The first FA Cup semi final final went as expected, well, on the pitch at least. A relatively comfortable Wigan win will be overshadowed by fist fights rolling across the Millwall stand away to our left.
Violence in the stands, in what the media room had dubbed '80's night', marred what should be an incredibly proud day for all involved with Wigan football club. Instead, this game will be remembered as the day in which violence touched the new Wembley stadium for the very first time.
In a week when Thatchers diesand her legacy was debated, Millwall rolled back the years to the 1980's to remind us all that football games can still be an ugly place in which to spend a Saturday afternoon. The scenes today were violent and the sustained element to that fighting was shocking to many of the fans insided the stadium.
Very few of Millwall's fans engaged in violent behaviour 'infact, Millwall's fans were sensational up until the second goal of the game, but sometimes one fight is one too many. The words Millwall and Wembley ensures that any hint of misbehaviour will be reported extremely heavily ion the morning.
Anyhow.........Numbers!
In Game TSr
Millwall with the early shots advantage and this fits with a Wigan team who looked slightly nervous on the ball in the first ten minutes. Wigan scored in the 25th minute and from that point onwards had a strangle hold over Millwall in the TSR battle. A fine 5 minute spell just after the hour mark was the closest Millwall got to a Wigan team, who were, in all honesty, a superior outfit.
Shots Frequency
This 5 minute spell from the 60th minute was the golden spell for Millwall who generated chances and won corners pre-dominantly from exposing Wigan's then weak left flank.
Despite Millwalls burst of 5 shots in 5 minutes the quality wasn't particular strong despite the shots locations being pretty good.
Shots Location
This tells us Millwall were the team shooting most frequently from the red zone/central, and Wigan were the team who were shooting most from outside the box. But, despite Millwall's number of shots from the red zone, the outcomes were hugely disappointing.
Shots Outcome
These are the placement outcomes for each teams total shots.
Wigan, despite attempting a decent percentage of their total shots from outside the box still managed to find the target. Conversely, Millwall despite attempting 7 shots from the red zone managed to get none of those shots on target.
Most of Millwall's red zone shots were low quality, scruffy shots from corners, which were blocked, or headers which sailed over the bar from crowded central positions.