By Soccernet
Roberto Martinez: Sees Wigan's dead rubber more
like a cup final
Wigan manager Roberto Martinez has fired up his troops
for their potentially title-deciding visit to Stamford Bridge to
face Chelsea on Sunday by telling them to shine while the "whole
football world is watching".
Although the match is effectively a dead-rubber for Wigan, who
have secured promotion but are well out of the race for European
places, Martinez has labelled the "special" fixture as much more
than a token effort at spoiling Chelsea, who must win to guarantee
the Premier League title ahead of Manchester United.
Martinez admits the club and its players are unlikely to taste
silverware success of their own at this level, meaning Sunday's
decider acts as their own match of a lifetime, a chance to write
themselves into Premier League folklore.
Martinez said: "For me as a footballer you play for the memories
and memories come by winning medals and by achieving things. For
our football club to perform well when the whole football world is
watching is going to give us special memories and that is what you
play football for. Our season is finished but Sunday is something
more special than that.
"Everyone expects Chelsea to turn up and win the match. It is
more than a football game for us because we know the whole football
world is watching and for the youngsters they could learn more in
90 minutes than they could for two or three years. There are no
expectations on us. Everyone expects Chelsea to win and so for us
we are going to be together, we need to be really close and help
each other and perform. We are capable of going to Stamford Bridge
and making things difficult.''
Martinez's public message to his players will be music to the
ears of Sir Alex Ferguson and his United side, who trail Chelsea by
a point as they visit Sunderland for the simultaneous final day
fixtures. They'll be pushing for all three points in the hope the
unlikely happens at Stamford Bridge, although their faint hopes of
stealing the title are boosting by the memory of Wigna's stirring
3-1 upset of Chelsea at the DW Stadium in September.
After that first ever win over a 'big four' side, Wigan has
developed the belief to conquer Liverpool and Arsenal this season,
although inconsistency has been their Achilles' heel.
Martinez said: "The Chelsea performance was really, really
pleasing the way we stopped them from being Chelsea. We were the
better side. We had a few chances in the first half and we got a
goal from a set play. In the second half when Chelsea scored the
equaliser I just felt it was a real test how we would react to
that. To finish the game and win we got rid of that mental block
that Wigan Athletic would never be able to beat the top four. We
are going to approach it on Sunday in the same manner.''
Whether or not Wigan make a real name for themselves by ruining
Chelsea's title party, Martinez sees his team's ability to match
anyone on their day as positive signs the club is headed for bigger
and better things next season.
"We are lacking in experience, we are lacking in know-how and
that is why we are a little bit inconsistent from one week to
another, depending who we are playing against and the challenge we
face on the pitch. What pleases me is with a team like ours with
young players and a new group we have been able to perform on the
day against Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa away and Arsenal. That
is where the dreams of the future should lie.''
