A youthful Wigan Athletic side fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat against Fleetwood Town in a result that eliminated us from the Carabao Cup.
1) ‘The boys done good!’
Whilst the result is obviously not ideal we can be pretty satisfied with the team’s performance, particularly the younger players. The game offered Leam the chance to blood some young players and give them the opportunity to impress and I’m certain most of them have done just that. James Carragher and Charlie Hughes looked assured beyond their years, Scott Smith looked tidy and Thelo Aasgaard shone in attacking areas. Positive signs for the future!
2) We hate the League Cup!
…But only when playing in the Championship it would seem. In our last 6 seasons in the second tier we’ve been eliminated from the League Cup in the first round every time which is an impressive level of consistency! To me – and I’m sure most other Latics fans – the FA Cup is the most important cup competition so I don’t mind us using the Carabao Cup as a ‘free hit’ in a way. It’s one less set of games to worry about too which is handy given our small squad.
3) Give Thelo games!
Last night Latics’ Norwegian wonderkid put in another impressive performance and was our main creative outlet from start to finish. He created 5 chances, including one ‘big chance’ that Stephen Humphrys really should have scored after an impressive show of strength from the 20 year old winger. As the season goes on I expect to see more and more from Thelo as he’s only going to get better.
4) Prioritise the League!
The team that Leam put out yesterday suggested that he didn’t hold the Carabao Cup in high regard. He picked a side with 11 changes from the weekend, 6 U23s players and a bench with an average age of 18 which suggests there wasn’t exactly a desperation to win. With slow starting Bristol City at the weekend the priority has to be accumulating points in the Championship and that’s absolutely fine with me and the majority of Latics fans on social media seem to agree.
5) We lack a clinical edge, but not for long?
I’m not quite sure how we didn’t score last night to be honest. Stephen Humphrys could’ve had a hat-trick and definitely should’ve scored at least once whilst Luke Brennan, Charlie Hughes and Graeme Shinnie all had good chances that they didn’t take. We can’t keep going through games spurning chances, but hopefully the addition of clinical forward Nathan Broadhead should make us far more deadly in front of goal…
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