Miracle worker Moses parts the orange sea! Wigan 4 Newcastle United 0
Posted on April 28th, 2012 | 73 Comments |
Date: Saturday, 28th April, 2012.
Kick-Off: 3.00pm.
Referee: Mike Dean.
United went into this game with confidence sky high on the back of six straight wins, sitting fourth in the table and chasing an unexpected place in next season’s European Champions League.
Wigan, although one of the teams fighting relegation, had a good recent record too, having won 3 of their last 4 games beating Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, although slipping up in their last game with a 2-1 defeat at Fulham.
This was the first of our final 4 “cup finals” and the 4500 United fans took over one end of the ground to make sure the team felt right at home in a vital away game. It was 4th top v 4th bottom with United having “momentum”. What could possibly go wrong? Surely even the ominous pre-match news that top tipster Mark “I always get them wrong” Lawrenson had tipped us to win couldn’t stop the Newcastle steamroller?
First Half
The game kicked off with the United fans in full voice and with a good Wigan crowd also in attendance. After 8 minutes a foul on Ba halted the game, but there were early signs that Newcastle weren’t quite at the races. Wigan had started well and were looking dangerous. Quite how dangerous they were was demonstrated after only 12 minutes of the game. Boyce crossed from the right and that man Victor Moses easily (too easily) out-muscled Williamson to head into the net. Wigan Athletic 1 Newcastle United 0
Two minutes later, Moses again. Coloccini got onto a cross from Wigan’s left but his clearance only went as far as Moses who slotted it in. Wigan Athletic 2 Newcastle United 0
United were clearly second best and struggling to gain a foothold in the game. On 18 minutes Santon carried the ball from his own half to the edge of the Wigan area where he was duly fouled by Alcaraz, who was yellow carded. Ben Arfa took the free kick which flew past the right hand post.
United settled down for a bit and started to briefly see a bit more of the ball, but too many players were having an off day and we repeatedly gave the ball away cheaply. On 28 minutes Caldwell fouled Ben Arfa on the edge of the Wigan area and the referee gave a free kick to Wigan. Somehow, you could just sense this wasn’t going to be our day!
The game then lapsed into a midfield ping-pong battle for a period, although a mix up between Santon and Simpson in our penalty area almost let in Wigan again. More pain came in the 35th minute when Shaun Maloney was put through on the left, cruised into the United area and slotted the ball past Krul. Wigan Athletic 3 Newcastle United 0
A couple of minutes later MCarthy fouled Cabaye with studs up but was only yellow carded. Danny Simpson got a yellow card for complaining about it at length.
With five minutes left, United came to life. A good run down the left by Ben Arfa culminated in a cross which found Ba. The Senegal striker hit a good left foot shot which unfortunately went the wrong side of the post. The United fans, who had been in good voice, decided to remind the team that they were “going to Italy” – just in case they’d forgotten. United responded with a little period of pressure which ended with Tiote firing over the bar.
Four minutes of extra time were announced but Wigan only needed two of them to put the game further out of Newcastle’s reach. And what a goal it was – Di Santo got the ball about 10 yards outside the United area and just floated a right footer which Krul could only stand and watch. Even Matt Le Tissier would have been proud of that one. Wigan Athletic 4 Newcastle United 0
Woeful United got to half time reeling, and no doubt hoping this would become “a game of two halves”.
Second Half
There were no team changes at the break. After only one minute of the second half we saw a little confrontation between Moses and Coloccini, who took exception to Moses bringing him down from behind. The sun came out, and I wondered if we might start playing some of our sunshine soccer this half. Then it went in again. Doh!
On 52 minutes Krul managed to tip away a Wigan corner. United were pressing the ball better this half, but Wigan were still looking by far the better side, playing good football and looking the more threatening. We still continued to give the ball away too cheaply with poor passing and sloppy play.
59 minutes saw a close range save by Krul from Moses again. 3 minutes later Ben Arfa put a lovely ball through to Cisse and his left foot shot was unfortunately straight at the keeper when anywhere else would have done. A minute later it was Cisse again, fed by Santon and this time he hit the bar. Three minutes later Ben Arfa and Cisse combined well again to produce another save which led to a corner. From the corner, the ball ended up with Ben Arfa, who sent two defenders the wrong way but sadly shot just wide. On 70 minutes another Ben Arfa cross from the left and Cisse hit the post. This just wasn’t going to be our day!
Pardew decided to take Ben Arfa off after 73 minutes and put Ryan Taylor on. Nope, I don’t know why either. Then 7 minutes later Simpson off and Perchinio came on. 2 minutes later Wigan responded by taking Moses off, so that the Wigan fans could applaud their man of the match. He was replaced by Sammon. Shortly afterwards Pardew took off Cabaye and sent on Ferguson. Clearly, this wasn’t an attempt to win the game. I could only assume that, with the game lost, he wanted to keep some of our better players fresh for the match against Chelsea in mid-week.
With 3 minutes of normal time left Conor Sammon got past Williamson and through on goal, beat the diving Krul, but luckily Coloccini was on hand to stop it going in the net.
Summary
Apart from a brief spell of pressure in the second half, this was definitely a game to forget for United. We were second best for most of this match, and it was quite apparent why Wigan have recently beaten Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool. If it’s any consolation for us, at least we’re in good company there. Alan Pardew now has the job of making sure this result does not affect the team’s recent form or morale to make sure we are prepared for the key match to come against Chelsea.
Wigan Athletic vs Newcastle United: Full Match, Extended Highlights and Inteviews.
Teams, Stats etc
Wigan Athletic (3-4-3): Ali Al Habsi; Emmerson Boyce, Antolin Alcaraz, Gary Caldwell (C), Maynor Figueroa, James McCarthy, Shaun Maloney, James McArthur, Jean Beausejour, Franco Di Santo, Victor Moses (Conor Sammon 82)
Subs: Mike Pollitt, Mohamed Diame, Albert Crusat, David Jones, Jordi Gomez, Conor Sammon, Hugo Rodallega.
Newcastle United (4-3-3): Tim Krul (G), Danny Simpson (James Perch 80), Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini (C), Davide Santon, Cheick Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez, Hatem Ben Arfa (Ryan Taylor 73), Yohan Cabaye (Shane Ferguson 84), Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse.
Subs: Rob Elliot (G), James Perch, Shane Ferguson, Ryan Taylor, Dan Gosling, Leon Best, Shola Ameobi.
Goals: Victor Moses (13, 15), Shaun Maloney (36), Franco Di Santo (45+4)
Yellow Cards: Alcaraz (18) Maloney (37) Simpson (37)
Red Cards: None
Possession: Wigan Athletic 56.35%, Newcastle United 43.65%.
Territorial Advantage: Wigan Athletic 50.8%, Newcastle United 49.2%.
Shots on Target: Wigan Athletic 6, Newcastle United 2.
Shots off Target: Wigan Athletic 2, Newcastle United 8.
Blocked Shots: Wigan Athletic 3, Newcastle United 1.
Corners: Wigan Athletic 4, Newcastle United 1.
Fouls: Wigan Athletic 15, Newcastle United 12.
Offsides: Wigan Athletic 3, Newcastle United 5.
Total Passes: Wigan Athletic 509, Newcastle United 387.
Total Crosses: Wigan Athletic 15, Newcastle United 14.
Passing Success: Wigan Athletic 86.8%, Newcastle United 83.2%.
Tackles: Wigan Athletic 15, Newcastle United 16.
Tackles Success: Wigan Athletic 86.7%, Newcastle United 62.5%.
Fouls: Wigan Athletic 15, Newcastle United 12.
Offsides: Wigan Athletic 3, Newcastle United 5.
Lost Balls: Wigan Athletic 125, Newcastle United 110.
Recovered Balls:Wigan Athletic 49, Newcastle United 38.
Hmmm, so you didn’t take up my suggested title then, UTD111 – “Miracle worker Moses parts the Orange sea!” I liked it anyway.
That photo’s of Pardew at Charlton Athletic, he always looked like that when he was there!