Attack is the best form of defence for Wigan Athletic boss

Latics have conceded only one goal - at Bristol City last week - in Maloney's first four games in charge.

Not bad considering the Scot inherited statistically the worst defence in the Championship.

And the manager says everyone deserves a collective pat on the back - starting with the likes of Ashley Fletcher, Will Keane, James McClean and Callum Lang.

"That's the biggest positive at the moment," the Latics boss said. "And it's been done against some really good attacking teams, such as Blackburn and Norwich.

"I'm very pleased, but this is not the time to rest on our laurels.

"We need to be even better next weekend, and then the weekend after that."

Maloney was asked whether the improvement was down to hard work on the training ground or by using the chalkboard in the meeting room.

"It's a bit of both," he said. "I try to give the team a bit of clarity in the way we defend, but it's literally the whole team pitching in.

"I thought the forward players pressed well against Norwich, very aggressively, in that first half.

"And that's where it starts...you try and keep the opposition as far away from your goal as possible.

"But in the second half, it's the team that really needs to take the credit.

"You can put the players into positions, but against very good sides like Norwich, they take you out of them, and then it's about the mentality of the players.

"The mentality not to get beat, not to concede, and they take all the credit.

"The players we have in those forward positions are really talented players, but they also work incredibly hard as well.

"It's easy to speak about the chances, but they were that good out of possession, the forward players, that they were the catalyst for us to keep the clean sheet, so they deserve a lot of credit."

Despite Latics extending their unbeaten run under Maloney to four matches, they slipped back to the bottom of the table with Blackpool and Huddersfield both winning.

"I think we're all a couple of points away from getting out of there," added Maloney.

"And I think we're going to see a lot of teams moving positions between now and the end of the season.

"You'll see a lot of teams taking points off teams at the top of the league as well as teams around them.

"We're all fighting for our lives, and we just need to make sure we fight that little bit harder than everyone else.

"I don't tend to take too much notice of the league table at the moment...although that's just at the moment.

"For now, I'm more focused on performances, which will take care of the league table."

Despite the defensive improvement, Latics’ goal difference of -21 remains the worst in the second tier, with Blackpool (-15) and Huddersfield (-13) the nearest to that.