Jordi: Break can make us

Jordi Gomez closes down Garath McCleary, who scored two goals in Readings 3-0 win over Latics at the weekend

Latics signed off for the break with a 3-0 home drubbing at the hands of Reading – not the way they wanted to mark the first game of the Joyce era.

The new man at least has the luxury of a fortnight’s respite before Wigan’s next game at Barnsley on Saturday week, and Gomez is confident that will work to their advantage.

“It was a very disappointing result against Reading, but we have to keep going of course,” he told the Evening Post. “The start of the game was not good enough, and after that it is always difficult to get something.

“We’ll try to work on the things we’re not doing well and hopefully that will have an effect after the international break.

“We have two weeks to work with the new manager, the break has probably come at a good time, and it will allow us to sort a few things that we’ve not been doing well.”

Gomez admits it hasn’t been the ideal first week for Joyce following his arrival from Manchester United.

“Obviously you want to play well and you want to win any game, especially with a new manager,” the Spaniard acknowleged.

“We know Saturday wasn’t a good performance and a good result, and none of us are happy about that.

“Sometimes that can happen in football, but that game is gone and hopefully we can bounce back.

“We only trained a couple of times with the new manager before the game, and now we have two weeks which will obviously going to help us.

“Hopefully he will be able to show us what he wants from us, and hopefully we can respond and give him what he wants.

“He has been at a big club for a very long time, and hopefully he can bring that good work here and help us.”

It’s been a strange fortnight for Gomez, with ex-team-mate Gary Caldwell leaving the DW after 18 months in charge.

“It’s never nice when somebody loses their job, especially having done such a great job last season with the promotion,” he added.

“But in football results are what matter, we have not been getting the results this season, and we have to respect the decision of the club.

“I have been in this situation before, and all you can do as players is get your head down and focus on the next game. We have to keep working, keep believing we can win games, and hopefully we can move up the table under the new manager.”