Rosler Still aiming to recover from bad form

Posted on September 30, 2014

Uwe Rosler arrived to Wigan Athletic on December of 2013 as he was selected as the man to replace the former coach of Wigan Roberto Martinez and achieve the primary objective of returning Wigan Athletic to the Premier League.

The German manager managed to end his debut season in charge of Wigan Athletic by capturing the 5th spot in the Championship but ultimately failed to earn a promotion spot to the Premier League after losing in the play-off match against Queens Park Rangers but it still was a fairly impressive and successful season for Rosler as he was just going through his first season as the coach of the English club.

In this new season of the Championship League; Wigan is struggling just trying to survive having only collected 8 points out of the 7 opening matches of the season which they have played so far.

The Championship League only started a few weeks ago which means that Uwe Rosler has enough time to recover from their recent string of losses but the German manager believes that it will be tough for Wigan to pick up positive results due to the financial gap that exists between certain clubs.

“The transfer market is destroyed this year, in terms of the money that has been paid for certain positions. We have a strong team but where we lack is up front so we need to strengthen in that area. It’s not easy, especially when you’re driving a football club in a responsible way like we do. We have less income than last year and we have to adapt more and more to life in the Championship, but still push to win promotion. When you pay £11m for a striker and £5m for a League One striker, it’s very difficult for a club like Wigan to compete at that level’’ Wigan Athletic’s Uwe Rosler told the media.

Thelwell Believes Standard Would Be High This Season

Posted on August 11, 2014

One of the higher officials at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Kevin Thelwell, believes that the standard of football in the Championship would be very high this season as the teams involved are extremely strong.
The 41-year old also said that the Wolves will be countering big challenges in the season and they will have to counter them with distinction in order to finish in the top quarter of the table.
The last outing of the Wolves in the Championship was in 2012-13 and it was really embarrassing for them. They were believed to be one of the contenders for making it to the league that season, but, let alone the promotion to the league; they couldn’t even survive in the Championship. They finished at the second last position in the table with 51 points in 46 matches and got relegated to League One.
They are however back in the Championship now and they are hoping that they do well this season and get back to the top tier again. They know pretty well though that it’s not easy.
Talking to the reporters yesterday, Thelwell said, “We know we are up against it, but, we are quite positive in our thinking. Yes, there are some strong sides around, but, there is no point getting afraid of them.”
“A lot of guys in our squad have played in the Championship before and are well aware of the level of the competition here.”
“It’s a little bit tougher in the Championship this time around though. Most of the teams have played in top tier at some point of time in the past and they’ve got fantastic squads. Some of them are quite rich too and they have been making big recruitments of late. So, it’s going to be challenging, no doubt.”

Caldwell Announced Extended STay At Wigan

Posted on July 22, 2014

Championship outfit Wigan Athletic have been boosted by the news that Gary Caldwell has decided to extend his stay at the club. Captain Caldwell is an important part of the team, but there has been speculation around his future in the last few weeks. Wigan failed to get back into the Premier league after losing in the play-offs last season. Caldwell has been linked with a return to Scotland, but the 32-year-old defender has signed a new contract that will see him embark on a coaching career at the club.

Wigan have revealed that Caldwell will be acting as a coach for all the academy teams this campaign. Since moving to the club from Celtic in 2010, Caldwell has been an important player for the club and has represented them on more than 100 occasions. Last season, he was troubled by a lot of injuries and this saw him make only a handful of appearances. Uwe Rosler praised the 32-year-old following the news that he had decided to extend his stay at the DW stadium. He said that Caldwell is a major influence on the team even when he is not playing. His leadership skills will be a major boost to the young players coming through the academy according to Rosler.

“Whether playing in the team or not, he is someone who can have a big influence here. We’re delighted to be able to call on his experience. We saw at the end of the season what an impact he made with his calmness on the field. It’s part of Gary’s natural development that when he has no first-team duties to fulfil, he will take an active role in coaching at the academy,” said the Wigan manager to the club’s official site. Wigan start the new campaign with a home match against Reading.

Caldwell Announced Extended STay At Wigan

Posted on July 22, 2014

Championship outfit Wigan Athletic have been boosted by the news that Gary Caldwell has decided to extend his stay at the club. Captain Caldwell is an important part of the team, but there has been speculation around his future in the last few weeks. Wigan failed to get back into the Premier league after losing in the play-offs last season. Caldwell has been linked with a return to Scotland, but the 32-year-old defender has signed a new contract that will see him embark on a coaching career at the club.

Wigan have revealed that Caldwell will be acting as a coach for all the academy teams this campaign. Since moving to the club from Celtic in 2010, Caldwell has been an important player for the club and has represented them on more than 100 occasions. Last season, he was troubled by a lot of injuries and this saw him make only a handful of appearances. Uwe Rosler praised the 32-year-old following the news that he had decided to extend his stay at the DW stadium. He said that Caldwell is a major influence on the team even when he is not playing. His leadership skills will be a major boost to the young players coming through the academy according to Rosler.

“Whether playing in the team or not, he is someone who can have a big influence here. We’re delighted to be able to call on his experience. We saw at the end of the season what an impact he made with his calmness on the field. It’s part of Gary’s natural development that when he has no first-team duties to fulfil, he will take an active role in coaching at the academy,” said the Wigan manager to the club’s official site. Wigan start the new campaign with a home match against Reading.

Andrew Taylor Sees Way Out Of Club

Posted on June 11, 2014

After spending 3 seasons with Cardiff City, Andrew Taylor is seeing his way out of the club which suffered from relegation as they concluded the previous term of the Premier League campaign at the very last spot of the English league.

“Wigan Athletic is a big club, with Premier League experience and big aspirations. I spoke to the manager Uwe Rosler for about 30 minutes and, after I’d put the phone down, I was immediately on to my agent to say that’s the club for me.” Taylor told Wigan’s official website.

Uwe Rosler expressed his delight about signing the 27 year old defender from Cardiff City as he considers the English player to be a top and reliable performer who will only get better.

Uwe Rosler said: “I’m very, very happy to get a player of Andrew’s stature and experience to our football club. He is a very experienced and reliable player who is at the best stage of his career and I’m looking forward to working with him. I think that will do us very well as a team in next season’s campaign, especially when we’re bringing in younger players who need experienced players on the side to develop in the best way. He’s willing to go forward, participating in our play offensively and he’s another cornerstone in our team for next season.”

Wigan Athletic is eager to get into the Premier League and play against some of the best clubs that England has to offer and this is one of the main motivations on why Rosler is performing actively in the transfer market.

Aaron Taylor-Sinclair is one of the other latest signings that Wigan Athletic as he made his way from Partick Thistle as another defensive reinforcement for the Championship League club.

Rosler Avoids Mind Games With Redknapp

Posted on June 2, 2014

Wigan athletic manager Uwe Rösler has tried to not get into any mind games ahead of the play-off semi-final with Harry Redknapp’s QPR. This weekend will be the first leg of the play-off semifinals. QPR qualify for the stage of the competition a long time ago, while Wigan had to wait until the final game of the regular season in order to be sure of their place. However, ahead of the match, Redknapp has raised a few eyebrows by claiming that Wigan will be the favourites for victory in the first leg. Rösler, though, has claimed that such suggestions are laughable considering that QPR were the table leaders for most of the season.

It was only during the last few months of the campaign that they lost the momentum, which allowed the likes of Leicester City and Burnley to claim automatic promotion spots. QPR also has the highest wage bill in the Championship after being relegated to the second division only in the summer.
They still have a lot of players who used to play for them in the Premier league. Wigan, meanwhile, come on the back of a very long campaign due to their commitments in the Europa league after winning the FA Cup final last season.

“What we have now is ‘pressure bingo’. I was preparing myself today and thinking: ‘I’m not going in that direction.’ But when Harry says we are the clear favourites for promotion then I have to smile a little bit about that one. Harry said we have the best squad – I think we have a very good squad – but Harry has probably three times a bigger wage budget than we have. Every team that’s in the play-offs deserves to be in the play-offs,” said the manager, who led his team to the FA Cup semifinals this year.

WIGAN LOSE OUT

Posted on May 8, 2014

Wigan Athletic lost against Milwall in their latest Championship match and the head coach of Wigan went on saying that in order for his club and players to snatch a higher spot in the league they will need to ‘show respect’ to their opponents.

“Every time we play a team in the top 10, we raise our standard. We can compete against anybody in this league, but we have lost to Doncaster and Huddersfield’’.

“That is no disrespect to anybody in this league. We have to realize that, in this league, you have to show everybody respect and that is the next learning curve for my players. If we continue to do that until the end of the season, we will definitely be in the play-offs. With the squad we have and the spirit we have created, anything can happen.” Uwe Rosler said.

Uwe Rosler also praised the goalkeepers he has at his disposal and according to him; Wigan Athletic has the strongest goalkeeping department in the entire league.
“To cement his place, after Scott came back from injury and with Lee Nicholls being available every training session, shows the level of performance Ali has delivered since I walked through the door. Ali took his chance and I think it would have been unfair to Ali and sent the wrong signals to the squad, when we talk about fair competition, to take Ali out’’.

“I am very happy with the goalkeepers. I think I probably have the strongest goalkeeping department in the league with three top goalkeepers. It speaks volumes that Ali has cemented his place as number one.” Rosler added on.
Wigan Athletic still has 5 matches left to be played in the Championship league before the season comes to a conclusion but they are well on their way of finishing on a top 5 spot.

COLLINS MIGHT MOVE ON

Posted on March 25, 2014

West Ham’s James Collins is not a consistent performer for the Football League Championship club as he has made less than 12 appearances for the club in this season and this could allow Wigan Athletic on making a move for the Welsh midfielder.

The head coach of Wigan Athletic, Uwe Rosler is fan of the playing style of Collins and his lack of playing time is a good motivation for him to make a move away from West Ham and go somewhere he can get more time on the playing fields.

Collins has already represented the Wales national team as he made a substitute appearance during a friendly match against Ireland but he will need to get much more playing time with his club if he wants to get more consideration and importance for his national team.

It remains unclear if Wigan have already launched an offer or made a bid for Collins but it is expected to be done in the near future. The 25 years old Welsh midfielder has a contract with West Ham that expires at the end of the season and it is unlikely that he would want to extend his stay with a club where he barely gets any playing time which means that Uwe Rosler’s Wigan Athletic have a chance of not only signing him on a loan deal but instead on a permanent basis.

Only after 25 days had passed since Ryan Tunnicliffe signed for Fulham, he transferred to Wigan Athletic on a loan deal until the end of the current campaign mainly serving as cover for Ben Watson who suffered from a broken leg injury.

“Ryan is a very promising prospect player who has experience in the Championship, and after we lost Ben, I am delighted we have got someone who is so football-educated, having come through the ranks at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson. He is a different type of player from Ben but will definitely add a new dimension to us.” Uwe Rosler said after signing the 21 years old midfielder.

INTO FORM

Posted on March 7, 2014

Wigan Athletic managed to come into form at just the right stage in the season after a 4-1 win over Nottingham Forest in the league. This victory was a feather in the cap for manager Uwe Rosler, whose team have now edged into the playoffs position.

During the regime of Owen Coyle, Wigan only managed six wins from 18 matches. They have already managed to get nine victories from the 14 matches under Rosler. This win over Nottingham Forest was extremely crucial since it will be followed by the match against Manchester City in the FA Cup.

Wigan go into the competition as the folders of the title after having beaten City in the final last season. This time around, defending it will be extremely difficult since City come on the back of a moral boosting victory in the League Cup final over Sunderland. Further, they have been looking like a squad capable of winning the quadruple for the first time in history of English football. Waghorn gave Wigan the lead after just 36 minutes and the game finished at half-time with the same scoreline. The goals, though, were about to come only in the second half.

Boyce, McArthur, and Jordi Gomez all scored over Wigan in the second half to reduce the gap to Nottingham Forest in the table.

“These teams above us are now in our sights. We should not be happy just to stay in the top six, we want to catch the guys in front of us. Automatic (promotion) is a little optimistic, but I am talking about the teams who are third, fourth or fifth. I said March and April would be decisive. We knew this would be the time of the year when the prizes were earned,” said Rosler. Wigan have won the last four matches in a row.

NEW SIGNINGS

Posted on January 14, 2014

The Wigan Athletic fans who were expecting new signings during the mid season transfer window might not get their wish fulfilled as the newly appointed manager of the club, Uwe Rosler, is not in a mood to spend that much money in January. He might be making one or two loan signings, but, the permanent signings are not supposed to be made.

Wigan had earned a big amount of money by selling James McCarthy last summer and the previous manager Owen Coyle was expected to use that sum to bring in new faces at the DW Stadium in January, but, before the opening of the mid season transfer window, he got axed and the new manager arrived in the form of Rosler who reckons that he doesn’t know at the moment what kind of players the team needs and that’s why he would not go for the new permanent signings.

Talking to the reporters yesterday, Rosler said, “You can’t expect a manager to come and start making signings straight away. I need a bit of time to know the squad, to find out what we are lacking and what kind of players we should look for.”

“However, I will see if I can bring in a few guys on loan. I am not in a position to sign anyone on a permanent basis right now.”

Wigan’s performance after the arrival of Rosler has been good. They have secured points from almost every game of late and have moved up to no. 10 in the Championship points table. They currently have 36 points in 24 matches.
Wigan’s next match is against MK Dons. That’s a FA Cup third round fixture and will take place at stadium mk on Tuesday.

Wigan had become the FA Cup champion in the last season.