Wigan Athletic 0-2 Man Utd: Missed Chances Go Unpunished!

Published by CM22ENT on 8 January 20248 January 2024

Prior to this fixture, pressure appeared to be rising for Erik ten Hag midway through his second season as Manchester United boss. Records continuously broken for all the wrong reasons, and if disaster struck once more, The Red Devils would’ve become the first Premier League team to get knocked out of this season’s FA Cup against a lower division side.

The DW Stadium’s atmosphere was electric before and during their home sides’ very first counter attacking opportunity that concluded with Thelo Aasgaard’s back post strike being well saved by Andre Onana who is due to travel out to Côte d’Ivoire for the African Cup of Nations a little later than usual.

David Ornstein of The Athletic revealed on January 3rd that both Cameroon and Man Utd struck up an agreement for him to participate in their crucial Sunday matchup against Tottenham Hotspur.

After an opening 10 minutes that was indeed testing, the away side were able to settle and assert themselves against their League One counterparts, and after coming close a few times, notably through Scott Mctominay who couldn’t guide a bobbling Fernandes pass into Wigan’s net, Portuguese international Diogo Dalot was able to sweetly curl one around Sam Lloyd Tickle, giving United a deserved lead!

To me it was interesting to see Erik ten Hag return to a shape and tactical setup that resembled an early season Manchester United featuring high inverted wing backs looking to not just add numbers into the midfield, but also affect what transpires high up the field of play which exactly happened with the first goal. Potentially this is what ten Hag wanted the side to transition into after last campaigns successes.

Transitioning back to proceedings, upon reflection it’s quite remarkable how Wigan weren’t 3, 4 or 5 goals down at the half. Plenty of chances missed by the likes of Rasmus Hojlund and Scott Mctominay who lacked the composure and potentially luck Infront of goal. Especially for the 20 year-old Danish international, who despite breaking his Premier League goal duck against Nottingham Forest last time out still remains under high scrutiny until form is built and maintained.

Wigan Athletic in small spurts kept their opponents honest with slight scares in the beginning of the second period that lead to nothing, but acted as reminders of what could possibly happen, if you can’t finish your dinner figuratively. Martial Godo seemed to pop up in dangerous areas constantly throughout proceedings, unfortunately not being able to take full advantage as previously insinuated.

Bruno Fernandes late on in the half converted a penalty that was earned in contentious circumstances after minimal contact. With no VAR to question Antony Taylor at the time, the club captain sent Wigan’s goalkeeper the wrong way and ensured that his side would progress into the fourth round to face either Eastleigh (NL) or Newport County (L2). Those two sides will be facing off a week from tomorrow in a replay after drawing 1-1 over the weekend.

How did you assess Manchester United’s victory in the third round of the Football Associations Cup? Could they make a run back to the final being staged in May? Have your say in the comments.

Check out my TikTok below speaking a little more about the game ⬇️