This was a very rare and specialy opportunity for the supporters who take the time to manage the fans sites. For all the rubbish we have to deal with on the messageboards sometimes, it is more than worth it when you get the opportunity to go and meet a very special man in the history of Wigan Athletic Football Club.
Roberto Martinez is not only a very talented football manager, and a very intelligent man, but he is also a Wigan Athletic supporter and he knows just how important this club is to its supporters and how much it has grown over the past few years.
This does not mean that he is not as fiercly ambitious as our passionate chairman, in fact quite to opposite. And in the same way that Sir Alex Ferguson struggled during his early days with Manchester United, Roberto Martinez is not a short term fix for Wigan Athletic, but he is looking longer term. He is looking at what is best for the club and what can help to build this club from the perennial relegation fighters into a top regular top half team.
It was certainly a pleasure to be given the opportunity to be part of such a small group of people given the opportunity to experience the 'inner sanctum' of the training ground and to speak at length so personally with the Wigan Athletic manager.
The major point that came across to myself was the humility and passion for the club that Roberto displayed. Our previous manager left us with a poor squad after absconding for his next position on his dreamland to Old Trafford. He moved for more money and what he perceived would be more success.
Martinez on the other hand has a deep loyalty for this club and I think he has the knowledge to take is to the next level.
The Latics manager was refreshingly open and frank about all the teams affairs. All the questions put to Roberto were sensible and well put and he dealt with them in a professional manager.
The meeting lasted for just short of one hour and I have painstakingly taken the time to type the entire thing out. At present the first twenty minutes are completed and can be read through below.
Although some slight edits have taken place so as no to give too much away, 99% of the text below is the open and honest opinion of the current Wigan Athletic boss. As mentioned before, this is an unprecented opportunity to get into the mind of Roberto Martinez, and we are very grateful. I hope this makes interesting reading.
Roberto Martinez is in italics
His questioners are in bold
PART THREE
Going back to Jason Scotland, he is a massive influence on the pitch, the way he holds the ball up and brings others into the game. The only thing that is missing is that goal. I think it was Bernard (YOTAC) who did the article about the woodwork. He’s hit the woodwork three times and Emile Heskey had a great season for us and scored five goals all season and Scotland would only be two goals away from that. Can you please let Jason know that we all think he is a good player?
Yes, of course. Jason is a player that likes to feel loved by the fans. When he is, he performs in a different way. He maybe thirty years old, but he is such a sensitive player.
And I agree with you. For example the post statistics, these are key moments and if we finish 1-1 at Anfield and he scores the leveller then we have a different player and mentally he is in a different place.
You are looking at all these stats and he has hit the post three times, Hugo Rodallega, twice, and Charles N’Zogbia, five. For Wigan Athletic to create this amount of chances, I know we are in a transitional period, but we should be in a position to take advantage of these chances and the positions we are getting into. That is what the new pattern of play has given us.
When people have doubts about us not getting the result, it is only little tweaks that we need to improve. In terms of those stats mentioned, it is only the top seven teams that are normally getting these amount of positions and the number of time to hit the woodwork.
But looking at Jason, the moment that he scores a goal you will see a different player. But when he is on the pitch, he holds the ball and we play higher up the pitch. There are games that we need that. There are other games where you need a Hugo Rodallega who is going to run in behind the defenders and he turns them. To have these options for a team like ourselves is a huge strength.
Now you can really start to ask questions of the defenders. Like against Liverpool we can play with Jason Scotland, or Marcelo Moreno, or Hugo Rodallega, or Victor Moses, or James McCarthy coming from midfield. All of a sudden, you have so many options there that we need to use them well during the game.
It is not the same using Jason Scotland away from home or at home. It is not the same using Jason Scotland in the first forty-five minutes than the second forty-five. There are so many good things that we have got that we a re one result away from kicking on.
This would allow us to go to a good pre-season and really get the rewards of it.
Scoring goals has not been our only problem. Obviously we have had the 9-1, there have been plenty of 4-0’s, 4-1’s etc… We have had a lot of heavy defeats to be blunt. What can you do about that?
If we go down to detail I could show you. We played against Manchester United at home and we lost 5-0. I could guarantee you that for 60 minutes we were the better side.
It is very, very hard to explain, how mentally the team we were, trying so hard to keep the clean sheet. The moment that is gone, there was a reaction, a change, and we went with a different approach. Whether that was two strikers or more direct, or whatever it was.
At the moment I want the team to play the same way from the first minute to the last. Either 1-0 up or 1-0 down you keep going and if you deserve it, over the course of 95 minutes you will get more points than you lose.
But it has been a mental set that once we concede the first goal, we just folded. Against Manchester United we conceded five because the game finished. If we had had another ten minutes we would have conceded fifteen.
Against Spurs, we lost 9-1 when in the first half I felt we were the stronger side and we were getting stronger. I told them at half time we start the way we finish. Charles N’Zogbia hit the crossbar and Jason Scotland had two chances, and we were looking stronger.
Then in forty minutes we concede eight goals. Forty minutes, they had ten chances. If we got all of us, a team of eleven, at White Hart Lane, playing against Spurs I would guarantee you we wouldn’t concede eight goals. It is just that mindset. We were so fragile and everything went it.
But how do you change that?
With the mentality. For example, Gary Caldwell brings you that. Every action matters. You go 1-0 down and we go again and we have changed that.
It is funny you say that as either last week or the week before I saw Caldwell having a go at Paul Scharner and he didn’t particularly like it that much and we haven’t seen that for a long time.
When we have conceded before, they seem to just put their heads down and walk back, but now since Caldwell has come in, he is pointing and shouting and it is fantastic to see that.
We have been missing that from day one. Because Mario is the captain, in a different way. He won’t tell people off, he won’t shout, he leads by his own actions and example.
But Gary Caldwell he tells you. You made that mistake, you had better get back to your level, and all of a sudden you get a reaction. You have a team caring about the next action and that is all it is.
We went 1-0 down against United and I am thinking we have been the better side. It is not a problem losing here. Our next action was to hit the crossbar with Hugo and then they score the second. And then it was embarrassing the way we folded. That has been a mental state and that is why in the first half of the season we couldn’t be consistent.
When we were in the game and controlling things we were okay, but the moment that we went 1-0 down, nobody would take responsibility and say ‘Oi, we had better wake up here.’ We had no leadership and Gary has changed that a lot.
You talk about players with that sort of mentality, who react and try to get other players into the game, last season, he didn’t always control it the best way, but Lee Cattermole did that. Where you planning to have him at the club for the first part of the season?
Yes, for the whole season. I watched him yesterday (for England under 21’s) and I felt so, so bad because I saw someone who is not enjoying his football and that has gone backwards.
Lee Cattermole has got the best switch of play in the British game and he is not using it at all. I feel that Lee playing with us, he would be that playmaker and get on the ball and switch the play. Like the way he played against Preston (in pre-season).
He was just outstanding. Many teams say they play Wigan Athletic just press them, press them high up and that is what we want to play through them with a little switch of play. Lee Cattermole was perfect for that.
Was that just a case of Steve Bruce turning his head?
It was, his agent, Steve Bruce, and at that time, he wanted to go back home.
At that time, we lost both Cattermole and Michael Brown and we seemed to lose a bit of steel?
Brown probably, and you have seen it this season with Portsmouth, is not the same player he was one year ago and it happens at that age. Six months can have a big influence.
Lee Cattermole is different. We wanted to keep him. But there is a moment when the player say I don’t want to play for Wigan Athletic that is disrespectful to the other players. So then you need to find a price you are happy to sell the player for and get it up front.
If someone is prepared to do that then we sell the player and move on. The moment you keep a player that doesn’t want to be here, you lose the player as well and it is a terrible reflection to the other players.
Lee Cattermole is the last player we wanted to lose but if Lee Cattermole is not going to be himself then you are losing your time.
ED JONES: Just a fact about Lee. During his time with the club, he never once found himself a place to live. He lived out of hotels for a year and that is how much he was thinking long term.
He had a short term rent near where Titus Bramble lives and then when Steve Bruce left he moved into a hotel. But if you are looking at Lee Cattermole the way he played against us when we played Sunderland up there.
So where does Ben Watson fit into all this?
Ben is probably the best technical player we have and he is missing that tempo. That is why Ben being at West Brom, he could click. We can call him back after 28 days.
When you have a technical player, and the biggest example is Josep Guardiola (formerly a Barcelona player and now manager), he was thin, he couldn’t compete for any balls, but the boy was getting on the ball fifty times per half.
Ben at the moment is coming from the Championship which is very direct, and there is a lot of second balls, the ball would find him. When the ball finds him he will find a good solution. A good pass, a good switch, but he would touch the ball five times per half.
And then because he hasn’t got that physical strength he has less impact. Like when we played against Blackpool in the cup, he was a passenger. Yes he was okay when he got on the ball but if you want to affect the game by getting on the ball you need to get on the ball ten times more than any other midfielder. This is where we have been working with him. At the moment he comes into the game and he doesn’t affect it enough.
That is why against Blackpool I played Momo Diame and Ben Watson to see specifically if they could get on the ball and play. But Blackpool were getting through as if there was nobody there. That is where players need to step up.
Like when we are talking about levels, between Premiership and Championship. If you rely on your physical strength you will find a level. If you rely on your technical ability, if the ball finds you, instead of you finding the ball, you will find a level.
Like Ben Watson in the Championship he will play and be the most effective player in the game. Coming into the Premiership there is a lot of possession and unless you get on the ball to get into positions to get the ball, you are not going to affect the game.
So you still see a future for him at Wigan Athletic?
Yes, yes. If he can click, if he can step up, if he can get on the ball he will be a Premiership player. That is where playing with West Brom who try to play football with possession, playing a midfield three as well, I am hoping he will get that click. If he can get that he can be a better player than Lee Cattermole in that position with the technical side. Lee has got the other side, the way he closes players down.
The new pitch, against Tottenham and Bolton we struggled with our football and I think the front man got a bit isolated. Obviously they had Peter Crouch and Kevin Davies respectively for the long ball side of it. Will this new pitch help the football?
It will, but against Spurs the pitch affected both teams. The way we have always been successful at home is on the counter attack and we always get the teams exposed. They have their back four and we have our front three plus someone running with the ball.
Because of the condition of the pitch we couldn’t do that against Spurs. It then seemed that the two wide players were dropping a little bit to get on the ball and this left Marcelo a little isolated.
When you haven’t got that possession the pitch affects us as we are not able to get further up the pitch. It is this reason that in the second half we changed it a little bit and we played with Hugo just behind Marcelo and having Victor a little bit closer.
We got in better positions but then Spurs were just happy to defend and get men behind the ball. They were playing at 1-0 up and they didn’t take any initiative. There was an excuse that we couldn’t play on this pitch and so in a way it helped them.
Until the first goal it was a very level game, there was not much quality, not much for them, not much for us, and the first goal allowed them to play with the score line.
And those two big decisions, you don’t get such bad calls in a small period. Like the Birmingham penalty was a disgraceful decision and the goal [Defoe for Tottenham] should have been disallowed. But there is nothing we can do about that.
The reality is that those two decisions affected the results but I just hope we get a few decisions our way!
Rather than decisions we need to rely on what we are doing. The rest you just cannot control in football.
It is national pie week, and now you are no longer a player, do you eat more pies?
Yeah, meat and potato pie, I think that is the main one I like.
And finally, why don’t you wear a Wigan Athletic scarf, is this the clash with the brown shoes?
No, I have said this to Ed Jones that we need to get a Wigan Athletic scarf for the day we play Manchester City. That way he can wear his Manchester City scarf and I will wear my Wigan Athletic scarf, but we haven’t found one!
