NO LUCK FROM REFS

The Wigan athletic manager Roberto Martinez is of the opinion that smaller clubs do not get the benefit of the doubt when playing against the big teams. Wigan were recently left frustrated after the 1-0 defeat at the hands of Arsenal. During the match, the manager Roberto Martinez felt that a number of decisions went against his team after they crashed to yet another defeat in the league. The 1-0 defeat now means that Wigan have slipped into the relegation zone after taking just one point in the last five matches. Pressure is high on the manager Martinez to deliver the results.

He is confident that he can turn around the situation, but has said that he could do nothing about the refereeing decisions that are always biased towards bigger clubs. Arsenal were awarded a penalty in the second half after Theo Walcott went down rather too easily in the match. Mikel Arteta converted the spot kick that give Arsenal all three points, but Wigan could have easily avoided defeat in the match had it not been for such refereeing decisions. Martinez has also said that Wigan were unlucky not to be awarded as well, which only has compounded the situation.

“We’ve been at the end of bad decisions. That happens. You need to get through it, you can’t moan about it and we need to start picking points up and make sure we affect it as much as we can. I wouldn’t like to be a referee, it’s the worst job on the pitch. You’ll always upset someone. When you have to make a 50-50 decision, it’s a lot easier to be safe on teams like ourselves. I’m not saying [just] Wigan, but when you are a bottom 10 team it’s not a problem when you get it wrong,” said Martinez.

MARTINEZ DELIGHTED

The Wigan athletic manager Roberto Martinez has said that he is extremely delighted with the performance of the former Chelsea striker Franco di Santo in the 2-2 draw with Stoke city during the weekend. The Argentine striker was brought to the DW stadium a few seasons ago by the manager Roberto Martinez for around £ 1 million. He has certainly benefited from the prospect of playing regular first-team football. He was one of the best players for Wigan during the final six months of an astonishing campaign last time around. Now, he has continued the good run of form this season as well.

He was one of the key members in the 2-2 draw at Stoke city during the weekend. Wigan have been working hard in order to avoid yet another poor start to the Premier league season. This 2-2 draw at Stoke city provides them with great belief going forward, although they need to tighten up at the back according to the manager Roberto Martinez. After the end of the match, he was in glowing praise of the Argentine striker, who scored in the 49th minute through a wonderful counter-attacking move. This was the fifth goal in just eight matches for Franco di Santo.

“He is a striker with a tremendous touch, great finishing and energy and I think he can be outstanding in every aspect as a centre-forward. You look at the second goal and it is as good as you are going to see in terms of centre-forward play. He is doing his duties defensively, in the counter-attack there is outstanding link-up play with his partner, and then he is as composed as you can be in the box,” said the Wigan manager after the match. Despite such efforts, Wigan still find themselves close to the relegation zone.

WIGAN WARY OF FULHAM

The Wigan athletic striker Franco di Santo has said that the team should be extremely aware of the threat posed by Fulham. Wigan will be taking on Fulham during the weekend knowing that they should bounce back as soon as possible from the 4-0 defeat suffered at the hands of Manchester United. This defeat has meant that we can now have only one victory in the four Premier league matches played up until now. Franco di Santo has said that Fulham will be coming into the match against Wigan with great confidence following their 3-0 win over West Brom.

Even more impressive is the fact that the new signing Dimitar Berbatov seems to have settled in extremely well after scoring two goals in his debut match. Franco di Santo reckons that Wigan will be looking at a relegation dogfight once again if they lose this match as well. After the match against Fulham, Wigan will be facing the likes of Sunderland and Everton in the next few matches. Franco di Santo has said that all the upcoming games for Wigan still continue to be tough. Hence, they need to pick up as many points as possible before the Christmas period.

“We have to be ready for Fulham. We have to try and forget about the defeat (Manchester United) and concentrate on the Fulham game. We were very disappointed with the way we played on Saturday, that isn’t how we normally play and it is something we have to try to fix. We will try to get back to the way we play best, attack the other team, if we do well at home this makes the fans happy,” said Franco di Santo ahead of the weekend’s match with Fulham. Wigan have played for matches in the Premier league and have taken only four points from these matches.

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