Wigan 0-0 Bolton EFL Cup (5-4 Penalties)

James McClean - what a cock!

No idea how we'll go on against the Laxatives on Tuesday but I hope we beat them in fine style.

1 - 3 please.

WANDERERS have sold nearly 2,500 tickets for their Carabao Cup trip to Wigan Athletic less than 24 hours after they went on sale.

Now sold out and another 700 allocated - so pushing 5k fans going.

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They'll definitely be more Bolton fans than pie eaters tomorrow 

wanderlust wrote:No idea how we'll go on against the Laxatives on Tuesday

Haha love it!

Name: Paul Kendrick.

Publication: Wigan Today.

Club: Wigan Athletic.

Key ins: Jordan Cousins, Stehen Humphrys, Max Power, Jack Whatmough, Charlie Wyke.

Key outs: Lee Evans, Kyle Joseph, Funso Ojo, Viv Solomon-Otabor, Curtis Tilt.

Reasons for optimism: Firstly, that we still have a football club, after an horrific 12 months on and off the pitch. With the magnificent backs-to-the-wall effort to avoid relegation being followed by a huge wave of optimism and belief following the recent takeover by Phoenix 2021 Limited, the mood among the fans really couldn't be any better. And having added several quality recruits - and more on the way - Latics should be fighting to get out of the division at the right end this season.

Reasons for caution: Obviously throwing together a whole new playing squad - Wigan ended last season with only five contracted players - will create inevitable issues in terms of gelling and integrating. It was a similar story back in 2015-16, after relegation from the Championship, when a virtually whole new playing squad took several weeks to get going under Gary Caldwell. But once they did, they never looked back, finishing up as champions after an incredible last two-thirds of the campaign. Hopefully, it's the same again.

Predicted finish: 4th - Play-off winners...not been to Wembley for a while.

Three to go up: Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday, Wigan.

Four to go down: AFC Wimbledon, Cambridge, Cheltenham, Morecambe Hope for the season: That the Covid-related issues of the last 18 months don't resurface, and Latics fans can enjoy watching their side again after almost losing the lot. But more importantly, the return of press food.

Thanks KP!

BoltonTillIDie wrote:Thanks KP!

No problem.

How can some not be “bovvered”? I accept the league is most important but surely a good cup run in one of the two “majors” has to be something to enjoy and financially beneficial for the club. To go out so meekly to a second string Wigan side in front of our best travelling support for years is also a bit of a kick in the teeth. I know we have to play fringe players but with other less important cup games to come, surely we could have used them in that. Rest a few, I agree but surely not eight? The fact our destiny lay in the hands of Delfouneso just makes it even worse. A poor performance from the players for sure but also the manager in my opinion.

Whitesince63 wrote:How can some not be “bovvered”? I accept the league is most important but surely a good cup run in one of the two “majors” has to be something to enjoy and financially beneficial for the club. To go out so meekly to a second string Wigan side in front of our best travelling support for years is also a bit of a kick in the teeth. I know we have to play fringe players but with other less important cup games to come, surely we could have used them in that. Rest a few, I agree but surely not eight? The fact our destiny lay in the hands of Delfouneso just makes it even worse. A poor performance from the players for sure but also the manager in my opinion.

We're all bovvered. But after a defeat to an old enemy, we tend to react with disdain.


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I really am not that bovvered, it's a Cup game in a tournament we aren't going to win and as with all the cups in the last few years even teams like us play mainly reserves. 

The only sad bit for me is that it was the pie eaters that beat us.

Norpig wrote:I really am not that bovvered, it's a Cup game in a tournament we aren't going to win and as with all the cups in the last few years even teams like us play mainly reserves. 

The only sad bit for me is that it was the pie eaters that beat us.

Technically they didn't, it was 0-0 so drew, but the bigger picture will show we lost on pens, no real shame, batter them in the league, and nobody will remember this game.

Sorry guys but we still have big bills to pay and we need income and the main way we get that is with more games and big crowds. Throwing away the chance of a game against one of the big boys is to me somewhat silly. We know before the season starts what competitions we are to play in so complaining about one of the 3 biggest is just madness. By all means rest certain players but surely not so many and not in front of your biggest away following in years against a local rival we want to beat. Megson did the same thing, funnily enough for the same opposition and look what happened to him. If we lose to Cambridge on Saturday with our full team, what benefit was resting players last night?

Penalty shootouts are always something of a lottery but I must say I was surprised that Nathan missed his. I would have banked on him scoring but I'm not blaming the lad because it can happen to anyone. In general terms the game wasn't great to watch but I was again pleased to see the team spirit and character being shown by all our players. Ian Evatt is definitely moulding them into a genuine team that plays for each other and while defeat to the pie eaters is always painful it wasn't down to any lack of effort commitment or even skill. I can see plenty of good things going on and I'm happy we didn't concede a goal because that has been a sore spot for us in recent years. All in all I'd say we're very much an improving work in progress.

Whitesince63 wrote:Sorry guys but we still have big bills to pay and we need income and the main way we get that is with more games and big crowds. Throwing away the chance of a game against one of the big boys is to me somewhat silly. We know before the season starts what competitions we are to play in so complaining about one of the 3 biggest is just madness. By all means rest certain players but surely not so many and not in front of your biggest away following in years against a local rival we want to beat. Megson did the same thing, funnily enough for the same opposition and look what happened to him. If we lose to Cambridge on Saturday with our full team, what benefit was resting players last night?

I understand your sentiment but I don't think I agree with it because the League Cup simply doesn't have the cachet or generate the revenue it used to. In truth the FA Cup is where clubs at our level have a genuine chance to generate both money and for want of a better word 'buzz' while the League Cup has become something of an afterthought that a lot of fans are simply not interested in today. Personally I wish we'd won but I don't think an early exit from this competition is going to be catastrophic to our finances or confidence and I believe Evatt and the staff made the right decision. The League itself is far more important and in truth I would much prefer he concentrate on that for now.

I'm not bothered either. If McClean had scored the winner in a 1-0 defeat I'd have been really upset. But the fact that he was shit, they were shit, we were shit, the match was shit and defeat came merely on penalties after a sterile 0-0 draw in a meaningless cup game protected me from the unrequited misery I would have endured if we had lost to them in front of pie-eaters in an important league game there.
I was more annoyed by the stupid tactics employed by the police after the match which made the likelihood of trouble much greater than if they'd just let people go straight home.

One other major negative was some idiot a couple of rows behind me who thought the time was ripe to revive that lovely old chestnut from the late 70's, "I'd rather be a Paki than a Pie." How lovely.