Shaun Maloney's 'go for it' challenge ahead of Wigan Athletic's visit of Crawley Town

Latics host the newly-promoted outfit looking to arrest a sequence of back-to-back league defeats against Charlton and Reading, as well as elimination from the Carabao Cup at the hands of Barnsley via a penalty shoot-out.

And despite seeing shoots of positivity so far, Maloney wants his side to put something tangible on the board.

"It was fine margins against Charlton...we were very good for long periods, but in the final third we didn't take our chances, and probably should have created even more, for the amount of possession we had," he said.

"Reading was completely different, it wasn't fine margins. The performance with and without the ball was nowhere near what was needed.

"But that's two league games, and that's football, and that's life as a manager. When you win, things are very good. When you don't, it can be tough.

"There are some deeper things going on around the club, in terms of expectation, but that's my job, and I have to deal with all that, and stay as level and stable as I can through it all.

"I thought I managed that after Charlton, but Reading was different, I can't be stable and level after that, because I saw things I can't accept.

"Reading played a very aggressive game in getting the ball forward. If not all of the team is absolutely at 100 per cent, then any team - not just Reading - will beat us.

"We again got into the habit during the game of having a lot of possession without hurting them with it, which is kind of how it was throughout pre-season, and then Charlton.

"In fact, everything about the Reading game was not what I wanted. The difference in the seven days between Charlton and Reading was quite stark.

"There are always things I reflect on, such as did I get the Barnsley team wrong? I went really strong for 60 minutes...everyone could see how seriously I took it, and in hindsight, maybe I wouldn;t have started so many (first-teamers) against Barnsley.

"But in saying that, we're three games into the season, and I don't think anyone needs a rest. The intensity has been better this week, but I need to see that on Saturday."

Latics will certainly not have it their own way against a Crawley side that has won both of their league games so far.

"I think from watching them in pre-season and in their first couple of games, they'll come here to play, to try to outplay us," added the Latics chief.

"They'll take risks, they'll try to outplay us, and we're going to have to be miles better than we were against Reading without the ball - and obviously better than we were with it.

"We were very aggressive against Charlton, and we should have been more aggressive against Reading. We have to go for it - I don't want to see another passive performance."