Following something of a media circus down at the DW Stadium over the past few days it was back to footballing matters on Saturday, the Latics played their first game under the leadership of new manager Malky Mackay and finished the match with a point after a 1-1 draw with high flying Middlesbrough.
The performance by the Latics was greatly improved and they looked a solid unit, on another day they could quite easily have taken all the three points with three gilt edged chances going begging, but a good start to the new regimes.
After the game both bosses spoke to the media, let’s take a look at what they said:
Latics boss Malky Mackay –‘I’m really proud; proud to start here today but very proud of the performance, I thought they gave us everything’
‘The hairs on the back of my neck were up with the terrific welcome I got and I’ll be forever grateful for that, no matter what happens.
‘My dad and my little boy were here today and, going forward, today will be forever special for the fact that the Wigan people and Wigan Athletic fans welcomed me into their town like that.’
‘Bearing in mind that we were playing against a top team in this division, and a team that has been on a very good run and been together for a good period, I thought we really played well today’
‘ We dominated in parts, had three or four terrific chances to win and limited them to very few chances on our goal.
‘Emmerson Boyce had a chance with the header that he knows he should probably have done better with and Barney [Leon Barnett] had the one that hit the post and the scissor kick as well as Chris [McCann] with the one at the end that he blazes over.
‘Overall I thought they worked very hard and, playing against a team of that level, I`ve got to be very happy. ‘
‘ You need X Factor players and players that can do something special’
‘It was a terrific run from Chris McCann [to win the free-kick], he burst through three of four times in the first-half in behind their midfield, as did Roger and Shaun, and Shaun had come in for a bit of rough treatment really.
‘ He took aim with his first free-kick and with the second one he got it right; it was a sublime free-kick and he’s got massive quality that’s something I know from looking at him from a far, it’s about making sure that comes out on the pitch.
‘The amount of second balls Chris won in there today was phenomenal, especially for someone who has been out for such a long period of time to go out and put 90 minutes in and at the end still be running like that, it shows the quality he’s got and I’m delighted to have him back.”
Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka – ‘I’m happy because it was always going to be a difficult game to win,’ said Aitor.
‘Wigan are not in a real position in the league. They will move up. They have a very good manager and will move up the table.
‘We didn’t play how we can in the first half either. The pitch wasn’t in good condition, we started to play long balls, we weren’t strong enough and didn’t win second balls. It was uncomfortable.
‘We spoke at half-time and we were better in the second half because we knew what we had to do.’
