Wigan must kick on from escape, says Martinez

The Wigan Athletic manager, Roberto Martinez, believes that his team must be a "nightmare for pundits" after completing another remarkable escape from relegation. A year after beating Stoke City on the final day of the season to survive in the Premier League, Wigan beat the odds again to secure top-flight status for an eighth year.

After they were widely written off two months ago, when they were bottom of the table with 20 points from 27 games, Wigan's 1-0 win at Blackburn Rovers on Monday completed a remarkable turnaround.

Martinez, pictured, said yesterday: "I always had the belief because I know the players and we did it last season. We have a young group with real energy, the youth and bravery allowed us to finish really strongly, but more than anything it is the characters in the club. They want to represent Wigan in the right manner and their standards are what you have seen on the pitch.

"To get the results we have of late and achieve something not many people predicted we would in December, I think we are a nightmare for pundits in world football."

Key to Wigan's upturn in fortunes was Martinez's bold decision to switch to a 3-4-3 formation and play with three centre-backs and wing-backs. That yielded six victories in eight games, including beating Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool.

Martinez said of the change in system: "We had to do it because whatever we were doing wasn't working. But it is not about systems, it is about the way the players can be at their best. The way we are playing now probably gets the best from our players. It gives us a real good balance.

"In many ways we are getting better and better and we have been working at it. When you have got a group of players who have got such an open mind about things, that has been a strength. Another group could have found it difficult to be adaptable or tactically flexible. That tactical flexibility has given us the opportunity to go and get incredible results.

"Since the [January transfer] window closed, the form has been as good as I have ever seen from Wigan Athletic at this level. It has to be a key moment in our history. We have to kick on and make the step up, not be a team that is always fighting relegation."

Speculation already surrounds the future of the squad, with striker Hugo Rodallega out of contract this summer and Victor Moses and James McCarthy highly rated. Martinez, who could become a target for other clubs, said: "It would be foolish of me to think we can keep everyone. But what is important is we replace the players we lose and invest in the playing squad."