Thelo Aasgaard was the only Latics player to find the scoresheet in a very lacklustre opening month of the season. He scored in a 2-1 league loss against Birmingham City and also scored in an EFL Cup 1-1 draw with Barnsley, which ultimately resulted in Wigan’s elimination from the competition due to a penalty shootout loss.
Shaun Maloney’s team had an equally awful start to September as they lost 2-1 at home to Morecambe in the EFL Trophy. Morecambe has not won a League Two match this season in seven attempts.
However, the Greater Manchester team has now turned the corner and destroyed Bristol Rovers 4-0 at the Memorial Stadium prior to consecutive 0-0 draws with both Lincoln City and Stevenage back on home soil.
A recent record of three back-to-back clean sheets already feels very distant from the sort of woeful displays the Latics were showing last month, while Maloney’s men will head into Saturday’s clash with Exeter City with a renewed feeling of optimism.
The Latics, who play the Grecians this weekend at Brick Community Stadium, will already be feeling good about themselves because they defeated the Devon team on the road twice in the previous season—in the FA Cup and in League One.
However, the Greater Manchester team will be hoping to make amends after losing to Caldwell’s team 2-1 at home in February.
The Brick Community Stadium supporters rightfully hold the former Latics captain and manager in high regard for his on-field accomplishments during the team’s Premier League tenure. In addition, as manager in 2016, he led the Tics to the League One championship.
The former Scotland international, though, has recently shown signs of animosity against his old team. He was especially hurt when former captain Will Aimson departed the Grecians to play for Maloney’s squad.
“Will first wanted to leave the club in January after a difficult period on the pitch, but we managed to support him through that difficult time,” Caldwell remarked in response to Aimson’s summer transfer, as reported by Devon Live.
Sadly, this summer has seen no shift in his position.
“Wigan have pursued him throughout the window against my wishes, which has unsettled the player again and forced my hand.”
Furthermore, Caldwell charged his old team of “playing very negative football” after a game between Latics and the Grecians back in October, according to Wigan
The fact that both Maloney and Caldwell, who played together for the Latics, Celtic and Scotland, are now facing each other in opposing dugouts already makes Saturday’s clash between Wigan and Exeter an intriguing encounter for both sets of supporters, while Caldwell’s recent comments may have added a drop of tension into the mix.
The Latics manager, nevertheless, has emphasised that there won’t be any animosity between the two dugouts on Saturday. He stated, “Certainly not from me on my part,” as cited by Wigan Today.
“Anything that was discussed during the three games we played last season was post-game.
“No, look, I believe there is so much to our job that it doesn’t factor in what the opponent manager has said or what we believed from past games.
“It goes without saying that I am aware that emotions exist before, during, and after games; perhaps I have learnt this from my first management position at Hibernian.
“I was trying to battle the world at the time, but I’m not as concerned about that now.”
All you have to do is move on.
“We were desperate to have Will Aimson, and Exeter was desperate to hold on to him.”
“I am aware of the player’s partner and their family circumstances; he was genuinely hoping to move to the north.
Conversely, there have been instances where players have desired to be in a different location.
“It was obviously difficult for Exeter to lose Will, but that’s football, players come and go, and you just don’t take it too personally when they do.”
Although Maloney maintains that there won’t be any conflict between him and Caldwell on Saturday, Latics fans will be keen to watch their team defeat their former captain, who hasn’t been overly complimentary of the Greater Manchester team.
The Grecians manager has accused the Latics of playing bad football, therefore the players will be eager to disprove him. This could also provide them additional motivation.
