What The Bosses Say - Latics v Stoke

Wigan Athletic face Stoke City at the DW Stadium tomorrow (Saturday) and both bosses, Roberto Martinez and Tony Pulis, have been speaking to the press, let`s see what they had to say:

Latics boss Roberto Martinez:

'We know Stoke and the way they play. They are very successful and very effective.

'Like in any other game you need to try to impose yourself with your strengths and try to be strong enough defensively to cope with their physicality.

'They have got two of three outstanding individuals who can use the territorial advantage their physicality gives them.

'You have to be well prepared to play against Stoke.

'If you are not 100% prepared you are really in for a hard time.

'They know how to push you to the limit and take advantage of that.

'We are really focused, we know what is needed.

'We are in a situation where we need to take responsibility. We are playing at home and we need to start getting the points.'

'It is still early in the campaign. The table is significant in May and that is when we want to be in the right position.

'We have got huge belief in what we can do and what we can achieve this season.

'The position now is a specific moment in the campaign. We need to understand why we are there, what we need to change and what we need to improve.

'That is something that is going to help us get to the places where we want to be.

'But looking at the next seven games for us, they are really vital, starting with Stoke at home.

'We will get together and push together to make sure we get the rewards the football and the quality of the squad deserves.'


Stoke boss Tony Pulis:

'We will respect Wigan. Roberto Martinez is a smashing guy and a good manager - he has done a good job there.

'They have got some outstanding players and if we don't go there 110 per cent committed, then we will get nothing.'

'We are playing against a club that has been in the Premier League a lot longer than we have been and we shouldn't take anyone for granted.

'We are still one of the least experienced Premier League clubs in this country at the moment.'

"We have to be at maximum to get the points out of every game that we play and if we`re not at maximum we won`t get any points at Wigan."

"If you look at the table it`s a lot closer this year than it`s ever been in my time in the Premiership and I think two wins for the bottom clubs would put them in the top half of the table.

"I don`t think it`s the case where anybody is adrift or anybody is away from it, I just think it`s most probably made it tougher this year for the likes of the clubs who are below the top six or seven."

"Everybody is fighting to stay in the Premiership, everybody wants to stay in the Premiership.

"I think the three promoted clubs have taken more points than any other promoted clubs since the Premiership started, so that`s brought everything closer together."





















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