[FrogMan]

April 10, 2010
League Match #44: at Wigan (Wigan 4-6 fav)

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Jimmy Nielsen	GK	Very Good	6-6-6-7-8	100%	33	-	6.70
DR		Ibrahim Tall	D RC	Superb	8-7-8-8-8	97%	43	-	7.19
DL		Laurent Montoya	D/WB L	Superb	8-7-7-8-7	100%	26	-	6.85
DC		Karim Touzani	SW, D C	Superb	7-6-7-8-8	96%	41	1	7.05
DC		Willie Kinniburgh	D C	Superb	8-8-7-7-7	96%	37	1	6.95
DMC		Ferrie Bodde	D C, DM	Very Good	7-6-6-6-7	96%	25 (13)	-	6.68
MR		Saulius Mikoliunas	AM R	Very Good	8-8-7-8-7	96%	30 (3)	4	7.21
ML		Etienne Esajas	AM L	Very Good	8-6-7-8-7	96%	41 (3)	1	7.27
AMC		Eric Skora	AM C	Superb	8-9-7-8-8	96%	34	9	7.15
FC		Matt Moussilou	ST	Very Good	9-9-6-9-8	96%	13	15	7.92
FC		Vincent van den Berg	AM R, ST	Very Good	8-6-6-8-8	95%	33 (7)	14	6.97
S1		Wojciech Szczesny	GK	Very Good	7-7-8-8-6	100%	-	-	-
S2		Richard Hughes	DM	Very Good	7-8-7-7-6	99%	21 (12)	1	6.61
S3	Wnt	Jonathan Hayes	AM RL	Very Good	7-7-7-7-8	95%	3 (15)	-	6.89
S4		Jay Simpson	AM R, ST	Good	6-6-7-7-6	98%	12 (19)	7	6.65
S5	Wnt	Calvin Andrew	ST	Superb	8-6-8-8-7	97%	1 (5)	-	6.17
-		James Henry	AM RC	Very Good	6-7-8-6-8	94%	6 (8)	-	6.86
-		Richard Jackson	D RL	Superb	7-7-7-8-7	100%	16 (1)	-	7.00
-		Sam Parkin	ST	Superb	8-8-6-7-8	92%	27 (2)	9	6.86
-	Inj	Bartosz Bialkowski	GK	Good	7-8-6-7-7	65%	13	-	6.69
-	Unh	Dean Morgan	ST	Very Good	6-6-6-7-8	91%	5 (9)	3	6.71
-	Inj	David Edwards	AM RC	Good	6-7-7-7-7	66%	12 (4)	1	6.81
-	Wnt	Carl Dickinson	D/WB L	Superb	8-7-7-7-7	97%	20	-	7.00
-		Byron Moore	AM RL, ST	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	95%	1 (21)	1	6.91

Wigan are currently in 5th place and one of the teams we really need to beat if we wanna prove that we belong to the playoffs. We drew 1-1 with them earlier in the season so a win is not all that impossible...

One of their strikers has scored 33 goals in 43 league starts, way ahead of their second best scorer who only has 8 on the season. I start Ferrie Bodde in the DMC spot and assign him to man mark that striker. I also tell the guys to mark him tight in general and to tackle him hard whenever they can. Hopefully there won't be any overzealous two footed tackles this time around...

Gah, we are indeed aggressive toward that striker and Willie Kinniburgh gets a yellow card for a late tackle early in the game.

Matt Moussilou scores to give us a one goal lead in the 20th minute, the result of a nicely played short corner kick by Laurent Montoya. They left Moussilou all alone at the corner of the 6 yards box, a big no no...

They pul back even in the 33rd minute and we head to the locker room locked in a 1-1 tie after 45.

I fear the worse when Kinniburgh goes rough on a tackle in the 53rd minute, but the referee only gives him a warning.

The rest of the half is pretty much us only surviving to mutiple attacks. They come from every angle, but we don't let one in. Final Score: 1-1.

Match stats:

Wigan	Statistic	Luton
20	Shots	9
12	On Target	3
8	Off Target	6
46%	Possession	54%
6	Corners	3
15	Free Kicks	19
26	Throw-Ins	21
11	Fouls	9
8	Offsides	6
68%	Passes Completed	64%
25%	Crosses Completed	28%
75%	Tackles Won	78%
56%	Headers Won	54%
1	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0

Team stats:

No.	C	Name	Inf.	Pas	Cmp	Key	Tck	Won	Key	Hea	Won	Key	Int	Run	Off	Fou	Fld	Ast	Sho	Sot	Con	Rat	Gls
1		Jimmy Nielsen		23	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	97	7
8		Ibrahim Tall (c)		23	16	2	5	5	0	5	4	0	7	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	79	6
28		Laurent Montoya		47	33	1	4	3	1	6	4	1	14	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	77	7
10		Karim Touzani		19	11	0	3	3	0	10	5	3	8	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	79	7
3		Willie Kinniburgh		39	30	1	4	4	0	7	4	0	13	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	78	7
17		Eric Skora		30	24	7	1	1	0	2	1	0	4	0	0	1	2	0	1	1	76	8
44		Etienne Esajas	sub 80	33	19	4	1	1	0	2	1	1	0	4	0	2	0	0	2	1	76	8
5		Ferrie Bodde	sub 66	25	20	0	5	3	1	4	4	2	6	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	78	7
11		Saulius Mikoliunas		15	7	0	4	2	0	1	1	1	3	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	78	7
12		Matt Moussilou		17	11	1	1	1	0	7	2	1	0	0	2	1	4	0	3	1	78	8	1
22		Vincent van den Berg	sub 66	11	8	0	0	0	0	5	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	84	6
30		Wojciech Szczesny
29		Richard Hughes	on 66	14	7	0	4	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	94	6
55		Jonathan Hayes	on 80	6	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	95	7
13		Jay Simpson	on 66	4	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	96	6
20		Calvin Andrew

Just so you know how much that second half belonged to Wigan, We had 8(3) shots at the half, they had 10(6)... Matt Moussilou still had a strong game, getting the MoM.

I turn around and look at scores around the league and I'm stare in disbelief. Charlton were playing on the road against #3 Birmingham and they lost their game. This means we've gained a one point lead over Charlton and even though we're tied in points with Sheff Utd, we do own the goal differential tiebreaker over them. We are now sitting in a playoffs spot!

Pos	Inf	Team		Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	P	West Brom		44	30	9	5	99	48	+51	99
2nd	Pl	Man City		44	28	10	6	93	52	+41	94
3rd	Pl	Birmingham		44	25	13	6	73	33	+40	88
4th	Pl	Preston		44	22	12	10	73	43	+30	78
5th	Pl	Wigan		44	22	12	10	70	41	+29	78
6th		Luton		44	19	12	13	69	59	+10	69
7th		Sheff Utd		44	19	12	13	74	67	+7	69
8th		Charlton		44	17	17	10	70	51	+19	68
9th		Leicester		44	18	13	13	68	52	+16	67
10th		Ipswich		44	19	10	15	80	73	+7	67
11th		Norwich		44	18	9	17	58	57	+1	63
12th		Swansea		44	14	16	14	64	60	+4	58
13th		Nottm Forest		44	14	14	16	61	66	-5	56
14th		Bristol City		44	16	8	20	70	91	-21	56
15th		Sheff Wed		44	15	10	19	70	72	-2	55
16th		Wolves		44	15	9	20	60	60	0	54
17th		Plymouth		44	9	18	17	45	61	-16	45
18th		Cardiff		44	10	14	20	53	77	-24	44
19th		Leyton Orient		44	11	9	24	44	71	-27	42
20th		Northampton		44	9	14	21	34	60	-26	41
21st		Barnsley		44	10	9	25	48	71	-23	39
22nd		Southampton		44	9	12	23	59	90	-31	39
23rd		Burnley		44	9	11	24	46	77	-31	38
24th		Stoke		44	10	7	27	54	103	-49	37

From now on, we control our destiny. If we can keep on winning, we'll be in the playoffs.

Back at the clubhouse, I enquire with Etienne Esajas and Saulius Mikoliunas and they both say they're not ready to discuss terms of a contract renewal. There's something kinda funny though, my assistant tells me that there's a possiblity that Esajas would want parity with Mikoliunas in terms of basic wage, and vice versa.

FM