Team Focus: Rösler Leading Wigan to Late Promotion Charge

It happens more often than you think. A team starts the season slowly, picks up the pace after Christmas and creeps into the play-off places almost unnoticed before then emerging from Wembley victorious in May.

Blackpool did it in 2010, finishing in sixth with a point to spare before beating Nottingham Forest and Cardiff City. The year before, Burnley made a late charge to finish fourth and in 2008 Hull defeated Bristol City in the so-called richest game in British football having won only 3 of their opening 11 games before a hitting a hot streak after Christmas.

This year, Wigan could be taking a similar route back to the top flight. For the majority of observers, the journey to another FA Cup semi-final will have caught their attention more than an almost furtive climb up the table. But despite a recent blip and with a game against the champions-elect, Leicester, tonight, Wigan’s transformation since Uwe Rösler took the job in December has been remarkable.

Since replacing Owen Coyle - who was sacked with the team in lower mid-table - Wigan have not suffered defeat at home. Rösler’s three defeats have come at Doncaster, Huddersfield and QPR but at the DW they have won 7 of their 11 games (all competitions).

At Brentford, Rösler erred on the side of pragmatism. Perhaps he may argue that the players at his disposal suited such a system but he was often happy to sit on a 1-0 lead rather than go for the kill. Yet at Wigan, with a squad full of talented, quick and incisive attacking midfielders, Rösler has played to his players’ strengths.

While favouring 4-2-3-1 most often, the options available to Rösler have meant he has regularly changed his system, from using 4-3-3 in the 4-1 win at Forest that moved them into the top six for the first time since the opening day of the season to putting five in midfield for tougher away games.

They have not had a real standout performer either, with more emphasis on the collective. Nick Powell, the midfielder increasingly used in attack on loan from Manchester United, is top scorer with only 7 goals, but they have had sixteen different goalscorers with Jordi Gomez on 6 and three others on 4.

While he has the opportunity to change things around up front, the consistency in his selections towards their own goal is a key contributor to their success. Rösler has previously spoken of having the best set of goalkeepers in the division - Scott Carson, Ali Al-Habsi and the promising 21-year-old Lee Nicholls - but the familiarity created at the back must not be overlooked either.

Leon Barnett has played 35 of their 38 league games. Emmerson Boyce, who made that amazing tackle late in the game at Man City, has started in 32 of them along with James Perch, with both also making appearances from the bench, while in front of them James McArthur is the only other player to break 30 appearances. In total, 32 players have been used with recent loan additions like Ryan Tunnicliffe from Manchester United (with his third club of the season following earlier loans at Ipswich and Fulham) adding worthwhile contributions recently.

Rösler has also played his cards right in interviews. Tonight’s game, for example, is a “bonus” against an “already promoted” Leicester.

Yet Roberto Martínez’s influence lives on. Rösler referenced the Everton manager following the win against Manchester City as a key reason for the head-turning result. "I studied Roberto's tactics last season at Wembley and he had a very brave game-plan," Rösler said. "I also watched the league game at the Etihad last season and Roberto's team played some periods to perfection. We tried to replicate that."

Interestingly, Rösler has left a Martínez-like imprint in west London too with Mark Warburton, a former City currency trader taking his first managerial job at 51, picking up where he left off and steering Brentford in the direction of the Championship.

Little wonder Eintracht Frankfurt have been linked with bringing him back to Germany. But with a favourable run-in (their last three games are against sides ensconced in mid-table) few can deny Rösler is on the cusp of something quite exciting at a small club in a town obsessed with the oval ball. Wigan may not have got it right with Coyle but Rösler has worked wonders so far and come the end of next month it would be no surprise to see them back in the Premier League.

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