Wigan Athletic v Derby County

[DavesaRam]

31 minutes ago, On the Ram Page said:

You started well “I can’t fault anything about today’performance”. 
 

you should have stopped there.

Just for you, On The Ram Page, here is a re-write:

We Won. Way Hay!!!

[Rich3478]

First hour was as good was we’ve been this season I think, lovely slick passing, creating chances, solid at the back, playing in their half. Controlling the game. Was excellent. Only issue was not scoring a second 

that made the last half hour a bit more nervous than needed to be. 
 

Cashin was brilliant, Wilson as well. No one had a poor game.

Looked like a side that will challenge for promotion I thought today.

[plymouthram]

Would have been terrible today if Wigan got a draw, they never had a shot on target. Their keeper (Mr Tickle) kept them in the match with 2 good saves, no wonder Everton want him in the January transfer window.

[sage]

5 minutes ago, Rich3478 said:

First hour was as good was we’ve been this season I think, lovely slick passing, creating chances, solid at the back, playing in their half. Controlling the game. Was excellent. Only issue was not scoring a second 

that made the last half hour a bit more nervous than needed to be. 
 

Cashin was brilliant, Wilson as well. No one had a poor game.

Looked like a side that will challenge for promotion I thought today.

Strangely, I thought NML was our weakest link today. He has earned an off day though.  

[plymouthram]

3 minutes ago, sage said:

Strangely, I thought NML was our weakest link today. He has earned an off day though.  

Might be worth resting him against Oxford and start with Wilson on the right with Barks on the left and give John Jules a start. If it's not working out, then bring him on in the 2nd half.

[Wistaston Ram]

Back home after a very satisfying performance, just lacking the goals we deserved.  Sat with the home fans who were very impressed with how we played, less so with Wigan who were a shadow of the team who played at Pride Park. Looking forward to Oxford and nothing to fear if we can reproduce the performance, desire and hard work of today.

[ariotofmyown]

8 hours ago, ariotofmyown said:

Need this game done and dusted by about 60th minute as going to see Wonka at 4pm.

Got a bit tense there at the end. Wasn't sure if we'd get the result we all wanted, but then Wonka stepped up and *deleted for spoiler reasons*.

Great win though. Peteborough's incorrect score was an added bonus to just discover!

[LeedsCityRam]

Good away win at a good opponent who were made to look very ordinary indeed.

I would agree with those who say it was overall the best display of the season..only Barnsley at home would be comparable but we played better stuff today. Some good one touch moves opened them up & we pressed the life out of them without the ball. Really should have been further ahead but Barkhuizen missed a sitter early in second half that would have been a fairer scoreline at that stage. Nelson, Nyambe & Cashin were all absolute class but everyone worked hard 

Bit nervy late on & was surprised by how late subs were but they never really looked like breaking through. Massive couple of games coming up & we should believe we're capable of winning both. COYR 💪🐏

Edited December 26, 2023 by LeedsCityRam

[DerbyAleMan]

17 minutes ago, LeedsCityRam said:

Good away win at a good opponent who were made to look very ordinary indeed.

I would agree with those who say it was overall the best display of the season..only Barnsley at home would be comparable but we played better stuff today. Some good one touch moves opened them up & we pressed the life out of them without the ball. Really should have been further ahead but Barkhuizen missed a sitter early in second half that would have been a fairer scoreline at that stage. Nelson, Nyambe & Cashin were all absolute class but everyone worked hard 

Bit nervy late on & was surprised by how late subs were but they never really looked like breaking through. Massive couple of games coming up & we should believe we're capable of winning both. COYR 💪🐏

Good account of the game. 

Watched it on tv and thought our centre halfs was solid as always Nelson being my man of the match, thought Hourihane and Bird ran the midfield, and Collins and Wilson worked there wotsits off. Very proud to be a ram, and well done to the players and Management team for turning around the season. We are looking good to amount a challenge for top 2.

[OoooMarkWright]

36 minutes ago, Stockport Ram said:

Good performance, excellent result, well deserved. 

A word for Barkhuisen - probably his best game in some while. He had the full back on toast in the first half, despite being assaulted at least twice, and that was a top assist. We looked noticeably weaker down our left once he was subbed, particularly defensively. Maybe he didn’t have 90 minutes in him, but he played well. 

Thought Hourihane put a real shift in, as did Collins, but that almost goes without saying. Bird was good, again. Our two centre halves look as solid as a rock. 

The real difference was that there was always an option for the man in possession. Movement off the ball is so important and we were really good at that today.

All in all an excellent Boxing Day out with my Son.

 

A good win and the perfect away performance for the first hour. We looked the real deal today, good to see.

A word on Barkhuizen. He’s good, but abysmal at finishing. He needs to be chipping in with 8-10 goals a season. He’s awful in this department. For me, this is a priority position on Jan. Wilson has been superb, but he’s a converted wingback playing higher up, he doesn’t look comfortable scoring either. Our wide players should be chipping in more. Hopefully Warne brings someone in to help this area.

Great win though, Cashin and Nelson imperious. Class acts at this level. 

[Rich3478]

19 minutes ago, enachops said:

A good win and the perfect away performance for the first hour. We looked the real deal today, good to see.

A word on Barkhuizen. He’s good, but abysmal at finishing. He needs to be chipping in with 8-10 goals a season. He’s awful in this department. For me, this is a priority position on Jan. Wilson has been superb, but he’s a converted wingback playing higher up, he doesn’t look comfortable scoring either. Our wide players should be chipping in more. Hopefully Warne brings someone in to help this area.

Great win though, Cashin and Nelson imperious. Class acts at this level. 

Yeah I’d agree, think another striker and another wide player what we need. Goals and options basically!

[Returning ram]

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but the tactical awareness by PE to bring a sub on at end to keep us at 11 players was a superb bit of game management.

[SSD]

Those centre halves are superb. I reckon they could do the business next season in the Championship. Great chemistry, chipping in with goals, clean sheets. Fantastic.

I thought there was no chance of pushing for automatic promotion and now we've got a great chance to aim for 90+ points on this form. Brilliant turn around by the players and manager. Merry Christmas!

[Old Spalding Ram]

Here’s one for the stats lads. 👍🐏

[McArthur Park]

Really enjoyable Boxing Day! As others have said, I reckon the first half was as good as we've played all season. It felt like we were the home team, constantly pushing them back into their own half, very impressive. I thought the second half would be tougher as there was no way they could be as bad after the break! But everyone worked their socks  off, and although the last ten minutes or so were rather nerve wracking, we held on and a win was thoroughly deserved. Looking forward to Friday already! 

[CapeTownRams]

3 hours ago, Ramarena said:

Good performance and great result, that shouldn’t have been anywhere near as close as it was in the end.

We created a number good chances, but didn’t capitalise, hopefully we can address this problem in the next window and that will take us to the next level. 

Defence was solid as usual and Nelson helped out our attackers with a nice header (what a signing he’s been). Defence is certainly the grounding for our recent success and long may that continue.!

 

Nelson- immense as usual.

POTY 

[Red_ram]

If that’s playing to Warne’s vision (or something to that effect that he said) I don’t think anyone would have a long term beef if we saw more of that. The press was brilliant first half and looked dangerous at every attack, although frustratingly wasteful. Need to see that and the mettle again on a game by game basis.

Some great performances (Cashin, Nelson, Nyambe and many more) but credit to Hourihane; noticed the last few games him really consistently break a gut to get back and break things up, even more difficult on an early yellow. He’s had flack for being a passenger, and it might have largely gone unnoticed, but was a big part of us regularly turning over the ball today.

Same again please.

[Ian Buxton's Bat]

Best 60 mins of season so far in my opinion. Deserved to be out of sight by half time.

Two up top to press them worked a treat. Some great interplay on the deck. 

Goes without saying that CB’s and Fozzy were excellent but having Nyambe back dropped my blood pressure by several notches. Absolutely outstanding and really disappointing he’ll be off to Afcon.

Ref didn’t get much wrong in terms of decisions but yellow cards were a joke.

I absolutely hate it when refs look at their watch rather than the severity of an incident to decide if it’s a yellow card. Nailed on yellow in 1st min but presumably too early. 

Loads of cynical fouls in first half to stop our quick breaks that should have been cards.

Collins booked for chirp to lino in first half. McMannaman gets a quiet “calm down Cal” for same offence in the second.

Highlight of the day…..the Elder sub. Genius. 

Lowlight. A lot of dog sh1t in Wigan. Like a trip back to 80’s, with people wiping their shoes on grass verges.

 

[RoyMac5]

52 minutes ago, enachops said:

A good win and the perfect away performance for the first hour. We looked the real deal today, good to see.

A word on Barkhuizen. He’s good, but abysmal at finishing. He needs to be chipping in with 8-10 goals a season. He’s awful in this department. For me, this is a priority position on Jan. Wilson has been superb, but he’s a converted wingback playing higher up, he doesn’t look comfortable scoring either. Our wide players should be chipping in more. Hopefully Warne brings someone in to help this area.

Great win though, Cashin and Nelson imperious. Class acts at this level. 

Wilson looks as good as any of them, better at times - he is improving as he plays. His header was a really good attempt. Get him up the pitch!

[HorsforthRam]

Good performance. Deserved more goals before the 60 min mark. Concerned if Cashin leaves. He has a great partnership at the back with both Fozzie and Nelson. 
 

Also, you could see we were slower after 60 mins, in thought and physical speed. Wigan players started to want the ball. We need a strategy to keep possession of the ball as it felt like we were trying to play the same way but never had the energy for it. Don’t know if it’s change of shape, loading the midfield or whatever but a better time might exploit us last 20 mins of games if we aren’t 2 goals ahead