DE.

Some very dark stuff clearly going on here. For Wigan's current "owners", whoever they may be, to put the club into admin and bring all of this inevitable attention to the situation is telling. If the alleged bet on Wigan's relegation is legitimate then I imagine there are severe consequences involved for certain people should Wigan avoid relegation.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/nov/10/blackburn-venkys-dave-whelan-wigan Those who don't learn from history...

There's every chance we won't win another match this season. Mowbray's death spirals tend to last between 1-2 months, so there probably isn't time to pull up out of this one before the season ends. Wigan are on a roll, so they could definitely finish above us. We could easily end up finishing in the same position as last season.

Every manager has a lifespan at whatever club they're at and Mowbray has reached his. He had a big chance this summer to seriously get us into playoff contention and he completely blew it. We've been left weak in numerous positions across the pitch, either because the players brought in aren't good enough or have never been used in the right way. I fear for what comes next under the idiots in charge, but Tony is done here. Unfortunately I'm not convinced he or anybody above him realises that yet.

Ain't no spiral like a Mowbray spiral. Probably not enough games left to swing it back the other way either, so I imagine it's going to be a depressing end to the season.

Well, at least no Rovers fans had to travel to see this. The line-up and performance is a slap in the face as it is, let alone for anybody paying for the privelege of going to Barnsely to support the lads and being served up this shit as thanks.

I want Mowbray rescinded. The bloke has lost the plot, needs to go before he really sets us back in the summer. Every manager has a shelf life and Tony has reached his. Thanks for getting us back up from League 1, now please go and let somebody come in who can balance the squad properly.

Didn't look like a red to me, but for fuck's sake. He wasn't even on the pitch ten minutes. The only positive is that Samuel being on the pitch was like the opposition having an extra player so we haven't necessarily lost anything.

Have we actually had a shot this half? Can't remember if Big Dom's miss was before or after the break.

Is this a sign of things to come under Tony's much publicised "new style" ? More possession, less goals and a defence that's been shit since the moment he arrived and never been seriously improved.

What worries me is Walton's poor post-lockdown performances will make Brighton think twice about using him next season (as was rumoured to be their original plan) meaning he'll end up back here again - probably after 2 months of trying and failing to secure a better goalkeeper again.

Also a problem that Downing is 36 and Tosin is a loan! Holtby is ours but can't play much more than 60 mins when he is fit...

Under Mowbray we've always been far more effective when being direct and using Graham/Dack as a focal point, so I can't say that article fills me with optimism. Not much good having 70% possession if you never score. I don't fundamentally disagree with what Mowbray is saying, I just don't believe he's the man to implement such a sweeping change in style.

I'd be extremely wary of selling any defenders as we are yet to buy any decent permanent defenders. Tosin & Cunningham both loans and the latter got injured almost immediately. Mowbray has had a fair few transfer misfires up top as well but at least we seem to be willing to invest in the attacking side of the team... not so much the defensive side,

If I had to take a punt I would tip Hull, Luton and Barnsley for the final three places - although Stoke, Charlton or Huddersfield could easily fall through the trap door if Luton or Barnsely pick up a string of good results from the final few games. Boro will be fine with Warnock in charge. Wigan also have enough to get over the line.

The guy has had an entire season to learn his lesson re: Bennett and Gallagher, so I can't imagine one game making any difference at this stage. His stubbornness is a huge problem.

Yeah, it's strange but even when our better players are injured or suspended it doesn't seem to make that much difference to our overall form. In fact when Dack got injured I believe our form generally picked up rather than declined - but I believe it would have been roughly the same whether he'd have been present or not. Under TM our form seems to swing between good and bad irrespective of who is playing. Sometimes we'll see a line up and think "yes, that's exactly what we need" and the resulting performance will be dire. Alternatively sometimes we'll see a line up and think "wtf" and we'll go on to play well and win.That's why for the most part I've stopped paying attention to how we line up as it seems to have no major bearing on the end result. In my view it's not a good thing as it suggests we can't get the best out of our top players, and our system is largely designed to limit every player to a certain ability level. Good enough to keep us in mid-table as long as the standard of player is on average fairly decent, but never enough to push us beyond that point and in danger of dragging us downwards if the quality of players at the club begins to nosedive as it did during GB's tenure (and I would argue he was very similar to Mowbray in regards to the above).

A bit strange to say that and that set up with a 4-6-0 formation against a team who were 12 points behind us in the table.

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to see Gallagher toiling away on the right again Tuesday.

Indeed he has, but I would guess our overall transfer/wage budget still ranks somewhere in the middle of the division. It's something a better manager could get us into the playoffs with, but I don't think TM ever will.

Tony's penchant for overloading the team with strikers has been a consistent trait throughout his career - which is odd when you consider he played as a defender. I'm struggling to think of many permanent defensive additions he's brought in that have improved us. Raya, Lenihan, Nyambe and Mulgrew were already here. Downing I suppose you could count as he did make a good contribution, but other than that I'm struggling to think of anybody.

With our budget I don't think we'll ever have a squad that is top six in the division for ability. This represents a problem as I don't see Mowbray as an overachieving manager, just one who meets basic expectations. If we want to get promoted I do think we would need to change manager, but can understand the reluctance to do so as Venky's do not have a track record of appointing managers with the ability to overachieve.

I believe Kean and Eastwood both came in during the season (when Robinson was injured, maybe?) so it's a somewhat fair comparison. I don't think Raya or Fielding are significantly better than Walton so I'd still like us to do better than that. I'm not confident of Tony being able to do so, though.

It's sad to see how Rothwell has regressed this season. Being relegated to the bench seemed to knock his confidence at the start of the season and he doesn't seem to have ever really recovered. Either that or his performances at the end of the previous season were just a purple patch and what we're seeing now is his actual ability. Either way it's been a very disappointing season for Rothwell.

Have to agree, at most I think he'll be a 6-10 goals a season striker, which means we'll need more goals from the rest of the team.