Following today’s clash between Wigan Athletic and Manchester City, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Wigan Athletic hosted Manchester City at the DW Stadium in the FA Cup for a 7.55pm kick off on Monday February 19, with the hosts taking shock one nil victory courtesy of a late Will Grigg strike.
Wigan Athletic were clearly the underdogs even with positives from a memorable 2013 victory fresh in the memory but it was a dogged, determined and spirited showing from the side for the entire 95 minutes.
The talking point came in first half stoppage time as Fabian Delph was shown a straight red card and it led to some handbags on the pitch as well as heated ‘discussions’ between both benches which continued down the tunnel at the half time break.
That set up a fascinating second half period where Wigan coped with everything a clearly dominant (even at ten men) Manchester City threw at them.
The visitors had 83% of the possession and 27 chances in total, but did only manage to make Christian Walton work five times.
With both benches seeing sense return as the managers and staff shook hands at the final whistle, unfortunately there was an incident on the pitch between a fan and a Manchester City player as the fans (the vast majority) came on to celebrate with their team, and the visiting fans also made their thoughts known as a section of them threw available objects at the standing police.
That will no doubt feature in the media in the coming days but it shouldn’t detract from Wigan Athletic’s efforts nor Manchester City’s flowing performance in what was a true cup classic.
Teams:
Wigan:
Walton, Byrne, Dunkley, Burn, Elder, Perkins, Power (Fulton 27), Massey (Colclough 77), Powell, Roberts (Jacobs 55), Grigg.
Substitutes:
Bruce, Jones, Hunt, James.
Man City:
Bravo, Danilo, Stones, Laporte, Delph, Gundogan, Fernandinho, Silva (De Bruyne 65), Bernardo Silva, Aguero, Sane (Walker 45).
Substitutes:
Kompany, Ederson, Zinchenko, Foden, Diaz.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Anthony Taylor blew the final whistle, Wigan Athletic manager Paul Cook explained.
‘It feels great. It’s such a severe test. They’re such a strong side and move the ball so well. We had to ride our luck at times and the sending off is always a big incident. Our lads deserve credit for their work and some of the blocks they made were outstanding and to beat Man City you have to do that.’
As for the half time spat with Pep Guardiola, he added.
‘There’s no problems, from our point of view we’re trying to get every edge and everything we can and from his point of view he wants the game played and he’s a fantastic manager. It’s a great night for Wigan.’
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola in his comparative interview explained.
‘Congratulations for Wigan for the qualification. We did absolutely everything, we made a mistake and this kind of game is like a final. OK, we accept the defeat. Congratulations to the winner.’
Asked about the red.
‘Red card. It was the decision.’
And the half time incident.
‘Nothing happened.’
He quickly turned back to the game itself.
‘It was like a final. They had one shot on target. I don’t have regrets with the way we played, the performance, the heart. I judge my players on intentions and not results and the intentions were good. Wigan won, congratulations to them and now we rest to prepare for the League Cup final.’
