Wigan Athletic vs Bolton Wanderers: Managers' take - Roberto Martinez looking to continue rebuilding, Owen Coyle confident of getting 3 points
Wigan Athletic is one team that has survived in the big league time and again. Even when they went down, they bounced right back. But, ever since they made their way back 5 seasons ago, they have promised a lot but delivered quite a little.
This weekend, they take on another team that was dropped and came back couple of seasons back- Bolton Wanderers. The derby may be worth watching as despite the 2 teams being in different halves of the table, there still would be enough spice in the match.
Wigan's manager, Roberto Matinez has said that local bragging rights would be up for grabs as his team takes on the neighbours on home turf. The last game was a big disappointment for the Latics, they were 2 goals to the good with just 18 minutes or so left.
Somehow, they gave away 2 late goals and had to settle with just a draw. Martinez admitted that there were a number of shortcomings in the last game but he has been working on them and the results would be there to see on Saturday.
This draw, however, meant that Wigan’s unbeaten run continues to 3 games now as they try to resurrect a season that began horribly for them. In just 2 games against Chelsea and Blackpool, Latics let in 10 goals. The manager believes that a fierce local
derby may just be the thing his team needs, to get its attacking instinct back.
The manager stated, "We're coming off the back of a very good performance in the first half (against Newcastle) but we couldn't get the three points and we felt really disappointed. So, the dressing room is desperate to get back on the football pitch and
get rid of that feeling. We're all really excited to give something to the fans to be proud of."
As the season started, Wigan were quickly written off as one of the favourites to go down. But, in the past they have shown that they do have the fight in them to up their game when it matters. The manager added that his team has enough potential and he
has no doubts that they can survive in the top division. He did admit that his team needs to work a lot harder if they are to keep pace with their fellow promoted teams.
As far as team news for Wigan is concerned, their preferred goalkeeper, Ali Al Habsi would not be able to take his place between the posts. He is on loan from Bolton so it would have to be Chris Kirkland who would come in. Lee Nicholls is expected to be
on the bench while the experienced Mike Pollitt hasn't yet recovered from his elbow injury.
Former Chelsea man, Di Santo Franco got 10 stitches on his lips after a training ground accident. While Steve Gohouri has also not been able to shake off his knee injury, club captain Gary Caldwell is sure to be unavailable following his double hip surgery.
Bolton's manager, Owen Coyle on the other hand has been all praises for Wigan manager Martinez. Coyle said that it was really commendable how Martinez has managed to stick to his principles and bring Wigan out of the troublesome period.
Coyle doesn't have many injury worries, and so far his team has been able to hold their own in the league with 11 points from 8 games. Owen added that his team has done well, but they would have to start converting well fought draws into hard earned victories.
The boss maintained that going into DW Stadium is never an easy task, but he believes that his team’s current form would enable them to go for all 3 points.
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