Boss wants more recovery time

18 October 2012 17:27
Roberto Martinez is hoping Wigan will react better to this international break than they did to the last one. All the Latics' international contingent have returned to the north west injury free and are busy preparing for Saturday's Premier League trip to Martinez's former club Swansea. Although other clubs have more international players, Wigan often have players travelling considerable distances, including Honduras' Maynor Figueroa and Jean Beausejour of Chile. The Latics began the season in encouraging form with four points from three games but, after the previous international break in September, they lost their next three games before stopping the rot with an impressive draw against Everton. Although internationals are normally now played on a Tuesday rather than a Wednesday, Martinez still believes the gap is not long enough. The Spaniard said of the breaks: "It's one of those moments where you keep your fingers crossed. Today we're keeping an eye on Maynor Figueroa and Jean Beausejour, who are the two players who have to cope with the longest journeys. "I do feel we need to help the players a little bit more. Sometimes it's just making an extra day for them to recover, taking the travelling into consideration, and probably that's something that can be addressed over the next few months. "We expect the players to perform in every game and I think it's a bit unfair to be expected to cope with a game on a Tuesday night in Santiago in Chile, a 14-hour flight and then be in pristine condition for a game 48 hours later." Martinez has even changed his training schedule over the last couple of days to maximise his time with the players, which he is hoping will pay dividends on Saturday. The Latics boss said: "We've been doing evening training sessions and that allowed us to have two sessions with everyone together, and I think that's been easier to assess the players who have come back. "I think we've learned a little bit how to get over the previous international break and we hope that on Saturday we'll be able to be ourselves and we won't be feeling that we can't reach our level because of that." It certainly must have been a frustration to Martinez that another break came just when Wigan seemed to have rediscovered their best form. They were within three minutes of beating Everton, who have been one of the standout teams of the first two months of the season, and the Spaniard has challenged his side to stay at that level. He said: "The performance in the first half was back to our best. Overall I think we showed we are a team, we can adapt to different roles and we can show a real good intensity in our play, and in many ways I think we set a level of performance that we need to carry through over the next few weeks. "With a draw, it's always about the next result. A draw followed by a victory is a fantastic result, a draw followed by a defeat is a little bit short in terms of points." Alongside Martinez in South Wales on Saturday will be assistant manager Graeme Jones, and the Wigan boss has no doubt he will be fully focused on the task in hand. Jones, who was linked with the manager's job at Swansea in the summer, is believed to interest Burnley following the departure of Eddie Howe. Martinez said: "In football you're always going to get attention, and that can be positive or negative. "When there is interest in our players or members of our football club, it's always a compliment. But we're all really focused on the importance of this season for Wigan Athletic."

Source: team_talk