COOK HAS LOST KEY INGREDIENTS
But teen Gelhardt gives him a boost
WIGAN manager Paul Cook has admitted the Latics have not improved the team since last season.
The Lancastrians were one of the Championship’s busiest sides during the summer transfer window, with £4m striker Kieffer Moore one of 14 new faces to pitch up at the DW.
However, they lost influential playmaker Nick Powell to Stoke, whilst Chelsea starlet Reece James returned to his parent club.
And it seems the losses outweigh the gains, with Cook’s side hosting high-flying Nottingham Forest today six points and 12 places worse off than at the same stage last season.
“Is the team better? It’s a very fair question,” said the former Portsmouth boss, whose team finished 18th last term.
Massive
“We lost Reece and Nick, who were massive players for us. Both of them were better than this division.
“We feel we’ve got a better squad this year, but - if we are genuinely truthful - we probably haven’t got a better team.
“What will that bring? Hopefully an improvement on last year’s 52 points. The plan is to improve year upon year and gradually build a team that will not be involved at the bottom end of the table.
“We all want to get the Premier League, and that’s the aim of everyone here. But you have to be careful how you do it and, for Wigan, that means doing it gradually.”
One player certainly not taking things slowly is Joe Gelhardt. A fine strike on his debut against Hull City in September was this week followed by three goals in as many games as captain of England Under-18s.
Now many fan are calling for the 17-yearold striker - linked with Liverpool and Manchester United during the summer - to be given a run in the first team.
“First of all, the lads down at the academy should really be taking the credit for this kid,” added Cook, who has also given a debut to highly-rated midfielder Jensen Weir this season. “He is a very special talent. He’s got qualities that have been apparent for quite a period of time now. The biggest question was always going to be ‘Can he make the step up to first-team level?’.
“He’s made it comfortably, and we’ve got great belief that he’ll go on to be a very accomplished footballer.
“The two goals he scored for the first team here - one against Burnley in pre-season and against Hull probably sum him up. He’s so instinctive, it’s untrue.
“He has the ability to find space where there is none. And he’s got the most important quality of all in that he scores goals.
“But I think the most important thing is that we manage him properly. He’s 17, a really good kid who loves football. He’s got a great personality and a great character and we have to be careful that we don’t put too much pressure on him in terms of starting every week. Because that will happen quite naturally given time.”
If Gelhardt is in with a sniff of starting against Forest, Sam Morsy certainly won’t. The Latics skipper is suspended after picking up five yellow cards.
Though Bright Enobakhare is back in action, Michael Jacobs and Tom Pearce remain on the sidelines and have been joined by a mystery duo.
Speaking on Friday morning, Cook said: “We’ve had a couple of injuries to players you might have expected to see in the starting XI, so we’ll have to make a couple of changes based on that, but we’ll keep our cards close to our chest on that until Sunday.”