Just last week, the Latics were turned over 9-1 at White Hart Lane as Spurs ran rampant. Meanwhile Sunderland were beating Arsenal 1-0.
Just one week later and former Latics boss Steve Bruce saw his Sunderland side comfortably out played by a determined Wigan team who thoroughly deserved the three points.
Martinez can be proud of his players after a strong performance that went further to proving the severe inconsistency of a team that is style learning and adapting to a new manager and drastic style change.
The game wasn't the brightest spectical in terms of the football on show, but the home support were delighted with the three points and the dominance shown by the Latics.
Sunderland seemed uninterested in attacking and more content to put ten men behidn the ball, leaving a half fit Darren Bent alone up front. Only after Rodallega's well taken goal did Bruce do his usual trick of throwing on strikers to try and claw something back.
Maynor Figueroa's return to the left back spot also coincided with a much improved defensive performance and the resulting clean sheet. Wigan supporters will be hoping very much that the Honduran international remains a blue after January.
Jason Scotland was unlucky not to net his frist Wigan goal in the Premierleague as he fired against the foot of the post in the first half. I get the impression that the Trinidadian striker is just lacking in confidence right now, and one goal could see the flood gates open.
It was also promising to see Jordi Gomez enter as a subsitute and put in a more inspiring performance than those of the recent past. The Spaniard still has a long way to go to win over the Wigan public, but his display yesterday was much improved.
The best part of the day though was seeing Steve "too good for Tesco" Bruce on the coach back to the cold and windy North East with nothing but a smacked backside.
Anyway, enough of my rubbish, here's the thoughts of the two managers.
Roberto Martinez
The performance of the players on the pitch told you everything, they were desperate to play and put last week right. We were up against a Sunderland side who are probably at the peak moment of their season, having beaten Arsenal last weekend and their confidence was very high.
We wanted to stop them playing, stop them creating chances, and that's what we did, I think in the end they only had one shot on target.
The togetherness and the feeling around the stadium was fantastic, and that's how you face adversity. I said before that humiliation is not what happened last weekend, humiliation is not finding the answers when it goes wrong. As Wigan Athletic we faced that adversity and got the win.
Keeping a clean-sheet is what gives you the platform to play your football, and we gave a really matured performance today, and it was a turning point for us, a cup final if you like in wanting to go to the next level.
We showed a lot of responsibility from set-pieces at the back, concentrated and took up some great starting-positions. They've got such a big threat up front and to limit them to one shot on-target, shows the hard-work we put in.
Hugo deserved his goal, he works so hard for the team and has a magical touch. He got the reward that the whole team deserved.Everyone pushed in the right direction, showed the right attitude and made the club very proud.
As the game went on there was a lot of space opening up in front of their defence and we made the decision to move Hugo into that central role to take advantage.
This game was such a critical moment after last weekend, they way we lost was a real test of character for everyone at the club. But the way we responded today showed how we've improved, and we're a better side now than before the game.
Steve Bruce
It's very difficult to put it into words sometimes. We didn't look a shadow of the team we were last week, that's for sure. It's inconsistency. It looked for me as if 0-0 was written all over it, but we deserved what we got after coming here and putting in a performance like that.
We haven't performed and you can't play like that away from home in the Premier League. We have to be better. The stats and all the rest of it don't lie.
The one thing we'll have to try and do is take away this inconsistency and start turning up away from home, because it isn't the same team we're seeing when you look at games like Arsenal.
That's the disappointing thing - the up and down. Even then, though, we should have had enough about us to take a point away from here even though we've not played well.
Maybe it's mentality, they've got to change that or we'll have to change something quick. We didn't cause a threat in the first half so I changed it at half time, but no matter what system or tactics you play, the first thing we have to do it turn up.
The table
| Latest match Saturday, 28th November 2009 |
Pld | Home | Away | Overall | Pts | GD | |||||||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | |||||||||
| 1 | Chelsea | 13 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 33 | 8 | 33 | +25 | ||||
| 2 | Manchester United | 14 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 30 | 13 | 31 | +17 | ||||
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 14 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 33 | 19 | 26 | +14 | ||||
| 4 | Arsenal | 12 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 36 | 15 | 25 | +21 | ||||
| 5 | Aston Villa | 14 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 22 | 14 | 23 | +8 | ||||
| 6 | Manchester City | 13 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 24 | 17 | 22 | +7 | ||||
| 7 | Liverpool | 13 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 29 | 20 | 20 | +9 | ||||
| 8 | Sunderland | 14 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 20 | 20 | +1 | ||||
| 9 | Stoke City | 14 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 15 | 20 | -2 | ||||
| 10 | Fulham | 14 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 18 | 16 | 19 | +2 | ||||
| 11 | Burnley | 14 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 25 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 19 | 31 | 17 | -12 | ||||
| 12 | Blackburn Rovers | 14 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 21 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 16 | 28 | 17 | -12 | ||||
| 13 | Wigan Athletic | 14 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 22 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 31 | 17 | -16 | ||||
| 14 | Hull City | 15 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 17 | 31 | 16 | -14 | ||||
| 15 | Birmingham City | 13 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 14 | 15 | -3 | ||||
| 16 | Everton | 13 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 23 | 15 | -6 | ||||
| 17 | West Ham United | 14 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 15 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 24 | 26 | 14 | -2 | ||||
| 18 | Bolton Wanderers | 13 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 16 | 27 | 12 | -11 | ||||
| 19 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 26 | 10 | -14 | ||||
| 20 | Portsmouth | 14 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 11 | 23 | 7 | -12 | ||||
Next game
Next up for the Latics is the visit of Birmingham City next Saturday. A difficult game, but certainly a chance for Roberto Martinez and his players to put some real distance between themselves and the relegation zone.