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WARDY'S TACTICS TALK - WIGAN v MIDDLESBROUGH 15-8-07
Stuart Ward
Middlesbrough make the journey to the JJB Stadium to face Wigan in tonights Sky Live clash of the day.
Wigan Athletic
Key Players
Emile Heskey - The big man always seems to play well against Boro for some reason.
He used to be big and powerful and quick and generally scary. Now he is widely considered to be rubbish.
He scores goals against us, and he won't have a better chance than against our two defenders who are scared of heading the ball in defensive situations.
Chris Kirkland - The giant keeper is still struggling to realise his undoubted potential.
He is unfortunately highly injury prone and there is no doubt this has hampered his progress.
He is still a very good shot stopper and his kicking is also impressive. If he is on form he will be hard to beat.
Paul Scharner - The big Austrian is a player I like a lot.
He is a tough strong, no nonsense lad who always gives 100%. He is going to give Boateng a hard game tonight I think. George needs to be at his best. Oh Dear.
Possible Lineup
Kirkland
Melchiot Bramble Gronqvist Kilbane
Valencia Scharner Landzaat Koumas
Heskey Sibierski
On paper this isn't the strongest team ever seen.
The defence has a lot of experience to it, but then again it also has Titus Bramble who is the worst footballer we have ever seen. Aliadiere is going to have a field day against that big lumbering berk of a centre half.
Melchiot has plenty of experience but very little pace. This is something that the Likes of Downing, Tuncay and Yakubu will be looking to exploit so expect plenty of attack coming down both flanks.
In midfield, Valencia and Koumas are two excellent players who Boro will need to watch very carefully. Koumas has the ability to score great goals and also has a great range of passing which he can use to damage Boro if he is given space.
In the centre of the park they have two hard grafters who will make Boateng and Arca earn the right to play football. Scharner in particular will battle hard and look to cut out any space that Arca will have to create chances for the attacking unit.
Up top it will all be about headers. Heskey and Sibierski are both big lumbering centre forwards. They aren't quick at all, but they are going to adopt the battering ram approach to football this season. Let's hope Riggott and Wheater fancy the battle.
Middlesbrough
Key Players
Stewart Downing - He has looked good so far, in the friendlies and the first match of the season.
Stewy is rotating well with Tuncay and seems to be full of confidence at the minute. If he can get the ball down and run at the ageing and slow Wigan backline then we could see fireworks today.
Tuncay Sanli - The Turkish international is already showing what he can do. Some of the runs he goes on and some of the passes that he provides have been brilliant.
Much like Downing, if he can get at the Wigan defence he can wreak havoc.
Jermemie Aliadiere - This is going to be the perfect opportunity for the French speedster to open his Boro account.
His pace will be far too much for Wigan and he just needs to put the chances away that he is going to get.
The Manager
Gareth Southgate - His attacking brand of football was on display against Blackburn. For much of the game we looked the far superior team.
Now he needs to prove his man management skills by making Yakubu get his rotund backside into gear and get him back scoring goals.
Possible Lineup
Schwarzer
Davies Wheater Riggott Taylor
Tuncay Boateng Arca Downing
Yakubu Aliadiere
The Boro backline did quite well really against Blackburn. It was two decent goals that beat us.
Wheater looked VERY dangerous from set pieces in the air and hopefully he can convert some of the chances he is getting.
Taylor and Davies are going to be in for tough games, particularly Davies who is going to have to mark Koumas. If he can keep him reasonably quiet then Boro will have a decent chance.
Our midfield is suddenly looking rather good. Tuncay and Downing are both great players and they ran Blackburn ragged at times. They will continue to swap around and if they get going then the Wigan defence will not be able to cope.
In the middle Boateng is going to have to battle hard to give Arca the room to influence play as he is able to. If the skipper can win the midfield war then Arca can pull the strings and hopefully orchestrate a Boro win.
Up top Aliadiere looked sharp in the last game and his pace was frightening. If he continues in that vein then he will do well for Boro, lets hope he an bag a goal or 2 tonight and settle his nerves.
Yakubu needs a slap and a bloody hard one too. He has looked poor in pre-season and was pretty crap against Blackburn too. If he doesn't buck his ideas up I would give him the boot and get the Gook in. He is wasting space at the minute.
How it will go
I personally think this is going to be a 1-1 draw. Boro are a stronger side than Wigan, but only won two games away from home last season, so we could struggle here.
Like I say, 1-1 and a hard fought point in a match where we will be the better team.
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