnley.

[vasilli07]

Seems wrong again...King is playing as the dm. So should be a 4-1-2-1-2 formation.

[AudereEstFacere]

How often have I begged to see King play int he DM? I'm glad to see Redknapp trying him out there. He seems to be doing fine so far.

[vasilli07]

how many times must i say Zoks must not be given any license to shoot?

[vasilli07]

0-0 1st half...

Bale proving why BAE should be the 1st choice leftback. Bale, once again the poorest player, bad positioning, bad tackles, doesn't offer much in attack. Even though BAE is at times poor with his tackles, his crosses and attacking has been so much better than Bale. I wouldn't be surprised to see Bale being shipped out at the end of the season if he doesn't improve his game.

[YiddoInAkron]

Hopefully Lennon will be on for Zok at HT. The RW experiment for him did not work.

[YiddoInAkron]

0-0 1st half...

Bale proving why BAE should be the 1st choice leftback. Bale, once again the poorest player, bad positioning, bad tackles, doesn't offer much in attack. Even though BAE is at times poor with his tackles, his crosses and attacking has been so much better than Bale. I wouldn't be surprised to see Bale being shipped out at the end of the season if he doesn't improve his game.


I hope Bale isn't out after this season.... Yet another shirt to potentially rot in the closet alongside Berba and Keane :(