Championship Chat: Wigan must invest

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The Sky Bet Championship is often overlooked for the glamour and glitz of the Premier League, but there’s much to be celebrated in the second tier as we find out in this weekly Thursday column.

The race for promotion, and the bid to stay in the second tier, is likely to be as competitive as ever, as we examine all the key talking points from the weekend, and also take a look at what’s to come in the matches ahead.

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Wigan must spend

The start of the Championship invariably follows a similar pattern year after year in regards to the predictions that come before a new season.

I myself argued with fellow TEAMtalk writer James Marshment on who would finish in the automatic promotion places come the end of the season.

Typically, we went for a couple of teams relegated from the Premier League; Norwich and Blackburn were my choices, with James M selecting Cardiff and Wigan.

And while it’s far too early to write off of our predictions a mere three games into the season, Wigan are showing worrying signs that they won’t be able to live up to their pre-season hype.

Despite going into the new campaign on the back of last season’s successful run to the play-off semi-finals, I find it surprising that they were tipped as one of the favourites to go up automatically.

Uwe Rosler is an excellent manager that acquitted himself brilliantly in his first season in the Championship and succeeded all expectations by reaching the FA Cup semi-final, but he hasn’t been given the financial backing needed in this summer’s transfer window.

Surely alarm bells would have been ringing after the club made the decision to cancel its pre-season commitments during their tour to Germany in a bid to prevent further injuries to the threadbare squad.

But at this stage of the window the Latics have seen the departures of key first-team members Jordi Gomez and Jean Beausejour with the continuing uncertainty over James McArthur’s future also looming over the Lancashire club.

While I understand Wigan haven’t got the biggest fan base or boast major financial backing, armed with the money from last season’s FA Cup run, the £60million worth of parachute payments over four years and the financial rewards that came with their cup win in 2013, they should be looking to add significantly to the squad.

Beginning their second successive season in the Championship, Wigan are entering a crossroads in the history of the club, and while Dave Whelan is an excellent owner – a rare breed in football these days – he needs to back his manager.

After inheriting a strong team that was mainly put together by former boss Roberto Martinez, Rosler has a good core of exciting players like Callum McManaman, James McClean and Shaun Maloney to call upon.

However, three games into the league and the Latics are without a win.

On the back of last season’s impressive defensive record, I would argue Rosler will be able to sure up the defence without a major overhaul, but the need bring in a proven Championship goalscorer is great and a decent finisher would be able get the club out of any potential pitfalls with the wealth of widemen and forward-thinking players he already at the club’s disposal.

Strikers remain kings of Championship

Unlike other leagues across the world, the Championship’s pattern is beginning to unravel already, despite the league being in its early stages.

As has been seen in previous campaigns, vital to a successful season is a goalscoring forward, and so far this season we are witnessing the emergence of this season’s contenders – both the players and the clubs.

While Wigan are without a class striker in their ranks – which ultimately could cost them their chance of promotion – Nottingham Forest, Norwich and Cardiff each have an in-form striker who have already scored three times this season.

It’s no coincidence that the likes of Britt Assombalonga, Lewis Grabban and Kenwyne Jones have powered their respective teams towards the summit of this fledgling table.

Bucking trends across the continent as the ‘false number nine’ position has come into effect, the Championship remains the main hunting ground for the natural striker, and as we have witnessed with the likes of Danny Ings last season, can make the major difference.

Over the past few years team’s have recognised the need for a prolific centre forward, with Jordan Rhodes’ transfer to Blackburn for £8million the catalyst, followed up by Fulham’s £11million move for Ross McCormack this season.

And despite McCormack’s failure to register for the Cottagers so far this season, he proved with a struggling Leeds side that he has enough to give me confidence that he won’t be a big-money flop and will take his place alongside the usual suspects at the top of the goalscoring chart.

All change from last season?

Although the Championship has a habit of being formulaic, it can never be described as being predictable.

Two teams who are looking to break up the big club’s monopoly are Millwall and Charlton. Both are enjoying an upsurge in fortunes this season so far, having struggled towards the bottom of the table last campaign, they are third and fourth respectively.

After finishing last season in 19th, Ian Holloway has staged another master class in getting the best out of what he has available to him – initially keeping the Lions in the Championship, before going on to set them up for the new campaign.

Holloway has been canny in the transfer window with the additions of young and relatively unknown quantities, Magaye Gueye from Everton and Lee Gregory from Halifax Town combining with experienced forward Ricardo Fuller in attack. The Millwall boss should keep his side out of trouble on the pitch and continue to bring his own unique brand of humour off it.

New Addicks manager Bob Peeters can also be described as a bit of an unknown quantity, but Saturday’s bust up with Wigan’s Rosler clearly shows he’s ready for any challenge that presents itself.

Fresh to the club are new striker Igor Vetokele, who has already scored twice, and experienced Championship heads Andre Bikey and Tal Ben Haim.

With the club having already seen off early season favourites Wigan and Derby, the Addicks are well worth their lofty position.

However, despite the impressive start I doubt either manager will be paying much attention to how they’re placed at this stage, and with all the mid to lower teams aspiring to become this season’s Burnley, I’m willing to end where we started off this week’s Championship Chat and predict that neither side have enough to be the side to spring a surprise like Sean Dyche’s men last season.

What’s to come…

Live on Sky: Ipswich v Norwich (Sky Sports 1, Saturday 12.15pm kick-off)

By James Dixon, follow me on Twitter here.