Wigan Athletic ended their two-year wait to return to the EFL Championship by clinching the EFL League One title and thus, secured automatic promotion on the last match week of the season. The Latics won 27 games, drew 11 and lost eight times to amass 92 points. While Will Keane got the goals, providing support to the Irishman from the wing was Callum Lang. The Englishman played 42 times throughout the campaign. Here, we will take a look at Lang’s performances for Wigan Athletic in the third tier of the English Football League system.
Shown above is the heat map of Lang in the 2021-22 EFL League One season. He was very active on the right wing for the Latics. Lang was most influential just outside the opposition’s penalty area, making 80 crosses. Playing in an advanced position, the Englishman made lots of passes as well as carries into the penalty area. Being in an advanced position meant Lang received more progressive passes than making them. Lang also touched the ball a lot more inside the opponents’ penalty area as compared to his teammates. Occasionally, he drifted in from the right flank into more central areas to create space for the overlapping right-back.
Seen in the above visual is Lang’s shot map from the EFL League One season just gone by. Lang scored 15 goals for the Latics in this campaign. All the 15 strikes came from inside the opposition’s penalty area. None of his goals came from the penalty spot. Lang took 96 shot attempts, which were the most in the Wigan squad. Of these 96 shots, Lang mustered 38 of them on target. It also meant that the Englishman’s conversion rate was 6.4 shot attempts per goal scored.
Given above are the xT timeline, xT map and pass sonar of Lang in the recently concluded EFL League One. As a right-winger, he generated the majority of the threat from within the final third. Most of this came from just outside the penalty box of the opponents. The majority of the threat came from passes and carries into the penalty area.
Callum Lang has been one of the key cogs in the Wigan Athletic squad that won it all on the final matchday of the EFL League One season. Having proven himself in League Two earlier in his career and in League One for two seasons running, it is now time for the Englishman to prove that he could perform in the EFL Championship next season.
