Match date: 11 May 2013

Coming into the game, Wigan are in a battle for survival in the Premier League as Roberto Mancini’s job at Manchester City has come under increasing scrutiny as Manuel Pellegrini is reportedly set to take over.

Roberto Martinez’s side would be discouraged by their loss at Swansea mid-week, but they had a positive showing against Manchester City in their last meeting in the Premier League despite losing 1-0.

Martinez opted to started in a 5-4-1/3-4-3 to try to close the gaps that the likes of David Silva and Carlos Tevez look to exploit for Manchester City while also opting to keep club captain Gary Caldwell out of the starting XI, again to react to the quick movements of Manchester City’s attacking four and selecting James McArthur as the right wing back.

Mancini’s side started with a 4-2-3-1, later switching something like a 3-5-1-1.

Wigan’s Shape

On the surface, it isn’t a big surprise that Martinez chose to put out his side with three at the back as they’ve done it many times throughout the season, building on the success towards the end of the 2011/2012 season. However, Maynor Figueroa was going to be out and Antolin Alcaraz, though ultimately fit to play, had been touch and go. With Alcaraz available, and with the decision not to start Gary Caldwell, it gave Martinez a back three that was mobile enough to defend Manchester City’s fluid front four.

Emmerson Boyce, who usually plays as Wigan’s right back or wing back, played on the right side of Alcaraz with Paul Scharner on the left side. With Boyce playing in the centre, Martinez opted to play James McArthur as the right wing back and with the absence of Jean Beausejour, it meant Roger Espinoza got another start at left wing back.

When defending, they looked very much like a 5-4-1, with McArthur and Espinoza getting back well and with Shaun Maloney, despite playing in something of a number 10 role when on the attack, dropping well also. Wigan’s back line played rather high which helped minimize the impact of David Silva and Carlos Tevez, who both struggled to find spaces between Wigan’s back line and midfield; spaces which they always look for in order to make positive impacts.

Going forward, however, they looked very much like a 3-4-3/3-5-2. The centre backs remained the same, James McCarthy, Jordi Gomez, and Shaun Maloney played a three man central midfield with James McArthur on the right and Espinoza, Kone, and McManaman gave Wigan a front three or with Espinoza a bit deeper and Maloney drifting left, it turned into the 3-5-2. In both situations, it was a lopsided approach.

Wigan in the Wide Areas

Despite being a natural central midfielder, McArthur did well not to get too far forward on the right side, allowing Callum McManaman to have a 1v1 with Gael Clichy. This gave McManaman plenty of space to beat Clichy and look for an end product. In total, he was successful in 9 dribbles, had 3 shots, and won 3 fouls in dangerous areas and in the end, won the corner that Ben Watson headed into Manchester City’s goal to win Wigan the cup.

McManaman’s stayed very high up the pitch, even higher than Kone at times, with McArthur and Boyce being able to deal with the attacks on the left side of City’s attack and with Kone dropping to deeper areas and drifting to the left, McManaman was able to make runs across the Manchester City back line and had a very good chance in the 35th minute as a result. His direct running caused problems for City with Zabaleta fouling him twice and getting a yellow card for each offense which meant he saw red. Nastasic, too, was shown a yellow card for a foul on McManaman.

On the other side, Kone would usually drift out wide to the left side of Wigan’s attack and occupy Zabaleta and Kompany. His movement there allowed the left side to open up for Espinoza to get forward with relative ease as he wasn’t tracked back by David Silva, City’s closest to a right sided player. Espinoza saw a lot of the ball, with Wigan attacking down the left 45% of the match, but especially in the first half. Espinoza attempted the second most passes on the Wigan side as well as two key passes. Mancini seemed to react to this later, bringing on Milner to track Espinoza.

City’s Changes

Mancini’s first change was to bring on James Milner, which halted the forward runs of Espinoza and provided City with a wide outlet in their attack something they lacked with David Silva and Samir Nasri in the side. With the introduction of Milner, Mancini also changed the team’s shape to utilize a 3 man defense as he has done on numerous occasions during the season, despite the players never seeming to react or play well under the system.

Zabaleta moved to centre back with Kompany and Nasastic, who was now able to help Clichy cover McManaman more so than before. Just to note that it was after the switch to the 3 man system that Zabaleta received both yellow cards and Nasastic received his as well.

Milner’s introduction impacted both sides of the match, tracking well and providing width, which gave City good balance when attacking. Mancini’s next change saw Jack Rodwell brought on in place of Carlos Tevez, which meant that Rodwell would play alongside Gareth Barry as the second holding midfielder, and allow Yaya Toure to play higher up the pitch and hope to effect the game with his dynamic runs forward. Unfortunately, for Mancini, the change did little to impact the match with Yaya Toure having a poor game overall.

Conclusion

Ben Watson’s goal in first seconds of added time gave Wigan their first major trophy. It can be seen as a massive upset as well as Manchester City’s starting XI costs about £187m compared to Wigan’s which was assembled for about £11m, but Roberto Martinez’s tactical insight saw Wigan win this match. He played the likes of James McArthur, Shaun Maloney, and Kone in roles where they weren’t used to playing to help minimize City’s ability to get forward while also utilizing Wigan’s strengths.

Mancini’s future is surely sealed following a rather static performance from his side, but the future of Martinez is an interesting one and he could very well continue his stay at Wigan if they are to stay up. They’ve received a good omen in winning the FA Cup as no club that has ever won it has been relegated.

Callum McManaman has had a terrific FA Cup run, as has the rest of Wigan, but on the night, he was able to win at least ITV’s man of the match award with his performance against Clichy and Nastasic. It was all of Wigan’s players that worked very hard all over the pitch within Martinez’s system that saw Wigan win.