Wigan Athletic boss backs players to bounce back: 'There's fight in the lads'
Wigan Athletic manager Ryan Lowe says his side must “dust themselves down and go again” after a bruising week that saw them suffer three defeats in eight days.
Latics were beaten 4-1 away at rivals Bolton Wanderers before crashing out of the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 home loss to Wycombe Wanderers, and rounded off a difficult spell with Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Cardiff City at the Brick Community Stadium, sending their unbeaten home record up in small.
Lowe admitted the run of results has been tough to take, both personally and for his players.
“Look, it hurts,” he said. “I’m the coach of this fantastic football club, and I want what’s best for this club, our fans, and my players – and the players do as well. When you have a week like this in football, it hurts.
"But I’d like to think I’ve had more better and happy weeks in my managerial career than bad, so I’ll put this one away in the cupboard, hopefully lock it away for a while.”
Lowe stressed there are positives to take, particularly with a long season ahead, but admitted those positives were harder to see immediately after three successive defeats.
He has backed his players to return to winning ways soon, praising their toughness.
“Oh, there’s fight in the lads," he said. "They’re a good group.
“But it’s hard for me to praise them after losing three games in a week. I know there’s been different personnel across those three games, of course, but it’s still hard to pick out positives right now.
"I’m sure there will be positives, but at the moment, I’m more focused on the things we haven’t done well, because that’s what makes you better.”
Latics now have a rare full week on the training ground ahead of Saturday’s clash with Plymouth Argyle – Lowe’s former club – and the manager is keen to use the time to reset.
“We’ll have a full week now,” he said.
“It’s about debriefing this game, putting it to bed, taking out the important bits, and making sure we don’t make those mistakes again.”