Roberto Martinez has warned his Wigan side to be wary of the threat posed by Stoke ahead of their clash at the DW Stadium.
Athletic boss wary of Potters challenge
Roberto Martinez has warned his Wigan side to be wary of the threat posed by Stoke ahead of their clash at the DW Stadium.
The Potters return to league action after a 4-3 extra-time defeat by Swindon in Tuesday night's Capital One Cup, and will face a Latics side buoyed by their comfortable win at Nottingham Forest.
However, Martinez is not underestimating a City side which is often labelled as a one-dimensional team having added Charlie Adam and Maurice Edu to their squad.
Foolish
"You're looking at experience and the individuals they've got in the side," Martinez said.
"It's very foolish of anyone to think they cannot play. They play in a very specific way that makes them very competitive and they take advantage of their good work and strategy in dead ball situations.
"Overall the experience and what they have achieved over the last few seasons with Tony Pulis is incredible. The success that they had in the Europa League last season - to get into a major cup final and achieve season after season what they've done in the league is an incredible achievement.
"We all know, when you play against Stoke you need to be at your best otherwise you have no chance of getting a result.
"Stoke are capable of bringing in good players and they normally do very good business around the deadline, you only have to look back at last summer to see that.
"When you are so close to the end of the transfer window, there is always that possibility that a team can bring a player in that you don't expect to be involved in an upcoming game.
"I don't think that will necessarily happen though because every player needs time to adapt into a team and at this stage it would probably be a bit too late.
"We all know how difficult it is to play against Stoke.
"Some people get confused and think that Stoke are only a team that work on the dead ball situation, but you look at their individuals.
"They have been playing together for a few seasons now and they are a lot more than that. We need to be prepared to cope with both sides of their game."
