Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and admit you were beaten by the better team. The game against Manchester City was definitely not one of those occasions however.
Maybe Roberto Martinez ran over a whole load of black cats this weekend. Perhaps Hugo Rodallega took a different route to training the other day and walked under a ladder or five, or there could be a chance that goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic forgot his lucky rabbits foot. I don't know what happened but I thought we were desperately unlucky not to take anything out of the game. I thought we played well and deserved better.
Gary Caldwell is sent off
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Up until the 72nd minute we had taken everything that City had thrown at us. We'd silenced the crowd and we were controlling the midfield. Add to that a couple of golden Rodallega chances and we were unlucky not to have our noses in front.
The sending off of Gary Caldwell was the turning point for me. To say Caldwell was unlucky to be sent off is putting it mildly. I never thought it was a sending off offence - maybe a yellow if the referee wanted to calm things down ....but never a red.
Why do these situations seem to be constantly happening to us ? We seem to be the unluckiest team around at the moment. A glaring goalkeeping error from Stojkovic that led to City's first goal has not convinced me that our luck is about to change for the better either.
Aside from sending off I thought one of the main differences tonight was Tevez. He took his chances, Rodallega squandered his. 'Nuff' said.
I thought Tevez was the only class player for City tonight. The rest of their team didn't look anything special. Vieira was dreadful and completely anonymous. It took until the 75th minute to notice he was even on the pitch.
So, Monday's result means we're still involved in a relegation scrap. Three of our next four games are against Portsmouth, Hull and West Ham. Absolute season deciding games that starts against Pompey on Saturday.
Hope our luck changes for that. Thanks for reading.
Comments
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Posted by TUBI on 03/30/2010
I think everyone is getting a bit carried away with Wigan's performance. Granted, City weren't great, but Wigan weren't either.
The red card definately changed the game, but I don't think you can quibble too much about the decision. He went right over the top of the ball with a lunging challenge. If you do that in this day and age, you're just asking for a straight red. It definately looked worse first time round in real-time than it did on the replays, but the referee only has that one instance to go on and made the decision that I think most referees would have made.
All in all, a good night for City. Not a great performance, but a result we needed and got in relative ease in the end.
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Posted by James on 04/01/2010
eerrrm ... the only diff from before the sending off and after was that after you could only play 9 behind the ball after.
I guess nowadays you're just unlucky if your keeper is crap and your "dominating" midfield does ... what did they even do? nothing. Against viera, who is so far past his prime that he can prob barely remember those glory days. You're unlucky when your superstar striker can't shoot on target either.
gotcha.
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Posted by Anonymous on 04/02/2010
That's a red card. No doubt. You can't go over the ball on a slide tackle. While it's not what we think of as a two-footed tackle, the scissor action with the left-foot makes it a clear red card. You need to know what refs are looking for on send-off offenses.
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Posted by Daniel on 04/02/2010
wigan wer def the worse team..... to say they were "unlucky" in their defeat and to blame it solely on the red card is ludicrous. Wigan's keeper made the mistake and you can't do something like that with a player like tevez on the field and expect it to buff out. bottom line is, neither team played well but wigan made more mistakes than citeh and they happened to capitalize on said mistakes.
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Posted by Avi on 04/02/2010
I also think Wigan were very unlucky. But that's football. The two wigan forwards had their chances and didnt take them. Man City n Tevez did.
The red card also seemed harsh. I admit it was two footed, but the player didnt slide at full speed, he just tried to win the ball, the left leg would obviously follow from the momentum. I mean, we've seen many more dangerous tackles than that.
Best of luck for the relegation fight. I think Wigan are a decent team, very difficult to play against. The midfield was far better than multi-million midfield of Man City.
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Posted by Di Canio is God on 04/03/2010
Wigan were very unlucky. No way it should have been a red card. The ref had a stinker of a game. Tevez jumped in to the tackle with both feet off the ground. Yellows for both or a talking to,not a red card for the guy that won the ball. So his trailing leg caught Tevez,big deal. We see worse tackles every other game that go unpunished. Wigan were dominate till that moment. And how did the ref not book Tevez for his wussy nonsurprising dive in the box? Tevez shouldnt have been on the field to score his hattrick. City is a garbage team. Viera is crap now and the rest of the team looks awful at times. Tevez and Johnson were the only quality players for them during that game. Im no Wigan fan but they were looking far better then City till the sending off. The refs are getting more awful each game,something has to be done.
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Ned Brown: is one of the writers behind the Wigan Athletic blog 
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