Roberto’s Revolution Has Begun

Wigan Athletic destroyed Aston Villa in the seasons opening game to get Roberto Martinez` reign as Latics boss off to a flyer

Villa had a brief spell at the start of the game without really creating much and once the Latics got their passing game going there was only one team in it with N`Zogbia hitting the post on 10 minutes giving a taste of things to come.

Former Latic Emile Heskey led the Villa line and he looked lost with Bramble and Scharner comfortably shackling the England striker and his front line partner Agbonlahor who never got in to the game.

Latics were dominant in midfield and in Michael Brown and debutant Hendry Thomas there was a steel that was simply too much for Villa to cope with. N`Zogbia and Koumas were both lively and Hugo Rodallega a constant thorn for the cumbersome Davies while Cuellar looked out of his depth against the speed and class of the Latics attack.

Gomez was a superb foil for Rodallega and the sharp inter passing between the front players was a joy to watch.

Villa players soon became frustrated and resorted to illegal tactics to curb the flowing majestic football of the Latics with Delph and the nasty over-rated Young committing several fouls on Rodallega, N`Zogbia and Gomes.

Indeed Young was lucky to stay on the pitch after he thrust his head into the face of Michael Brown, just because the Latics midfield man had the audacity to tackle him, what an England call up does to you.

A Charles N`Zogbia effort was cleared of the line as the Latics started to produce chance after chance, when the pressure finally told they took the lead with a stunning goal, with 30 mins on the clock Rodallega got the better of the Villa defence and he hit a superb volley from 25 yards into Friedel`s top corner

Two minutes later Rodallega was through again after slipping past a stationary Cuellar only for Friedel to pull of a fantastic save and at this stage it was quite clearly going to be a case of how many rather than will we win.

Villa were booed off at half-time such was the Latics dominance and 10 minutes into the second half it was 2-0, N`Zogbia raced through the Villa midfield, slipped the ball wide left to Koumas who cut inside and beat Friedel at his near post.

There was a host of chances after this but a 2-0 away win on opening day will do nicely and we wont be greedy?


Roberto`s revolution has begun

Player Ratings

Chris Kirkland -7
Dominant in his box a corners

Mario Melchiot – 8
Classy display, supported the attack and defended well

Titus Bramble – 9
Awesome, a block late on was world class….wont mention the….wont

Paul Scharner – 8
Looked comfortable and had Heskey in his pocket

Maynor Figueroa – 8
This guy is fantastic

Charles N’Zogbia – 9
A constant threat to the Villa defence, little Charlie is going to have a big season

Michael Brown – 9
Brownie rolled back the years today, superb along side Thomas and almost my man of the match

Hendry Thomas – 9
Man of the match display on your debut, he’s started his Latics career off on top form

Jason Koumas – 8
Played well today and worked, took his goal really well

Jordi Gomez – 8
Looke sharp and linked up well with Hugo, got fouled a lot but just picked himself up and got on with the job

Hugo Rodallega – 9
Tremendous display, got kicked all over the pitch but looked sharp and scored an excellent goal

Scott Sinclair – 8
Did well when he came on, looked lively and had some good runs

Cho Won-Hee – 7
Late sub



Late sub

Manager Rating
Roberto Martinez – WOW, what else can be said

Opponent Rating
Martin O’Neil – will leave that to the Villa fans