As Wigan Athletic prepare for their 45th season in the English Football League it’s important to remember where we’ve come from, and how close we came to not being here at all.
When then Mayor W. A. Hipwood held a meeting to form the club at the Queen’s Hall in 1932 I can’t imagine he would’ve expected Latics to embark on the journey we have done in the 91 and a bit years since!
I’m absolutely sure no one would’ve expected the club to reach the Premier League like we did in 2005, or to win the FA Cup like we did in 2013, earning a spot at the European football table in the process, all under the ownership of local hero Dave Whelan.
I’m absolutely sure no one would’ve expected the club to reach the Premier League like we did in 2005, or to win the FA Cup like we did in 2013, earning a spot at the European football table in the process, all under the ownership of local hero Dave Whelan.
If Hipwood and his co-founders could’ve seen the way our club has been treated in the past three years I’m sure they’d be disgusted. I’m sure Mr Whelan is. He nearly had to step in and save us again in 2020!
Our administration in 2020 nearly killed the club, and the recent actions of most recent owners Phoenix2021 could’ve been the final nail in the coffin too.
Thankfully, Mike Danson, another Wiganner done good has stepped up to save his local team from the brink, providing security and confidence to a town and a fanbase who felt all hope was gone.
The 2023/24 season still won’t be stress free, the eight point deduction brought about by Phoenix’s actions ensures that, but it will hopefully set the foundations for a positive new era of Wigan Athletic.
Let’s take a look ahead to the new season, the new era of Wigan Athletic.
“Thankfully, another Wiganner done good has stepped up to save his local team from the brink, providing security and confidence to a town and a fanbase who felt all hope was gone.”
The Context
Last season was really tough. We were set up to fail with an aging squad with minimal room for growth and not much Championship quality whatsoever, despite all the talk about how clever we were keeping the bulk of our League One winning squad together. The lack of investment in our squad killed us.
Tactically we also struggled, mainly due to former boss Leam Richardson’s intentions to play a direct style of play. With a squad designed for that style of football it gave us no plan B, mainly because our plan A is what most teams would use as a plan B!
The squad was on ridiculous money for their quality, League One standard players on top end Championship wages following bizarrely high promotion wage increase clauses in contracts. There was no sell on value and it quickly became clear money was tight.
Relegation became inevitable when Kolo Touré was inexplicably appointed following Richardson’s exit. His tactics were all wrong and it was destined to fail almost immediately, wasting valuable time and points in the process.
Shaun Maloney’s arrival breathed hope into supporters hearts but the damage had already been done and we never looked like getting out of the relegation zone, especially when we were hit with a points deduction following the ongoing off field issues. It was a disastrous season and nearly killed us completely.
What it has done is give us a sense of perspective. We know how close we came to going bust and personally I won’t ever take Saturday 3pm at the DW for granted ever again. We can wipe the slate clean and be excited for this new season ahead, safe in the knowledge it surely can’t be as horrific as the last one was. In fact it could be really, really exciting.
“The squad was on ridiculous money for their quality, League One standard players on top end Championship wages following bizarrely high promotion wage increase clauses in contracts.”
The Transfer Window
This off season has been very busy and thankfully our bloated, overpaid squad of players have largely been moved on. We’ve lost some important players like Jack Whatmough, Christ Tiehi, and Will Keane but more importantly almost £100k a week has been cut off the wage bill. That’s over £5m we won’t have to spend this season.
At the time of writing we’ve made eight signings. Callum McManaman has returned after a long and productive trial with the club’s under 23s. Ball playing defender Liam Morrison was Maloney’s first signing, on loan from Bayern Munich, shortly followed by technical midfielder Matt Smith on a three-year deal.
Jonny Smith’s arrival from Burton bolstered our forward line, as did the loan acquisition of Liverpool starlet James Balagizi. Shaun Maloney secured his first choice Right Back option in the shape of Sean Clare from Charlton, and loans for Liam Shaw and the returning Kell Watts have also boosted the side’s depth.
Key to the recruitment has been getting the age profile of the squad right down. McManaman aside the average age of the arrivals is just over 23, stark contrast to the 28.6 for our entire squad last season. The value of the squad has rocketed up and with several academy players in the first team we can be run at a much smaller cost.
A few positions still feel a bit light, most notably Right Back and Centre Midfield. An experienced ball winning CM and a quick, attacking RWB would be two key profiles I’d add to this squad but we’ve done pretty well given our circumstances. There’s not been a signing I’ve been underwhelmed by and all of them make sense when you look at them. It’s been a really positive summer and there could be more to come.
The Squad
Several key players left but lots remain. Thelo Aasgaard and Charlie Hughes have signed new 5-year deals at the club which is huge, fellow academy graduate Callum Lang is still here whilst Charlie Wyke, Stephen Humprhys and James McClean all remain too. They’ll all play a massive part this season I’m sure.
Several more academy players will be getting the chance to impress this season too. Sam Tickle may well be first choice between the sticks, Baba Adeeko and Scott Smith will have plenty of opportunities in midfield whilst Chris Sze and Josh Stones could get minutes up top. Several others including academy Player of the Year Jack Reilly will be pushing for chances too.
The Tactics
I was lucky enough to get the chance to ask Shaun Maloney a question on his recent appearance on BBC Radio Manchester, and he gave some interesting insight into what we can expect from Latics tactically next season.
Despite having played exclusively in a 4-2-3-1 sort of shape this pre season Maloney made it clear that we’ll be using a back 5 and a back 4 system at different points of the season. The style of play won’t change as we switch between systems, but the subtle in and out of possession changes will help us in certain games.
Having two well drilled systems makes us harder for opposition teams to analyse. It also allows us to change mid game without too much uncertainty amongst the players, something I feel like we struggled with last season. We’ve definitely improved the technical ability of our squad but I also think the tactical intelligence has improved too.
Shaun Maloney has spoken plenty of times about wanting the club to rediscover the identity and playing style we had under Roberto Martinez in the Premier League. Attractive, possession based football with an onus on committing bodies forward and exciting the supporters, something I haven’t been too often with Wigan teams from a tactical perspective in a while.
Building from the back will be a feature of whatever system we play, as will taking up aggressive positions on the pitch and working hard out of possession. I’m going to do a deep dive now into the build up and final third phases across both systems, as well as a look at how we’ll look to regain possession when the opposition have the ball.
The 4-2-3-1
Things have started to get fancy at Wigan Athletic on the pitch. I have so much respect for Paul Cook and Leam Richardson but if we’re honest their football wasn’t particularly easy on the eye and it did feel like a chore to watch us at times. They won a lot of games for us but it didn’t feel the same as victories under Bobby Martinez used to, when we’d cut teams apart with free flowing beautiful football.
Shaun Maloney is here to change that.
The introduction of Maloney’s 4-2-3-1 has shown us many things. There is a lot of responsibility placed on the Goalkeeper and Centre Backs to bait the opposition press and break their first line of defence. We’ve seen a Full Back, more often than not the Right Back, invert to outnumber opponents in midfield and provide cover against counter attacks and direct play. It appears our forwards are being encouraged to rotate positions too.
I think there are a lot of Roberto Di Zerbi influences in the way this system has been designed. The way we try to create openings, bait the opposition press and use third man runs to always have a spare man is something we’ve seen a lot of from Brighton and I’m excited to see Latics try and put our own spin on things.
Starting from a goal kick, this is how Latics have looked to build up against a back 5, which is how the majority of teams in League One set up too.
Some teams won’t press as aggressively as this but that could work in our favour as it makes the likelihood of losing possession close to our own goals much smaller. Against a back 4, say in a 4-3-3, the theories remain the same, although their might be slightly less space for the 10 to drop into. However, it would make a direct pass out to the wingers or over the top for the striker more threatening.
The space left in midfield when a team presses this aggressively is where our no10, who starts the move almost alongside the ST, will drop into to receive the ball from our back line. If this space is cut off by the opposition forward’s press a bounce pass across the box can be made, opening up a new passing lane into the 10. The two 8s, who were closely marked initially, will also be tasked with creating space for themselves or others in this scenario and need to be prepared to take the ball on the turn under pressure.
Once we’ve broken the first line of engagement the 10 can launch a direct attack using the support of our Wingers and Striker. One of the 8s, usually the one with less defensive responsibilities, will push forward behind the 10 too whilst a Full Back, usually left-sided, races forward to provide width on his side. This sees the winger invert slightly and create a five man frontline with late support from midfield.
The pentagon shape at the back should prevent us from being played through and counter attacked against. I’m slightly concerned at the space we concede out wide but with more athletic defenders we should be able to cover more space. The RB inverting means that in possession we’ll outnumber the opposition more often than not and will help us keep the ball much easier.
The width of our attack creates space for underlapping runs, and passes from in to out as demonstrated above. The more advanced CM should be looking to link up with the wingers and overload out wide, whilst attackers on the opposite side of the pitch are asked to get into the box to get on the end of crosses.
It appears that crosses into the box are being encouraged which makes sense when we have the likes of Charlie Wyke in the team. It also looks like late runs into the box, be it from the more attacking 8 or our wide players, are being used to disrupt opposition defensive structures and confuse their markers. Scott Smith’s goal against Hearts showed this perfectly.
Out of possession we look like a 4-4-2 with the AM pressing alongside the ST. Interestingly the RB sometimes starts inverted if the opposition don’t have wide players in order to create a defensive overload centrally, similar to what we do with the ball. More often that not though he returns to a conventional RB spot when the opposition move up the pitch.
This system will probably be used in games we’re favourites in. I’d be worried about using it against the better sides because it can leave us quite open, but equally it’s important that we play all our games wanting to win rather than wanting to not lose. It will also probably be what we change to in games we’re chasing a goal late on having started with a back 5 so I’m sure we’ll see plenty of it. For a tactic nerd like me it’s so exciting.
The 3-4-2-1
When Shaun Maloney arrived in January he had to sort us out defensively following the shambles that was Kolo Touré’s spell in charge. Maloney set us up in a 3-4-2-1 that focused on being compact and limiting space in front of our own goal. We conceded so many big chances prior to his arrival and it came as no surprise that we conceded so many goals as a result.
It was a back 3 that could become a 4 if one Wing Back pushed high up the pitch, but more often than not we maintained our defensive structure. We had to be low risk because our opponents were usually better than us and would’ve punished us if we went too aggressive. When relegation was confirmed we saw glimpses of what Maloney wants from this system.
Outside CBs were given licence to get into crossing areas in the opposition half, WBs were pushed high and wide to provide width whilst the two AMs had free roam in the final third. It’s a difficult system to get right in an attacking sense but when we do we’ll score some unbelievably satisfying goals.
This is an example of how we can build attacks in a 3-4-2-1, this time against a 4-3-3.
Key to the build up phase is our deep lying playmaker. He’s the player that’ll most often receive the ball straight from the defence and will need to distribute it forward. This formation gives us plenty of passing lanes and with someone like Matt Smith in that position he should have a lot of joy. Patterns of play will need to be drilled day in day out in training but as I’ve already said, when they come off it’ll be unreal.
Key to this system is finding the two AMs in space. Their positioning is vital, ideally we want them in the left and right half spaces where the opposition Full Backs and Centre Midfielders don’t know who to pick them up. Players like Aasgaard and Lang will be brilliant in this area of the pitch.
Once we’ve beaten the first line of defence we’ll have to be patient when searching for openings. Wing Backs need to stay wide at all times to stretch the pitch as much as possible, but can drive inwards from their starting positions if space opens up. This is where the outside Centre Back can overlap them a little bit too to create a numerical advantage.
This will be a key area for us. WBs receiving the ball on the touchline, dragging opposition players towards them and creating space in behind for the 10s to run into. If we can get the ball into these areas and get balls into the box with crosses or cutbacks it’ll be a valuable source of goals for us I’m sure.
Out of position we’re a lot more solid in this shape which is obvious as we’ve got more defenders on the pitch. We defend very narrowly and are happy to concede crosses safe in the knowledge that we have plenty in the box to deal with them. The addition of tall players like Liam Shaw and Kell Watts helps this even more.
Out of possession we use our front 3 to funnel the ball into wide areas where we can use two or three players to swarm the opponent whilst they’re pushed up against the touchline. We don’t push particularly high up the pitch and our defensive line isn’t overly aggressive but when we spring the trap we do it quickly.
Defensively I’d feel a lot safer in this system but naturally we lose a little bit in attack. The fact we used this system last season means it might not need as much drilling, but for the new signing it might still be something new. I think it makes a lot of sense to have this as a plan for the better teams in the league.
The Predictions
We’re in a good place heading into this season and it feels like things will only improve as the season goes on. There’s still a lot of stuff to sort out behind the scenes but as that starts to happen everything will hopefully fall into place. This season is about achieving three things:
Firstly, we need to survive. Minus eight is a challenge we’ll have to overcome but our squad is more than good enough and I think a mid table finish is definitely on the cards. The fact some ‘experts’ are tipping us for relegation is baffling to be honest, I’d be very surprised if we’re in any danger come May.
Secondly, we need to rediscover our identity. For too long we have changed style, changed methods and changed our identity when in reality these are three things we have to keep consistent. Shaun Maloney seems very set in his ways and the style of play he wants from us will help connect the fanbase with the team and may even encourage more people to come to the DW on a matchday.
Finally, we need to increase the value of the squad. Developing talented players without spending much, if any, money on them is how we need to operate and will give us the best chance of being stable financially. Players like Sam Tickle, Charlie Hughes, Thelo Aasgaard and Callum Lang all have the potential to play at a higher level than League One and we can play a key part in their development.
I’m really excited for this new season and I hope you are too. I also hope you’ve enjoyed this article, it’s the kind of thing I’m planning on making more of. Due to various commitments I won’t be able to release as many articles I have done for the last 18 months but I’ve still got big plans to continue this website and build it even bigger and better.
Thanks for your support, and up the Tics!
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