Martinez to meet ‘shellshocked’ Whelan

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez will face chairman Dave Whelan today still adamant his is the right man to drag the rock-bottom Latics away from relegation trouble.

So angered was Whelan by the weekend 2-0 Barclays Premier League home defeat by Martinez’s former club Swansea that he revealed he would demand a meeting with his manager today and ask why three key men had been left on the bench.

Whelan, back from a four-week break in Barbados, described himself as being “shellshocked” by the loss and, even though he was adamant his manager’s position was secure, immediate action cannot be ruled out with the club’s top-flight status in peril.

However Martinez remains defiant.

“I don’t think I have to answer that,” said the Spaniard, when asked if he was still the right man for Wigan.

“I have been at Wigan for nine years. I know what it means. The football dream is part of my life. It is a passion and a privilege for me.

“I am desperate to get out next Sunday against Norwich. We have done it time after time. When you have been the longest serving manager in the Premier League for Wigan you get to know what is required.”

Martinez’s status as a popular ex-player has bought him time to make his mark on Wigan as a manager.

Now deep into his third season, it is difficult to see the improvement and a number of recent signings have failed to impress.

Yesterday he felt compelled to leave star duo Victor Moses and Mohamed Diame on the bench after they were involved in exhausting midweek journeys to Africa, and Hugo Rodallega, who is out of contract at the end of the season, was left out as well.

They were all introduced in the second half as Wigan failed to overturn Gylfi Sigurdsson’s well-taken double either side of the interval.

Sigurdsson put the Swans ahead with a superb curling effort in first-half injury-time before the former Reading man sealed the win with a 30-yard piledriver.

Swansea looked comfortable despite being forced to play with 10-men for the last half-hour following the dismissal of Nathan Dyer.

“I thought we were outstanding. We scored two and could have had three or four,” said a delighted Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers

While Rodgers and Swansea can already start think about next season in the Premier League, with survival virtually certain, Martinez has no such comfort.

After all, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal are among Wigan’s next seven opponents and, for all Whelan’s optimistic words, there was a sense of resignation afterwards.

“There is still time,” he said. “I am not giving up hope. We will try until the bitter end.

“But we were absolutely awful, the worst display I have seen Wigan have for four or five years.

“There are certain problems and I am downhearted and shellshocked.”