McCarthy backs Martinez to revive Wigan

Wigan midfielder James McCarthy insists manager Roberto Martinez has the full support of the Latics squad.

Martinez is under pressure after a wretched start to the season that has seen his side concede 10 goals in their opening two Barclays Premier League games at the DW Stadium.

After losing 4-0 to Blackpool last Saturday and a club home record 6-0 to Chelsea yesterday, Martinez now faces a critical week in charge.

A Carling Cup clash at npower League One side Hartlepool on Tuesday is arguably not what Martinez would wish for given the banana skin it represents.

But then if he had to choose his next league opponents, a game with Spurs at White Hart Lane where they were hammered 9-1 last season would likely not be high on his agenda either.

They, though, are the tasks facing Wigan and Martinez as he seeks a light at the end of what is a long, dark tunnel that began with an 8-0 hiding at Chelsea on the final day of last season.

McCarthy, however, is backing Martinez to revive Wigan as he said: “We have to take the positives.

“At times we matched Chelsea all over the pitch, especially in the first half when I feel we dominated the game.

“But they got that crucial first goal in that half and showed their class as true champions.

“Although we’ve conceded 10 goals, we are not going to look at it that way.

“We’ve suffered two defeats and hopefully we can now lift ourselves and kick on on Tuesday. We’ll go there and try and give it our all.

“Of course, the manager isn’t happy and rightly so. Conceding five goals in the second half is not acceptable and we need to address that.

“We just need to work on the training ground. I’m sure it’s as simple as that.”

Asked for his thoughts on Martinez’s future, the 19-year-old added: “I don’t want to get involved in that, but everybody is backing the manager. He is a great manager.”

For the opening half Wigan displayed all the right characteristics after the previous week’s humiliation to Blackpool as they worked hard, were creative and put Chelsea under pressure.

Although they conceded the opener to Florent Malouda just after the half-hour, it was the brace scored by Nicolas Anelka in the first seven minutes of the second half that knocked the wind out of their sails.

A double for Salomon Kalou late on and a first for his new club in injury time from Yossi Benayoun merely rubbed salt into Wigan’s wounds.

As far as Martinez’s Latics career is concerned, much now depends on the patience of owner Dave Whelan.

As for his own take on his job security, Martinez said: “I can’t waste any energy or time worrying about that.

“I need to worry about how to get the team to perform for 90 minutes because it’s a young side that is capable of the best, and we have to build on that, and that is my focus and concentration.

“I’ve huge belief in this group of players. I know we’re going to get the results from the potential we showed in the first half.

“We’re working towards the aim of staying in the Premier League and that’s the focus.”

The problem for Martinez is that he has not found a way to prevent his side from leaking goals.

Wigan had the worst goal difference in the league last season, far from surprising when you consider that aside from the humblings at Chelsea and Spurs they also lost 5-0 home and away to Manchester United and 4-0 at Arsenal, Portsmouth and Bolton.

The fact it is still an issue will be a concern for Whelan.

“The scoreline was really hurtful, but it doesn’t reflect exactly what happened out there,” added Martinez.

“We have to get rid of this way we concede goals because it’s something we have been doing for a long time.

“We looked naive. It was the same last season, so it’s nothing new unfortunately.

“But we always reacted in the right manner, and that’s what we will carry on doing.

“We need to move on, to try to win on Tuesday and on Saturday.”