Caldwell: It's all about getting balance right

Gary Caldwell takes his Latics squad to Leeds tonight confident his players can build on their recent displays.
Adam Le Fondre took his place in the starting line-up on SaturdayAdam Le Fondre took his place in the starting line-up on Saturday
Adam Le Fondre took his place in the starting line-up on Saturday

Wigan travel to Elland Road having stretched their unbeaten run to three games with Saturday’s home draw against Burton.

But failing to get the win nudged Latics into the Championship’s bottom three.

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And while a second clean sheet in a row was a positive for Caldwell, he says they need to balance that with making the most of their chances in front of goal.

“I think it’s just the fine detail and you might only get one chance in a game and a half chance, it’s difficult to take and you have to be ready for that opportunity,” he said.

“I’m sure the forwards are eager to put it right and the defenders can help them from set pieces.

“It’s something we still need to get better at, scoring goals from set pieces, so there’s a number of things we need to improve on but we’re in a good place.”

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Striker Adam Le Fondre came into the starting XI on Saturday, while marksmen Will Grigg and Craig Davies came off the bench.

Caldwell was happy with the contribution of on-loan Le Fondre, and wants to see the whole team build on the solid foundation made by Latics’ improved defence.

“It’s about the whole team working well as a unit,” he said.

“From front to back we’re getting it right. Everyone is buying into the pressure we’re trying to put on the ball, denying teams great opportunities and when called upon the defence and Adam are doing their job and making sure that there are none against.

“I think that’s a massive platform to build from.”

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Caldwell explained the job of balancing his side’s performances has been an ongoing process since the season started, and despite the fact goals haven’t exactly been flooding into Latics’ ‘for’ column, he is happy with the fact they are having no trouble creating chances.

“Whilst we’ve not been scoring, we’ve still be creating great opportunities so from that point of view I’m quite happy, it’s just the finishing touch that we need to add to it,” he said.

“I think you watch every game and try and pick on where we’re going right and where we’re going wrong and try to work on different things. “Early season, or form going forward was great, we looked quite free-flowing but we looked a little bit vulnerable and too open when we we’re defending.”

Such defensive problems have been fixed on the training park, with more clean sheets being returned from match day.

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And Caldwell hopes a similar amount of work at the other end of the pitch will result in chances being converted, which will only be good for Wigan’s points tally on the Championship table.

“Naturally we’ve worked on that in recent weeks and we’ve seen a big improvement and you seer the results on the pitch by the clean sheets that we’re getting,” he said.

“It’s getting the balance right from everything and getting a performance of everything in terms of the defensive solidity but then the attacking play and putting it in the back of the net.”

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