The good news is that manager Roberto Martinez is clear on why results are not going our way and is determined to fix this.
Early this week I was reading Roberto’s comments in the Wigan Evening Post and he highlighted that were are struggling for numbers in defence and are leaving ourselves too open at the back. It felt like I was reading last week’s twelfth man to be honest.
Our tried and trusted 3-4-3 formation is in need of a revamp to suit the present personnel and their attributes, put simply we’re far too exposed to a team attacking on the break.
Instead of continuing to harp on about the negatives it is time to trust in our manager and his abilities, after all we’re in a much better position that at this time last year, both in terms of points on the board and financial health.
Alongside a host of injuries to key first team players, we’ve been missing our start striker for a number of weeks
Arouna Kone is nearing a return from the African Cup of Nations and there a host of names being linked over the closing hours of the transfer window, the Latics could be entering February with a much better line up.
Mauro Boselli’s departure to Palermo will free up a sizeable portion of the wage budget for a loan addition until the end of the season, and if the rumours are the be believed, Paul Scharner could well be that person.
The loss of Ivan Ramis would be a big blow to any Premier League side, and Gary Caldwell is taking time to get back up to speed with the Premier League. The return of Scharner, who has heroic status amongst supporters, would add some much needed athleticism to the defence and hopefully a swagger of confidence may well ripple through supporters.
In terms of what we do have, messus McCarthy and MaArthur are starting t purr once more in the middle of the park. Injuries to McArthur have delayed their impact so far this term, but the Scottish international midfielder looked like Andres Iniesta as he swept the ball in off the Stoke post with the outside of his right boot on Tuesday evening.
Di Santo is finding his goalscoring boots once more, and Shaun Maloney continues to be a thorn in opposition defences.
There have also been positive signs from the development squad with Roman Golobart making the big step up to Premier league football after impressing in the cup games. With Callum McManaman, Nouha Dicko, and Golobart amongst others all on the fringes of the first team the future of Wigan Athletic looks to be in good young hands.
Roberto Martinez is developing a bright future for the Latics but on the back of a run of one win in eleven games, and with a less than pleasant run of fixtures in the near future, short term signings such as Paul Scharner could be just the tonic to push us through another big survival season.
Even young oak trees are given support to establish themselves into the formidable trees that they develop into so with the shoots of the future starting to come to fruition and push for a place in the first team there is no shame in turning to established professionals to offer such support and to push us over the line at such a delicate time in our Premier League history/future.