My preview from my site in my signature with input from a Wigan fan
Well finally it's time or the new season to kick off and Coventry face one of last seasons relegate teams in Wigan Athletic who are falling from grace at a rapid rate.
Coventry have added Romain Vincelot from Leyton Orient to beef up the midfield, former Wolves skipper Sam Ricketts who has also been named Coventry Captain, Chris Stokes from Forest Green Rovers who did enough on loan last season to secure a full time contract, Ruben Lamieras a former Tottenham Hotspurs youngster and have secured the loan of Adam Armstrong "The next Alan Shearer" from Newcastle for 6 months. Tony Mowbray hopes to add a further signing and Loan before Saturdays game.
Marcus Tudgay and Reda Johnson both committed by sign 1 year deals.
Starting line-up
Here's how I think the staring XI will be
Man in the Middle
The man in charge of the game is Northumberland official Scott Duncan.
This is Scott Duncan's fourth season as a Football League ref following his promotion to the National List at the start of the 2012/13 season.
Coventry City v Wigan Athletic
Referee - SCOTT DUNCAN
Assistants - Mark Jones and Mark Dwyer
Fourth Official - Geoffrey Russell
Thank you to Wildheart from http://thisnorthernsoul.co.uk/forum/index.php for the Wigan Preview
Wigan Athletic, an enigma wrapped in a conundrum.
I have been asked to do a pre-match preview of what to expect from Wigan Athletic this season and despite attending all the pre-season games including two forays into Scotland it is difficult to get into the mind of new manager Gary Caldwell in terms of tactics and line up.
One thing that is for certain is that the team that bowed out of the championship with barely a whimper will be conspicuous by its absence on Saturday with 21 players having left the club since May and 15 arrived with a few stalwarts remaining and a slew of promising youngsters bolstering the squad to around 30.
Indeed based on pre season the only familiar face in the starting line up is likely to be Chris McCann in the unfamiliar role a left sided centre back.
Our very young Chairman has stated that he want us to get 100 points and smash the league and whilst those of us of more mature years roll our eyes at such statements the quality youngsters and seasoned professionals Caldwell has brought in must make us the pre season favourites to go up.
I reckon five players this season will be key to our success
1/ Richard O'Donnell....goalkeeper, last season's player of the year at Walsall turned down Championship offers to sign for the Latics and has looked a good acquisition so far. Commanding in his area and very vocal he looks to be having competition from our old boy (and yours) Chris Kirkland with Lee Nicholls having disappointed in pre season.
2/ Craig Morgan....an imposing Welsh centre half a sweet signing in that we nicked him from under the noses of our country cousins up the road in Bolton at the eleventh hour, Was up against Jordan Rhodes on Saturday and gave the prolific striker nothing. A candidate for the captain's role following the departure of James Perch.
3/ Max Power..... you have to be good with a name like that but the 22 year old central midfielder come winger certainly is, signed from Tranmere Rovers he has the pace and skill to trouble any defence.
4/ Michael Jacobs....... Signed from Wolves the guy had a cracker (sorry) at Blackburn on Saturday creating most of our good football playing off a striker. Hopefully will provide the ammunition for Will Grigg.
5/ Will Grigg.......signed from Brentford the guy scored 20 plus goals for Franchise F.C. last season but needs the quality ball to get the goals, only had one real chance in five pre season games blasting a penalty high over the bar at Dundee. Goalscoring has been a major problem for us for a few years now so it is to be hoped that he finds his shooting boot sooner rather than later.
Tactics...... Caldwell is a student of Roberto Martinez's tippy tappy football which is a delight to watch as it zips around... until we get to the edge of the area and then nothing. Cries of just ******* shoot were heard last week as our total dominance of Rovers in the first half resulted in not a single effort on goal. I have no doubts about the quality of our football but if we don't convert this into goals then we will be turned over by so called inferior teams.
I expect us to line up as a 3-5-2 although last Saturday we lined up as a 3-5-1-1.
The fans...Wigan is a rugby town and the football club has no fans is the tiresome refrain we hear( it isn't and we have) but 1,600 plus tickets have been sold for Saturday and we are not buggers( sadly the inconvenience of my 30th wedding anniversary precludes me from attending as my Stoke City supporting wife isn't sympathetic to my please.
Line up
O'Donnell
Daniels, Morgan (c), McCann
Kenny, Power, Perkins, Junior, James
Jacobs, Grigg
Prediction...... a one all draw, we never win our first game of the season