Scharner concedes Europa hunt

28 April 2009 12:04
Wigan Athletic's Paul Scharner has admitted defeat in The Latics' push for a European spot.[LNB] Three consecutive defeats against Everton, Arsenal and Blackburn have resulted in Wigan slipping from seventh place down to 11th, with Fulham replacing them in the final Europa League qualifying spot.[LNB]Scharner has now conceded that Europe may be a step too far for the club this year, but still wants a strong finish.[LNB]"We don't want to finish like this," Scharner told the Wigan Observer.[LNB]"I don't think there is any more chance of getting a European place now.[LNB]"But we still have five games and plenty of points to play for."[LNB]New targetThe Austrian moved back to centre-half after two months in midfield for the Blackburn defeat and has revealed manager Steve Bruce has set the players a new target.[LNB]"We set ourselves a new target last week. In the first season in the Premier League we reached 51 points and we now want to top that.[LNB]"Of the five games left, one is against Manchester United, which is very difficult. But the others are winnable.[LNB]"There are 15 points left to fight for and hopefully we can finish as high up the table as possible."[LNB]RugbyScharner feels that Wigan's next opponents, Bolton, could prove to be a similar proposition to Blackburn, but will be hoping to fare better.[LNB]"We need to bounce back from the Blackburn defeat.[LNB]"Saturday's game against Bolton could be quite similar to Blackburn as they are quite direct.[LNB]"At Blackburn we allowed them to play their game and hit long balls at us, almost like a game of rugby.[LNB]"It's not the way we like to play football and it was difficult to play against."[LNB]Scharner has blamed international breaks and FA Cup weekends for Wigan's demise as he feel the time off hindered Wigan and slowed their momentum.[LNB]"The main target for us at the start of the season was to avoid relegation and we reached that quite early.[LNB]"But the rest of the season has been disjointed. Since the start of 2009 we've had lots of breaks between games and as a result you lose rhythm."[LNB]

Source: SKY_Sports