Owen Dale – Welcome to Wigan Athletic

It wouldn’t be Wigan Athletic without some Deadline Day drama would it?

In what I can assume, but given the fact it’s Wigan Athletic nom expect, to be our last signing of the season, we have swooped in at the last moment to take another Oxford United player on loan. After securing the temporary services of striker Will Goodwin from the Championship side at the start of the window, we have gone back to borrow winger Owen Dale for the next few months.

The 26-year-old has fallen out of favour at the Kassam Stadium since Gary Rowett’s appointment, but was a key member of their promotion-winning squad last season after joining from Blackpool this time last year. He also impressed at the Seasiders too, and has bags of experience at League One level in his career to date. This alone sets him aside from most of our other winger options.

Dale is a winger that is always looking to make something happen, and will favour taking his man on and being direct rather than faffing about outside the penalty area like we’ve been guilty of a lot this season. I’d say he’s as Jordan Jones-like as we’ve had since the now-Carlisle wide man departed in the summer, which is an important new profile.

He’s a player with good pace, dribbling ability and decision making in the final third. Rather than being risk-averse he will look to create moments for himself and team mates, and I feel like that immediately adds something that our squad was missing. His challenge now will be to turn these moments into consistent runs of form, with goals and assists to match.

In this, and every ‘Welcome to Wigan Athletic’ article that I post this season, I’ll be taking a closer look at all aspects of the new signing’s game. Their profile, where they’ve played before and how they’ve performed, their suitability to our club and our style of play, and a report on their best attributes as well of areas of their game that could hold them back. As best I can I’m going to try and provide you, the valued reader, with the best possible idea of what to expect from our recruits.

And as there’s no time like the present, here we go. Owen Dale, you’re up to bat. Let’s see what you’ve got!

PROFILE

STRENGTHS

Owen Dale is a proper winger. He’s got the pace you need to threaten defenders, as well as the willingness to take his man on all game long down both sides of the pitch. In that sense I think he’s really similar to Jordan Jones, and should excite our supporters with his direct style. We should be a more dangerous attacking side with him playing.

His close control in tight areas is really impressive and similarly to Joe Hungbo he’ll draw plenty of fouls for us high up the pitch. When running with the ball he’ll mainly look to keep the ball glued to his right foot, but has used a quick side step to create shooting positions in several of the clips I’ve watched of him.

When in wide areas he’ll look to be direct, which is why I kind of want to see more of him on the right than the left. His crossing off his right foot is decent and will obviously be easier to pull off when he’s on that side, rather than having to cut inside off the left. That said he is still a decent crosser from the left flank, and can dig deliveries out with his weaker left foot.

He should look to test the goalkeeper more as his long-range shooting isn’t bad at all, and the same goes for his finishing in and around the box too. A criticism you could level at Silko Thomas is his unwillingness to test the goalkeeper, so adding a winger who will look to do that on a more regular basis is good.

He’s also an extremely hard-working player which at this point is a prerequisite of playing for Shaun Maloney, and rightly so. At Oxford last season he put in a hell of a shift defensively in a number of games and is more than willing to do the dirty work. I’d like to think it’s a side of his game we won’t have to seen too much, but it’s important to know he’ll be trustworthy when necessary.

LIMITATIONS

I guess the biggest issue Owen Dale has, which has probably held him back from getting a move higher up the pyramid sooner, is his inconsistency. He doesn’t hit the heights he’s capable of enough, and can maybe be guilty of coasting through games, especially in games where he’s maybe not seeing as much of the ball as he’d like.

This is where his risk taking can be detrimental, because he relies on a high volume of opportunities to make things happen. His passing and crossing accuracy numbers aren’t particularly high over the years, which means he might not give us the control in games high up the pitch. That said, he creates more than any of our other winger options so it works both ways.

The question will be whether we can get him the ball enough for him to make things happen on a regular basis. Our season has been defined by our wingers seeing a lot of the ball but not doing enough with it, and at 26-years-old Owen Dale has to start turning his nearly moments into cold, hard goals and assists.

POTENTIAL FIT

Given the fact that Owen Dale has been signed as a sort-of last-minute replacement for Silko Thomas you’d assume he’ll spend most of his time playing off the left for us. He’s right footed and we know that Shaun Maloney is keen to play opposite-footed wingers, so it makes sense to predict he’ll operate as an inverted winger – but with a decent ability to use his left foot on occasions too.

He can play on the right too, and I would like to see this in games where Will Goodwin is up front. With someone like Joseph Hungbo on the left we could have two traditional wingers who can deliver crosses to the tall striker, and their understanding from their time together at Oxford could be useful too. He’s been used on both flanks throughout his career.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Owen Dale is a good player, and therefore a good signing for Latics. I’d say it’s a fairly considerable upgrade on Silko Thomas too, which can’t be sniffed at given the quick turnaround in securing his replacement. He’ll add a good level of experience to our side too which is nice, and of course he has promotion experience too which is… relevant? Maybe not.

I hope it’s the kind of loan move that will reinforce the importance of signing proven players who still have room to develop. At 26-years-old he’s entering the prime of his career, and to have him for a few months will no doubt be beneficial to us and him. I hope we see him add those all-important goals and assists to his game too because that’s all we need.

Welcome to Wigan Athletic, Owen Dale. Up the Tics!