handbags_harris I wasn't there, but I don't care. Watched it all online so am more than well placed to comment. Copied and pasted from the match thread:-
Fcuking appalling defensively, we've not been great this season at the back but today, up against an unusual formation, we were ruthlessly exposed. Gunter persistently plays far too narrow which afforded Beausejour the time and space to get cross after cross in - the warning was there after two minutes - and Gorkks gets done by a bit of movement every single time. The amount of free headers we have conceded this season as a result of this, well it tells its own story. Federici can take his own fair share of the blame for their equaliser as he failed to hold onto a shot for the second or third time today, a shot that he should be taking fairly comfortably, and nearly repeated the trick a minute later, but originally it was Morrison who gave the ball away unforgiveably cheaply and then found himself out of position. Wigan should have gone ahead a minute before their second, only a poor offside call prevented them from doing so, Beausejour again the provider but then the criminal second - free cross from deep with Gunter and McAnuff nowhere to be seen (could have been HRK tbf, they did swap at one point), Gorkks done once again by a bit of movement, free header. Then the turd of a third, Beausejour getting in down the left again after we once again gave the ball away cheaply in midfield, they had numbers, and Gomes gets his hat-trick. The pathetic thing with that is that, all in all, Gomes had an awful game
Positives however - the attack once again looked good. We were always going to get a lot of joy up against Wigan's three man back line and the wingers didn't disappoint. ALF maybe should have scored first half, Al-Habsi pulled off a superb save from him at 1-1, and on top of all that we've been done again by poor refereeing decisions at critical times in the game. Two penalties denied, both stonewall in my view, both involving Tabb - first a handball from his volley, the guy's arm outstretched, and then second half Figueroa I think lunged, missed the ball, got Tabb. Roberts was immense all day again, he really has to start every game, Pogrebnyak's contribution in his cameo was to give the ball away twice. Unfortunately all this doesn't disguise the fact that we could have, and probably should have, conceded six.
Still, Wigan 3-2 Reading, Blackpool 2-2 Watford, Ipswich 1-1 Peterborough, Wolves 1-2 Forest, Stevenage 1-1 Tranmere, Bristol Rovers 3-3 Bradford and Oxford 2-1 Northampton in the Goals! Goals! Goals!, my only regret is not shoving my usual £5 on it, budgetary constraints meant a mere £2.50 stake turns into a £66.71 win. FOWLER!!
A top and fair assessment as always HH
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normally after the heat of BATTLE you can find a few perks in e surroundings, but Wigan legitimately was a shithole, potentially worth leaving Gorkks there to fend for himself in the hope he returns a mighty warrior capable of defending. I'm personally in the McCarthy camp, and today I thought Feds was shaky again, but wouldn't single him out as having a shocker - I actually thought Pog played alright, just nit what we needed/when we needed it, a change in formation in the middle would have been better, but I think too much hope is being placed in Guthrie being a key. Morrison was ace for the most part, and saw him shouting the others up more than anyone else.. Shame to see so many leave on the third goal, I still felt there was time for another goal which could have gone either way.