Wigan v Middlesbrough - Match Preview
By Shaun • Oct 3rd, 2008 • Category: Featured ArticlesMiddlesbrough travel to the JJB Stadium, home of Wigan Athletic, in a desperate run of form which saw the side lose all Premier League games played in September. The curse of The Manager of The Month award, given to Gareth Southgate for the club’s performance in August, struck hard and Boro ended the month with 0 points when they should have had at least 4 or 5 looking at the teams we played.
September is now behind us fortunately and a new month brings new luck for Boro, sadly any luck we have had in October so far has not been positive. The injury situation has got worse over the past few days, Julio Arca re-injured his foot and has returned to Argentina to see a specialist. Rhys Williams has also returned to his native Australia as he recovers from a knee injury. Andrew Taylor and Robert Huth are both struggling to be fit, prompting Gareth to recall Jonathan Grounds from a loan spell at Norwich. Gary O’Neil is also said to be a doubt as he suffers with a virus, so Boro’s already thin squad (missing Tuncay with a longer term injury and Pogatetz with a 3 game ban) is starting to look anorexic.
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic had a poor start to the Premier League campaign losing 2-1 to West Ham at Upton Park and then going down 1-0 at home to Chelsea when in truth they should have come away from that game with at least a point.
They followed that up by travelling to Hull and smashing 5 goals past them, with Egyptian striker Amr Zaki getting two goals. Two draws, at home to Sunderland and away to Tottenham followed by a win over the richest club in the world (Man City if you’ve been asleep for the last few months) at the JJB see Wigan sitting in 10th place with 8 points.
Steve Bruce brought in a few players to compliment his squad in the summer most notably Boro academy product Lee Cattermole and Egyptian striker Amr Zaki. Zaki, a powerful centre forward, has started the season in fantastic form with 6 goals to his name, striking up a good partnership with Emile Heskey. Cattermole, despite already picking up a red card for the club, has started his Wigan career well and has looked a lot better over the last few games. Lee is currently struggling with a knock but is desperate to face his old club.
Other players to look out for include the South American’s Wilson Palacios and Antonio Valencia who both add a lot of pace, flair and attacking threat. Steve Bruce has built a very good team at Wigan and they could surprise a lot of teams this season.
Middlesbrough: Possible formation and lineup
4-4-2: Turnbull, Hoyte, Wheater, Riggott, Grounds, Aliadiere, Digard, Shawky, Downing, Mido, Alves
Middlesbrough are down to the barebones of their squad so there is not much choice for Southgate other than to play one up front and bring in Josh Walker or Adam Johnson for either Mido or Afonso Alves. Personally I think with the state of the squad it would be a poor move to drop either Alves or Mido just to add an extra body into the midfield, and lets face it that formation didn’t really work at Sunderland did it?
The defence is threadbare so we will need a return to form from David Wheater and a solid performance from Chris Riggott, it looks likely that Grounds will go straight into the team with the suspension of Pogatetz and injury to Andy Taylor.
The midfield is one area where i would like to see changes but with so many injuries it’s a case of whoever is fit plays. I would have liked to see Gary O’Neil moved back onto the right flank at the expense of Aliadiere with Digard and Shawky in the middle or maybe even Josh Walker who has been waiting patiently for his chance.
Up front we really need Afonso Alves to start hitting the goal trail, he played quite well against WBA put couldn’t find the net. It would be nice to see some sort of partnership forming between Alves and Mido and i’m sure with Zaki at the other end, Mido will be keen to impress.
Wigan: Possible formation and lineup
4-4-2: Kirkland, Melchiot, Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa; Valencia, Cattermole, Palacios, Kapo; Heskey, Zaki
Wigan are looking strong at the moment and i’m sure Steve Bruce is not going to want to change his side too much. Lee Cattermole is their only real injury worry and Bruce may opt to rest him rather than risk the injury.
They are very big and athletic at the back but with Titus Bramble you are always likely to get a chance or two, so it will be imperitive for Alves and Mido to stay on their toes and sharp in front of goal.
Valencia and Palacios are capable of causing us a lot of problems, one of the reasons why I would have dropped Aliadiere as his defensive game is just not up to it.
Up front, with a weakened backline, Wheater and Riggott are going to be really tested by the physical Heskey and the extremely sharp Amr Zaki.
Match Predictions
I would make Wigan the favourites for this game, they are playing good football and have good players who are in form. The difference for Boro is their good players are bang out of form at the minute and with the injuries mounting I think Gareth would take a point now if offered.
I am going to go for a draw because I think Gareth will have been drumming into them all week the importance of not losing another game but I am very anxious over this match.
Wigan 1 - 1 Middlesbrough
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Shaun is A Boro fan and owner of BoroMania.com. Born and brought up in the North East. Favourite players are Juninho, Slaven and David Wheater.
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Unfortunately i can only see us getting beat in this one. Out of form, decimated by injuries. 2-0 Wigan i think