Time For Change

I along with 446 others made the 452 mile round trip to South East London yesterday, only to watch a cruel turn of luck snatch a draw away from Uwe Rosler's side and send us all home deflated. All be it we didn't deserve to lose in the manner that we did, our performance warranted nothing from the game.

It was another typical Wigan performance. It seemed as if we'd reverted back to the early days under Roberto Martinez. We saw large amounts of the ball however when we reached the final 3rd of the pitch we didn't know what to do with it. Callum McManaman was the best of the bad bunch yesterday, the former Everton man on occasion was a threat to the Charlton back line with his trademark pace and ability to beat a man. However McManaman had little support in terms attacking power when Oriol Riera was removed at half time and Marc Antoine Fortune and Shaun Maloney were unable to make an influence on the game in a positive fashion.

So what needs changing? Because at this point the play-offs are out of the question let alone the automatic positions. I find their are 3 main problems with our starting 11:

Goals, Goals , Goals

Often a problem every season for Wigan Athletic but nothing seems to be done about it to help Wigan in the long run. 2 years ago it was Arouna Kone, last year it was Grant Holt and this year it's Oriol Riera. Kone could score goals but felt his career lied in the top flight of English football whilst Grant Holt became another famous Coyle catastrophe and Riera is yet to find the net in a competitive game. Although he has only played  2 games, judging by the performances from the Spaniard, he doesn't look like scoring anytime soon. So is it finally time for Dave Whelan to finally spend big on a proven goal scorer? Various names spring to mind such as Jordan Rhodes, Troy Deeney and Glenn Murray but can Dave Whelan's shrewd business antics be enough to prize a top striker away from their respective club? Or is it a question of sell to reinvest? to a certain extent I think so. Whatever the situation is around Wigan Athletic, something or someone needs to address the serious lack of goals coming from a blue and white shirt.

Jordi Gomez

Ever since the Spaniard's departure for Wearside during the summer,Uwe Rosler's side have seriously missed a playmaker. Gomez's eye for a pass and talented left foot have been duly missed by Wigan so far in these early stages of the season and his replacement isn't worth his right foot so far. Emyr Huws was recruited over summer from Rosler's former club Manchester City, the 20 year old hasn't managed to impress me in 180 minutes in a Wigan shirt. The Welsh international hasn't got the courage to go flying into tackles like his Scottish teammate James McArthur nor has he got the technical ability to pass the ball over great lengths with the required accuracy or make the most from dead ball situations. It is almost as if he is there to make up the required 11. Whilst we won't get a player with the technical ability of Gomez for a while, we need to recruit a deep lying play maker with the vision, awareness and ability that could possibly solve the goal scoring problem providing Riera, Fortune and to a certain extent Martyn Waghorn with the service that is required killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

We are too like Bayern Munich

As Real Madrid showed in their Champions League Semi Final second leg at the Allianz Arena, Bayern are frightened by tricky wingers and raw pace. Jordan Cousins showed against Wigan what Crisitano Ronaldo showed against Munich. Cousins beat James Perch on several occasions yesterday showing that we as are Bayern Munich frightened of the classic counter attack equipped with a speedy attacking line. Igor Vetokele and Jordan Cousins got behind the Wigan back four all too often down at the Valley yesterday showing that our defense needs to be injected with a centre half who's quick on his feet or someone who can read the game very well as well as a well disciplined and rigid back line. Emmerson Boyce's age looks to be finally taking toll on the former Barbados international when Reading's front line exploited Wigan's aging captain and high line all too often. What is solution? I don't quite know is it buy another centre back or have a reshuffle of tactics. It is the least of Uwe Rosler's problems currently because if you don't score goals, you can't win games.

I'm a big believer of selling to reinvest, Grant Holt is the first of them to be leaving the DW however it seems we can't give the 32 year old away so for now he remains as a big chunk on the wage bill. Adam Forshaw remains an uncertainty whether he remains at Griffin Park or joins his former manager in the North West still remains to be seem. The League One player of the year could offer an alternative attacking outlet for Uwe Rosler's injecting the side with some exciting young talent but can we recruit Forshaw and still keep our finances in close control? We will find out come 11 o'clock on the 2nd of September and see if we can get back to winning ways.