O'Neill flattened by Wigan defeat

17 August 2009 07:42
Martin O'Neill offered no excuses after seeing his Aston Villa side beaten 2-0 by a well-drilled Wigan outfit on the opening day of the Barclays Premier League season. Goals from Hugo Rodallega and Jason Koumas handed the Latics victory in front of an expectant Villa Park crowd, the majority of whom vented their frustration at the home side's performance at the final whistle. Asked if he had been left frustrated by his team's display, O'Neill replied: "Well, more disappointment. You can be frustrated if you feel that you deserved something out of the game, but we didn't." He added: "After the initial 15 minutes, we were second best all afternoon. You can analyse everything but at the end of it all I thought we looked tired, which was a wee bit of a surprise considering we've had a pretty decent pre-season. "We've been beaten when we should have been ready to go, and it was very disappointing indeed." Wigan boss Roberto Martinez hailed the performance of his players as he basked in the accolade of winning his first ever match as a Premier League manager. He said: "I always felt that we had too many disruptions this pre-season and we knew the key to the game was going to be the first 10, 15 minutes, and Aston Villa didn't disappoint us. "They put us under massive pressure, they looked very, very sharp, and I'm proud of the players for the way they dealt with that situation. After that, Wigan Athletic deserved to win. "It's been a big turnaround and credit should go to the players."

Source: Eurosport