Why Roberto Martinez Must Change His Ways Despite Tottenham Win

While Chelsea managed continue their 100% start to the season, and Sunderland shocked Manchester City, the performance of the weekend has to go Wigan Athletic who bounced back from a disastrous opening two games to record a surprise win at Tottenham. But will victory mark the start of the Latics season or will it be a rare high in a season of disappointment for Roberto Martinez’s men.

After their opening day capitulation against Blackpool followed by a 6-0 humbling at the hands of Chelsea many could have forgiven Martinez for ‘parking the bus’ at White Hart Lane, especially when you consider that they lost 9-1 in North London last year.

But typical of Martinez’s style he stuck to his principles and looked to take the game to the Champions League new-boys. The result was a solitary Hugo Rodallega strike that proved to be many a coupon buster on Saturday afternoon.

The worry for Wigan will be that they caught Tottenham on a good day. Redknapp ‘s side were undoubtedly suffering from a Champions League hangover which lead to them looking jaded and lacking creativity. On another day if Wigan went to Tottenham and tried to attack you would expect Spurs to run out easy winners.

Without meaning to disrespect Wigan, it could be their football which proves to be their downfall. While they managed to have a fairly successful season last year in terms of the fact they survived. You feel that the Premier League is stronger this year, and Wigan haven’t strengthened accordingly.

The unfortunate fact is that Wigan simply can’t afford to go down. Crowd’s have dwindled and would fall even further should the Latics fall in to the Championship. This coupled with the fall in revenue from that relegation inevitably brings could have real financial impacts on Wigan.

This makes the next couple of days crucial. Wigan must make sure they keep hold of Charles NZogbia, who although he didn’t start against Tottenham is their best attacking threat and somebody who can impact on a game. But in my opinion they need to strengthen as well. They desperately need a leader, and somebody who has the ability to help them grind out results. Because the worry is that their Martinez’s style won’t be able to bring enough points.

Personally I feel that the only way Wigan can survive is for Martinez to maybe scrap his method and be content with grinding out results.